Let’s start here with this neglected fact: the resurrection of Jesus was an illegal act. Pilate had put his seal on the tomb, and it was against the law to break the seal. Pilate had also set up a squadron of soldiers to keep anyone from going into or out of the tomb. When Jesus burst forth from the tomb on the first Easter, the soldiers were struck down and the seal was broken. It’s pretty difficult to top that when it comes to social revolutionary activity! The great miracle of Easter was the first act of Christian civil disobedience!

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I suppose one has to consider this kind of discussion by Democratic candidates to be refreshing, when compared to the cluelessness of Howard Dean and John Kerry on the subject of faith and politics the last time around.

John Edwards certainly came across as extremely articulate--and authentically so--but if he hit a home run, the others hardly got beyond first base. One longs for the kind of brilliant employment of theological categories that Abraham Lincoln consistently displayed. But, alas, that seems to be the kind of vision we can no longer expect in our national leaders, even from those whose church attendance far exceeded Lincoln's patterns!

And even when we get a candidate like Edwards who obviously knows what he is talking about, he is forced to respond to silly questions like the one posed by a prominent journalist about Edwards' patterns of sinning. I am not one to trash "the liberal media." I have spoken to too many well-informed folks who cover the religion beat to engage in that kind of stereotyping.

But it would be a wonderful change if one of these days we could see a match-up between theologically articulate candidates with equally articulate questioners!

Can anyone remember knowing nearly as much about the congregation of a presidential candidate—or even of an actual president--as we know about the church from which the Obamas have now resigned? I feel sorry for the pastoral staff and congregants of the next church they join. Not only will every new sermon be examined closely for possible controversial content, but folks will be going into the archives of recordings of past worship services to see what might play on YouTube.

The Obamas had no choice but to make this decision to move on. However, now that they have joined that much-discussed demographic that we have come to label “church-shoppers,” I have a plea for them. Since the media will be reporting what they see and hear in the congregation you choose, be sure to pick one where the sermons remind all of us regularly to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God.”