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With others, I have struggled to discern the contents of a faithful response to the Nov. 5 election.

How should the followers of a savior dedicated to the poor and needy react? 

The Christian Church’s response, it seems to me, should be the same as its response to any other economic, political or cultural event. Asking itself and the nation a simple question: How does the election affect the poor and needy?

Otherwise, the Church has no interest in which politician or political party wins a political contest. If the winners are not dedicated to adopting policies and taking actions that prioritize the poor, their victory is of no interest to the Church. We wish them well, but look elsewhere for the fulfillment of God’s purposes.

For the primary concern of the Church is not which national party gets to govern but that the poor and needy be fed, clothed, housed and receive adequate medical attention. The Church is to be concerned not with the electoral fortunes of the Republican or Democratic Parties but with how governmental policies and actions affect those identified by Jesus as “the least”: those on the margins; those pushed to the side by powerful insiders; those bullied and discriminated against by those who consider themselves superior; those ignored by the powerful and wealthy.

The focus of the Church should never be about being on the winning side of a political contest. For over 2,000 years, Christians have been called to ignore temptations to power and privilege so that they could stand with and speak for the powerless. The response was modeled by Jesus himself in the wilderness when he resisted the Satan’s temptations to political power and world domination.  (Mt 4:1-11)

Those who profess to follow him now are invited to work with him on creating God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven”. God’s earthly kingdom, unlike the one offered to Jesus by Satan, conforms to the values and priorities of God rather than the policies of political and economic domination.

Every political and economic ideology is to be vetted by asking the only questions that matter to the Church – will the poor and needy to better off? Will ALL be included regardless of gender, sexual orientation or nation of origin? Will strangers (today’s immigrants) be welcomed with compassion and respect? 

If not, the parties and political movements that advocate for less compassion and inclusion toward the poor, the marginalized and the stranger are to be resisted. 

Those that advocate for more compassion and inclusion are to be embraced. 

It’s as simple as that. 

Polk Culpepper is a retired Episcopal priest, former lawyer and a Washington resident.