The story we will be looking through this Sunday, 2 Samuel 11-12, has tremendous implications for the role of the church in Canadian and American politics. The story is of a prophet going to a country's political administration to uncover the murder of a soldier and the adultery of the King. The prophet fools the King into ordering his own condemnation with a story and then pronounces judgment: this King will always lead a violent government and the LORD will bring threats against him from his own family. While the King has tried to cover things up, the prophet announces that God will shame this King in daylight. While God will not kill the King, he will strike down the son of his adultery. The prophet then leaves and returns to his own home (2 Samuel 12:15).

This last sentence is most pertinent to the church in elections. Oliver O'Donovan makes the point that the prophet is not in the employment of the King; he has his own home. The prophet's freedom to speak is not from the King. The prophet is sent by the LORD. The LORD gives the prophet freedom. The church, sometimes sadly seen as a voting bloc, is not charged to maintain its own freedom, but to challenge, uncover, speak. The church is not in the safety of the powers of this world, but of the LORD Jesus.

While I think the church can act as a chaplain, I think the desire to cling to chaplaincy can hinder its ability to return to being a prophet.