John Oliver is a comedian and satirist. As a stand-up comedian (and former Daily Show correspondent), he specializes in offering an outsider’s perspective on American culture. Meanwhile, his long-running podcast The Bugle features Oliver and his good friend Andy Zaltzman offering their take on British news and world events.
The Bugle is taking the summer off, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still pushing out content so that they can stay on their subscribers’ radars. (I could take a lesson from them, I know.) John and Andy are plumbing their archives for some of their favorite clips from their podcast’s long history.
Since we are all still thinking about the excesses and nefariousness of common political campaign tactics, I wanted to share this short sketch from John and Andy’s coverage of England’s 2006 local elections:
Of course, Christians who decide to vote in local elections are most likely called to be more than just single-issue voters and have resources in the gospel to combat the apathy that sets in as John is inoculated against “Election Fever.” Knowing that God is concerned with the full breadth and depth of human flourishing should energize us as we interact with politics—we’re not just protecting our interests, we’re looking for opportunities to break a little bit of the hope and joy of the kingdom to come into the world around us. Christians don’t need to be tossed about by every new meme politicians use to try to shore up support.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:14–15)
Take a moment now to pray for God’s help remembering that you have the guarantee of a restored society in the kingdom to come, and for that hope to infect the way you think about politics today.
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