“Oooh, I love e to dance a little sidestep. Now you see me now you don’t, I’ve come and gone. Ohhhhh… I love to sweep around the side step, cut a little swath and lead the people on.”

Sidestep, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Best Little Whore House In Texas was a frequently played movie in my house growing up. My parents loved it. My father assured me that “Sidestep,” sung by a jolly but politically slippery dancing Governor of Texas, is the most true representation of politicians ever shared on screen. Saying one thing, doing another, constantly shifting positions as the political dance of the day unfolds. Constant never.

I say this because politicians are who always come to mind when I read today’s verse in Matthew.

27 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. 28So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness… 33You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?*

Matthew 23:27-33

We seem to find ourselves in a political season of late. Perhaps this description fits any number of the men and women that fill our screens and newsfeeds today, ascribed likely according to your own political persuasion. I suggest that the gamesmanship, the false-face of a politician, doesn’t have much to do with party - it’s just the way the game is played. And a game it is.

Which is why I propose that if we cannot keep the players from using religion as a prop in their political game, perhaps we, the people, can keep our faith, free from the game itself when it comes to our personal practice of it. Most of us are not politicians. Most of us have other jobs that occupy our days and obligations and relationships that take up whatever time we have left.

And as Christians, we do our best to keep to the faith and guidelines that Jesus so aptly summarized for us: Love God, Love your neighbor. It’s enough to keep us plenty busy.

And if a political viewpoint or affiliation should wrap us up and we find ourselves “playing the game” of judging over loving, fingerpointing over engagement, or twisting ourselves into knots to justify a position or political leader whose policies do not fall consistently into the “Love God, Love neighbor” mold, perhaps it’s time to step back. Take a breath. Realize we’ve been caught up in the sidestep dance and re-orient our feet to the dance of our maker.

Also, quick endnote: Mona, played by the indelible Dolly Parton, always struck me as the far more devout Christian in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Even if she was a madam in a notorious brothel, I feel like Jesus would have been more likely to hang around hearing her sing “Hard Candy Christmas” than to spend time with the waltzing governor. I know that’s where I would rather be.