Show Notes
In this episode of the Peaceable and Kind podcast, host Derek Vreeland explores the intersection of politics, peace, and kindness. He describes the importance of the Hebrew term shalom and the Greek concept of eudaimonia as foundational concepts for a good life. Derek discusses the role of Christians in the political sphere, advocating for participation while maintaining trust in God rather than political leaders. He also walks through Bob Dylan’s 1989 song ‘Political World,’ highlighting the themes of the lost virtue and the need for wisdom and mercy in political discourse. The episode concludes with a call for Christians to embody the values of the Kingdom of God in their political engagement.
Scriptures mentioned in this episode:
Psalm 118:8-9
Matthew 5:3-11
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Transcript
Narrator: Welcome to Peaceable and Kind, the podcast where we explore the transformation. Of living out Jesus’ call to peace and kindness in our everyday lives. Each week your host, Derek Vreeland, will delve into the stories, scriptures, and practical steps that help us embody these essential Christian virtues.
Derek Vreeland: Welcome back to another episode of Peaceable and Kind. I’m your host, Derek Vreeland. Thank you for joining me for this episode. And I also appreciate the feedback that I have received from many of you. Thank you for liking and subscribing and always feel free to hit me up On social media. I am at Derek Vreeland on Facebook, on Threads, on Instagram, and the social media platform formerly known as Twitter Uh feel free to hit me up and let me know what you think about these episodes. And if you haven’t, go ahead and subscribe. And if you like good Christian content like This please share this episode or any of the episodes that helps tremendously Today we’re going to talk about politics. Imagine that. Now, for transparency’s sake, I do want to say that we are recording this episode before Election Day. So the thoughts that I have to share, the reflection that I have to share, has nothing to do with the outcome of this election season And perhaps you’re getting a bit weary with all of the political talk and political commentary. And if that is you, I would encourage you to give this episode a listen. I think the perspective that I want to share with you today might be somewhat unique, and I hope it is helpful. Here on the Peaceable and Kind podcast, we are producing episodes that lend to a peaceable and kind kind of life. And regardless of your political opinions, your political affiliation, no matter which way you vote on candidates or issues. I think that we can all agree that we want to live in a peaceable world And that it sure would be good if we saw a whole lot more kindness in our world. At least that’s my hope. I continue to pray for peace. And when I’m thinking about peace, I’m not just thinking of the absence of conflict When I think about peace, I think about it in its biblical sense, in its Jewish sense The English word peace that’s found in the Old Testament of our Bibles is a translation of the Hebrew word shalom. And shalom really means well-being. It means flourishing. It means prosperity. It means things are going well. Shalom is an experience by which nothing is missing, nothing is lacking, nothing is broken. I think the vision of Shalom is something that we all want for the city or town or neighborhood we live in. certainly for the nation that we live in. We want it to be a place of of shalom, of of flourishing. In that sense, the Hebrew word shalom is really similar to the Greek concept Of eudaimonia, I’ve recently been working through Aristotle’s book on ethics And Aristotle says that the human end, the human goal, is to experience what is often translated in English as happiness. But it’s the Greek word eudaimonia. And eudaimonia is not just happiness in terms of joy that we receive from pleasure. Eudaimonia is closer to this picture of the Hebrew concept of shalom. Eudaimonia is this concept of experiencing true human flourishing perhaps we can imagine Eudaimonia as this idea of us being our best selves And so I see it in the Hebrew world, I see it in the Greek world, and certainly I believe it is what Jesus talked about when he spoke of eternal life. That is the life of the age to come. The eternal life that Jesus talked about is really the good life I think we could say that eternal life is characterized by both the Hebrew concept of shalom and the Greek concept of eudaimonia. And I think peaceableness is a good way to describe eternal life, the good life. This is the life that we all want to live. And so on this episode, what I’d like to do is start with a little bit of scripture. There is a verse that I am thinking of, and then I want to talk about music. uh particularly one artist and one song. But let’s start with some scripture. In Psalm 118 There are two verses that I have been meditating on during this very contentious election season And I want to read these verses from the Book of Common Prayer. So the Book of Common Prayer, which belongs to the Episcopal or Anglican tradition, Was the original prayer book of the Church of England. It was really the first prayer book written in the English language, and it has been updated over the years. I use almost every day the Book of Common Prayer, particularly the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. And in it there is an original translation of the Psalms into English. And so I want to read Psalm 118, verses 8 and 9 from the BCP, Book of Common Prayer. And here’s what it says. It is better to rely on the Lord than to put any trust in flesh. It is better to rely on the Lord than to put any trust in rulers. The book of Psalms has been the prayer book of the church from the very beginning. Indeed, it’s a part of my prayer life. Every morning I spend time in the Psalms one psalm per day. And I don’t just read