Lost Faith in Leaders Could Signal Hopeful New Era

Thursday night. The Iowa caucuses are about to convene. The drumbeat countdown to the 2008 primary season is finally over. On PBS and the Jim Lehrer News Hour conservative columnist David Brooks makes a comment that seems to come out of nowhere and disappear unnoticed: the most important issue of the 2008 elections will be the failure of the leadership class. If there’s any meaning to the results in Iowa, where the two candidates closest to being outsiders finished on top, maybe Brooks is right.

On most news agency radar screens the economy and the war in Iraq register the biggest blips. But these are limited issues compared to what Brooks is seeing. He speaks of something more comprehensive, a perception by the people of failed political, economic and moral systems. Wars like Iraq and a slowing economy usually call for corrections. What Brooks senses is a call for reformation. We are now, in America, at the most apocalyptic moment since World War II, bigger for many reasons than the Vietnam era of the 60s. Even then, we believed better leadership was possible. Now many have lost faith the leadership class has answers, and worse yet, any genuine concern for their country and its people.

For months I’ve said the time is ripe for the church to develop a new vision for the nation and step forward to lead. In fact, like poet T.S. Eliot, I’ve argued that no institution other than the church can provide the necessary leadership. But unfortunately the church is part of the failed leadership class, fiddling over marginal issues like ordaining homosexuals while the fires of lost faith continue to rage.

Fortunately, when a season of discontent reaches full ripeness it usually means the beginning of a new era. This is the path of apocalypse: the uncomfortable end of a rejected era ushers in a new era more in tune with the people’s needs. The church must be ready to participate in shaping that new era -- not in the inappropriate sense of supporting one political party over the other -- but in a fullness that speaks to economic and political issues as well as morality and faith. It is often in the political and economic realm that morality and faith take form.

The bankruptcy of leadership is visible throughout our culture, from our fear mongering film industry to economic systems designed to undermine the middle class and push the hard working poor deeper into poverty while profligate hedge fund managers bury their heads in the feeding trough.

Thankfully, scripture provides us with a detailed blueprint. At any time in history, in any corner of the world, God’s values as expressed in God’s Word offer a vision for a happier, more prosperous culture. In fact scripture could be described as a roadmap to apocalyptic change. We’ve been moving toward it since Israel entered Canaan, but always it’s been two steps forward and one step back. What choices do God’s values demand? Courage over fear, hope over despair, peace over war, love over hate, generosity over selfishness, inclusion over exclusion, opportunity over oppression, fair distribution of resources to the many over hoarding by the few, forgiveness over condemnation, and creation over destruction of natural resources.

God provided enough that all the world might live in abundance and joy. Christ came to shine a light on that destiny. What the people want now is leadership committed to God’s goals whether expressed in the language of faith, politics or economics. The church should do everything it can to make it happen. This may be the moment of rebirth scripture promises.