A binary choice for people of faith

After Richard Nixon left the White House in disgrace nearly half a century ago, he gave a series of interviews to British journalist David Frost.

In those hours of Frost-Nixon conversations, a telling comment by the nation's 37th president emerged.

"When the president does it, that means it is not illegal," Nixon said at the time.

It's worth parsing those words to see where they might lead.

America doesn't have royalty; there are no kings and queens. no absolute monarchs, in the U.S.

Everyone in this land is accountable to somebody else.

All of this perhaps rambling preamble leads me to my own comment which, in its own way, is telling about my own approach to leadership and represents a binary choice -- meaning you've got to choose one option or the other.

"We are either a nation governed by the divine right of kings, or we follow the rule of law."

Savior's input

Jesus is imaged in Christian tradition as a king.

Indeed, the Lord told Roman governor Pontius Pilate, according to St. John's gospel, "my kingdom is not of this world." (John 18:36)

Just prior to my arrival in Cape Girardeau in 2005, I led a church mission trip to the Czech Republic.

At a church we visited in Pardubice, the republic's third-largest city, a large banner hung from the wall with words in a language, Czech, that this writer can neither speak nor read.

Asked for what the imprinted phrase on the adornment meant, the English translation turned out to be, "King of Kings, Lord of Lords."

Yes, Jesus was (and in my mind, still is) a king, but he wore the title lightly.

He was a king committed to law as a principle -- not just for others, but for himself too.

"Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Matthew 5:17)

Binary choice

My religious tradition, United Methodism, looks to its 18th century founder, John Wesley - a brilliant man in some ways and wrong-headed in others.

There is not space in this missive to explore Mr. Wesley's full biography but suffice it to say the diminutive Wesley was simply incorrect about at least one thing.

He opposed the American Revolution on its face because he thought the colonists didn't have standing to rebel.

Wesley, you see, was a proponent of the divine right of kings, the God-given mandate to rule - an ancient idea the late Mr. Nixon may have shared to a certain degree, if a long-ago remark is any judge.

We live in a time where personality cults seem to have great popularity.

Ergo, it is well to be reminded about the only person ever to live on God's green earth who was above the law -- and instead chose to submit to it.