the psalms, but I voice the psalms out in prayer. And sometimes the psalms are prayers in the sense that they are words spoken to God, but other psalms are what scholars call didactic psalms, teaching psalms. Now I still read them in prayer, but sometimes they’re not words spoken to God. Sometimes they’re words of wisdom spoken to my own heart And these two verses in particular have really stood out to me. It’s better to rely on the Lord than to put trust in flesh. It’s better to rely on the Lord than to put any trust in rulers. Most English translations translate that last word, princes, which sometimes gives us the indication that this psalm is saying, well, don’t put your trust in just simply rich people. But I think at its heart, this psalm is encouraging us not to put trust in rulers. So, why have I been meditating on these verses at this time during this election season? Well, I want to advocate for Christians to participate. In the political world, as much as your conscience will allow you I think each individual should lean into how the Holy Spirit is illuminating your conscience. And I try to give people the dignity and the respect of that, knowing that people are not going to process things politically the same way. People are certainly not going to vote the same way. But I respect that each person has an intuition. Uh they have a set of values. They have a conscience. And so I do want Christians to participate as much as their conscience will allow. For me, I have a dispassionate interest in politics. And so I’ll participate, but in sort of a dispassionate way. In other words, I do participate. I do vote. On election day I will cast my vote But I do so not because I believe it is the end-all-be-all, because ultimately, as I’m being instructed by Psalm 118, My trust is not in the politicians, the candidates, or the issues I will vote for or against. Ultimately, my trust is in the Lord. And so while I do participate, I don’t participate in such a way that I get all wrapped up into it. Because at the end of the day, I do believe that King Jesus is ruling and reigning. I also respect Christians who choose to step aside. and say their conscience won’t allow them to participate even in the voting process. I’ll respect that, though it’s not necessarily my opinion I don’t think we can completely avoid politics because we live in a political world. We live in a world that I believe is a part of God’s good design. I believe God designed for us to live in communities, to live in cities. The English word politics is rooted in the Greek word polis, which means city. And whether your city is millions of people, or perhaps your city is 50 people. I believe this is a part of God’s good design. God hasn’t designed for us to live as isolated individuals. God has designed us to live in communities, to live in a polis. And so if we’re going to live together, we need politics. We need a community conversation on how we’re going to structure ourselves So I find it as unavoidable. We simply live in a political world. Now, on today’s episode, I want to talk about One song from one artist. I’m not a huge music lover. I guess I listen to music just about every day. But I have my favorites just like you have your favorites. And today I want to talk about a song from none other than the Blessed Brother Bob, Bob Dylan. Now Bob Dylan is a polarizing figure. What I have found is that you either love Bob Dylan or you don’t. And I have been a Dylan fan for decades. Now, say what you want to about his vocal abilities. though I would say remember he did win a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal. I believe that was in nineteen eighty. But say what you want to about his voice. Bob Dylan is a singer songwriter But more than that, Bob Dylan is a poet. Bob Dylan is the poet laureate of rock and roll. And so even if you don’t like his music, you have to pay attention to his lyrics. Dylan is a poet first and a musician second. Bob Dylan has written over 600 songs. They’ve been covered over and over again. I mean, I almost don’t even respect a musician if they haven’t covered a Bob Dylan song. And uh the song I want to talk to you about today comes from his album, Oh Mercy, that was released in 1989. Oh Mercy is an overlooked Dylan album. It’s actually what I believe to be one of Dylan’s Christian albums. Dylan really burst onto the scene in the nineteen sixties in the uh folk music revival and his protest songs, uh Blowin’ in the wind, with God on our side. songs like that. Then Dylan in the late 1970s had a dramatic encounter with Jesus Christ. And after that, Dylan did three albums, Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot of Love, that are called his Christian or Gospel albums because they had distinctly Christian themes. And then Bob went on to do other things. But I would say Infidels, which came out later, and then O Mercy in 1989 is a distinctly Christian album The opening track on that album is a song entitled Political World. And Political World is a poem set to music. It has 11 stanzas. They’re not even verses. It’s not verse, chorus. You know, it’s not like a pop song where it’s, you know, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. And then Dense Political world is a song with eleven punchy stanzas that are poetry And the rhyming scheme is consistent with all eleven stanzas. And so as we are currently processing this political world, I thought it would be helpful to dig in with a little bit of depth into Dylan’s song Political World. So what I want to do is just read a stanza and make just a few comments. So let’s begin. First stanza. We live in a political world. Love don’t have any place We’re living in times where men commit crimes and crime don’t have a face And there you can see the rhyming scheme between place and face. And then the third line of each of these stanzas has a little rhyme. We’re living in times where men