Can Faith Thrive Within Political Divides? Lisa Schultz from the US Senate’s Chaplain’s Office

Hey everybody. Jen Hatmaker here, your host of the For The Love Podcast. Welcome to the show.  Right now, we are in a series called For The Love Of Faith Shakers. I don’t think I need to explain why I like this conversation. Why I like this guest roster. I love people who push us past our comfort zones, who ask hard questions, who bring us a different perspective, a different angle. Who challenge unjust systems, even if they are cloaked essentially in the impeachability of faith, right? So we’re focusing on the people doing dynamic and different things in faith spaces and how their moves are positively impacting the world, even people of faith.

So today’s conversation is really, really interesting because we are locating this discussion in a place where so many of us find it really hard to show love, which is evidently the cornerstone of faith. If you read it like that. That is this very highly divisive political landscape, right? We are just convinced that we are right, all of us are. And that if we are right, that everybody else is categorically wrong and against good in the world, right? It’s gotten to that point. And then of course, religion gets caught in the crossfire as it is often and has forever been weaponized against certain groups, certain communities, or it is used to uphold long held, broken systems that don’t sincerely have a biblical basis at all. 

I think all this behavior works against people who truly they do want to love in Jesus’ name. It’s 100% pushing people further away, not just from God, but from even the understanding that God is actually love, right? There isn’t another category. God is love and all love and only love. Right? 

We knew we wanted to locate one of these episodes in DC, which is tricky, right? It’s not all one thing, but it’s important because it’s representative of our public discourse. And then more importantly, the direction of our country’s legislation, policy, and rhetoric. So looking at this very highly emotional and volatile and even nuanced topic, we needed somebody who could take it apart compassionately and who has been standing on the frontlines. So to help us really understand and digest what it is we’ve been seeing and watching from an insider’s perspective, I am so happy to welcome this week’s faith shaker, Lisa Schultz, to the show.

Let me tell you about Lisa. She is the chief of staff for the United States Senate chaplain, Barry Black. She directs all of Chaplain Black’s programs and outreach to all senators, their families, and any Senate staff. She’s been in this position for 15 years and has been overseeing all Capitol Hill focused ministries. That intersection is bananas, right? And just FYI, prior to her job on Capitol Hill, she was a missionary in Austria, for seven years. This conversation, you’re going to love it. We really get into what faith looks like in Washington DC right now. What the faith of our government leaders look like right now. It’s all in here. Lisa was incredibly transparent, really forthcoming with her perspective and experience, and also hopeful.

There’s some hope baked into this conversation, which I’m so glad for. She has a very unique perspective on faith in our highly charged political world. So I’m glad that you are here to dig in with us today. I’m very pleased to share my conversation with the absolutely wonderful Lisa Schultz.

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Lisa’s “Hideaway on the Bay” Vintage A-Frame AirBNB & Instagram Page

Stay Connected with Jen Hatmaker: 

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | WEB

Thanks for listening to the For the Love Podcast!

XO – Team Jen