As I observe the increasingly tense negotiations between the U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama about how to deal with the so-called "fiscal cliff" due next month, I often think about the apostles Paul and Peter's words about the role and place of government in our lives.  Although both of these men lived in the confines of the mightiest empire of its day, Rome, daily subject to its many rules and regulations, they nonetheless uniformly encouraged their readers to obey its authorities (unless these authorities decreed laws which prevented them from exercising their, ability to worship God).  Why?  Because they believed that despite all Rome's flaws and shortcomings (and there were many), it was, oddly enough, one small part of God's way of maintaining order and comity in the world.
     Government, Paul wrote in Romans 13, has been ordained by God for the good of the planet.  We may not always like a particular government, we may not always care for the leaders of a particular government, but we understand that, often in ways we do not fully grasp, they contribute to God's bigger vision of human flourishing.  We need government.  (Yes, if a government does not function well, it becomes our obligation and responsibility to correct it (and this is another issue, one which warrants much further discussion), but this does not obviate the essential necessity of government.)
     We may not like what either Mr. Boehner or Mr. Obama are hoping or planning to do about the "fiscal cliff," but we can be thankful that they are at least talking with each other, that they generally respect each other and, perhaps most important, that they are working within the structures of the government the voters elected them to serve and sustain.