commit crimes, and that’s the pattern throughout this poem, this song. And he opens here, we live in a political world, love don’t have any place. One of the themes of this song is the loss of virtue. In this song, in this poem, Dylan’s going to talk about love. He’s going to talk about mercy. He’s going to talk about wisdom and peace and courage And anytime he talks about those which are, for Christians, classic virtues, love and wisdom and mercy and courage and peace. He’s going to talk about them in a negative way, how we’ve lost those things. We live in a political world. Love don’t have any place. Christians are called to the royal law of love, to love God and to love neighbor. And sadly, in this political world, love don’t have any place. Living in times where men commit crimes and crimes don’t have a face. This was in 1989, way before uh the internet and what we now know as as cybercrimes. This poem, this song, is really prophetic. Uh written again decades ago. It really speaks about the modern world that we’re in Alright, next stanza. We live in a political world. Icicles hanging down. Wedding bells ring and angels sing. Clouds cover up the ground This is a stanza that uses more metaphorical language, icicles hanging down. speaks to me of the political world no longer lifting us up but pulling us down. And then there’s this contrast. Wedding bells ring and angels sing. So the icicles hanging down is kind of a a negative, but it’s contrasted with these joyful things, wedding bells and angels singing, and then clouds covering up The ground. Not the sun, not the sky. Clouds are in the sky. There’s uh a line in a Johnny Cash song, uh Big River taught the clouds how to cover up a sunny day. But here Dylan is is speaking of clouds not covering up the sky, but covering up the ground. Interesting. Move on to the third stanza. We live in a political world. Wisdom is thrown into jail. It rots in a cell, is misguided as hell, leaving no one to pick up a trail. This is the line that really sticks with me. This is the stanza that really stands out We live in a political world. Wisdom is thrown into jail. Wisdom is not necessarily knowledge, but wisdom is the application of knowledge. Knowledge is knowing the length of the desert. Wisdom is the wherewithal to carry enough water as you’re traveling through the desert to make it to the end. And sadly, our political world and our political discourse has lost all sense of wisdom It’s thrown in jail where it’s rotten in a cell. And there’s no one to pick up the trail This is a line that is crying out for hope. Where are we going to find wisdom again? I believe Christians have the opportunity to enter into the public square, to enter into political discourse and be a voice of wisdom. at a time when wisdom is rotting in a cell. Let’s keep moving. Fourth stanza. We live in a political world where mercy walks the plank. Life is in mirrors, death disappears up the steps into the nearest bank No mercy in the political world that we live in. Mercy has certainly walked the plank. It seems like our political world these days has gone all cobra kai. Are you watching the Cobra Kai series on Netflix? This is a a spin-off from the Karate Kid movies of the 1980s. And the Cobra Kai is the antithesis of Mr. Miyagi and uh Miyagi do Karate. Because in Cobra Kai they teach what is called the way of the fist. Strike first, strike hard, and no mercy. It seems like our political discourse has turned all way of the fist, all cobra chai, where there is no mercy left. It is defeat your political enemy at all cost. We’re living in a political world where mercy has walked the plank. Then there’s this line, life is in mirrors. Have you ever held up a mirror to a mirror and and seen the reflection bounce back and forth? It seems like life has become and political discourse in particular has become this echo chamber that isn’t really producing wisdom, and is certainly not bringing people together, it’s just bouncing an image off back and forth. Dylan writes, death disappears up the stairs to the nearest bank. One of the reasons that political parties can never be the standard bearers for the kingdom of God is in part because political parties are all propped up by wealth. And that’s not the way the kingdom of God comes. Let’s keep moving. Next stanza. We live in a political world where courage is a thing of the past. Houses are haunted. Children are unwanted. The next day could be your last. Courage One of the virtues not only of the Christian faith, but this goes back into Aristotle and the ancient Greeks, is one of the cardinal virtues, courage. is a thing of the past. Hauser Haunted then this very sad line, children are unwanted. And both sides of our current political divide want to talk about children. But you have one side that’s very pro-abortion. You have another side that’s very pro-gun, which I would argue that both sides perhaps are not thinking of children first Children are unwanted. The next day could be your last. That’s a very dire line in this poem Let’s continue. Next stanza. We live in a political world, the one we can see and feel, but there’s no one to check. It’s all a stacked deck. We all know for sure that it’s real. It’s gone from dire to somewhat cynical. There’s no one to check. It’s all a stacked deck. There’s a feeling and a sentiment. from some people that politics don’t matter because it’s all a stack deck. It’s all the elites, it’s all the wealthy lobbyists that are going to make decisions. But there is this note of reality in this line, in this stanza. We all know for sure that it’s real. Politics do matter because politics are very real. Politics inform policies that affect people. And people matter. This is why I say it’s still worth a Christian voice in the public square. Because we all know for sure that it’s real. Next stanza. We live in a political world in the cities of lonesome fear. Little by little you turn in the middle, but you’re never sure why you’re here Dylan writes, in the cities of lonesome fear. Current politicians have learned that fear is a powerful motivator And so I hear fear mongering on both sides of the political spectrum They know that if they can stir up people’s fear, that that fear will motivate them But Dylan says, in the cities of lonesome fear, little by little you turn to the middle. I wonder when I hear that line, because it makes me think a little bit of the the turn to more of a moderate and a centrist position. It seems like often politicians will campaign on sort of the edges, but then once they’re in political office, some at least move a little bit to the middle. They also learned that while fear is a short-term motivator, that we can’t live in a world of fear. We can’t live in cities of lonesome fear. Let’s move on. Next stanza. We live in a political world under the microscope. You can travel anywhere and hang yourself there. You always got more than enough rope Every politician, and particularly these days, is under the microscope Because every sound bite, every video clip can go around the world instantaneously and become viral. And while every politician is scrutinized, they’re under the microscope, it is sad to me that character means very little. I have heard Christians on both sides of the political aisle make this case That character doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t really matter the kind of people we are electing, but only their policies matter. I remember being a college student in the 1990s when uh Bill Clinton uh was called on the carpet because of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. And I remember seeing a survey that was done, and the overwhelming majority of Americans said what the president does privately doesn’t matter. And to me that’s something to lament, because I think character does matter. I mean, we can give politicians enough rope and metaphorically speaking, they can quote unquote hang themselves upon that rope. I’m speaking rhetorically But it seems like in the court of public opinion, people just keep giving rope and keep giving rope and keep giving passes. And I think at some point Christians have to say, no, you know what? Politics might not be perfect. Politicians might not be perfect. But we need to once again revere virtue, and to value character in politicians. Couple more stanzas. Let’s finish up Next stanza, we live in a political world turning and thrashing about. As soon as you’re awake, you’re trained to take what looks like the easy way out I know this week feels like a lot of turning and thrashing about, but let’s not take the easy way out. Right? We’re we’re we’re we’re trained for the quick fix. Let’s be patient. Let’s see how things work out. Next stands up. We live in a political world where peace is not welcome at all. It’s away from the door to wander some more or put up against the wall. Peace not welcomed at all. And again, as I was saying at the very, very beginning, this entire podcast is around welcoming peace and peaceableness. Well, this brings us to the final stanza of Dylan’s song of his poem, where he writes, We live in a political world. Everything is hers or his You climb into the frame or flame and shout God’s name, but you’re never sure what it is. This is the punchy conclusion to Political World by Bob Dylan. And there is some disagreement. The official lyrics on bobdillon. com say climb into the frame, which is a reference to a Bruce Coburn song. But when you listen to Dylan sing it, it sounds like he’s singing Climb into the Flame And I think flame is a better image. We live in a political world. Everything is hers or his. Climb into the flame and shout God’s name, but you’re never sure what it is I am always skeptical when politicians start talking about God. I’m always wondering who is this God that you’re talking about? And very often when politicians are talking about God, they’re speaking of the God of American civil religion. They’re not necessarily talking about the Christian God, even if they quote Christian scripture. They’re shouting God’s name. Really, they’re trying to use God’s name. as a way to make their point or make their case. But in this political world, we’re living in a time where everything’s hers or his. This is speaking of the us versus them, the great divide. And politicians shouting God’s name, well that’s not necessarily going to help those of us who are Christians. Because we want to listen not to politicians shouting God’s name. We want to listen to Jesus. Because we believe that Jesus is king and that Jesus has come to bring the kingdom of God, that is, the government of God. And what is the government of God, the kingdom of God about? Well, Jesus speaks about that all throughout the Gospels. And when I think of the values of the kingdom of God, I think of the Beatitudes. These are the values of God’s kingdom. Where Jesus says, this is in Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 3, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you. and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So if we are going to be followers of Jesus in the political world, let’s let these pronouncements of blessing be the values of our political contribution, of our political voice. Let us be those who are advocating for the poor, the mourning, the meek. Let’s be the kind of people that hunger and thirst for justice, for things to be made right. Let us be the merciful in a world where mercy has walked the plank Let us be pure in heart, in intention, in character. Let us be peacemakers, even if being a peacemaker turns us into the persecuted Jesus is leading us into a place of peace, eternal life, shalom, eudaimonia. Let’s follow Jesus there.
Guest: Well, thank you again for listening to this episode. That’s all we have for today. Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.