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Thoughtful
iStock Image by aldomurillo, Montemorelos, Mexico
Oct. 28, 2024
We have just one week left (before the US presidential election). I’m not sure whether it feels like relief that all the trashy talk and mud flying will cease soon, or more like a massive storm bearing down, and you don’t know: will it sweep your world away, or will you get lucky and it will veer off and you’ll survive? I hear a lot of anxiety, a lot of dread, but very little hope, very little serene confidence, very little joy – which tells you a lot about how toxic our political culture is, and how broken and lost we are as a nation.
Here’s the simple truth, easy to say, but so hard to live into. God took a week (okay, maybe a billions-of-years-long week!) to create a new and good world, to bring order out of chaos. Jesus took a week to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, cleanse the temple, teach, get himself arrested, tried and executed, and then miraculously emerge from the grave. We may and must choose to place our confidence, not in the thin promises and fantasies of our preferred political ideology, but in the one true God who will be God next Wednesday and next year. Don’t forget: Christianity was born, grew and thrived under terribly oppressive governments where the vast majority of citizens loathed a despicable ruler and his henchmen.
So we vest our trust in God, who will be God no matter the outcome. But we can’t say the outcome doesn’t matter! So much for the thriving or ruining of human life is at stake – as is the Soul of the Nation. So to remind you of the theological notions we’ve covered… Be wary of what feeds your fears or cozies up to your dark side. Look closely, not at what you predict will roll toward your private advantage, but what will impact the poor, the vulnerable. Do you best to stick as close as possible to the heart of God and root for what might be the lesser of two evils, but at least leaves us with a fighting chance to grow the Kingdom of God. We do not wish for there to be “losers.” And character really does matter.
Also: you still have a little time to sort out patently false, misleading and manipulative information (or should we say Misinformation? Disinformation?). A video goes viral of someone you think is creepy praising a candidate – but it’s just one person, and God would actually embrace those we find creepy. A meme flies around with a vicious claim – that on further inspection simply isn’t so. A candidate claims he’ll do this or that, when the office he’s running for will not put him in any position to do so. Think. Study. Think. Be very wary and aware some ad crafter is laughing his head off over how dumb and gullible voters are.
Prayer always matters. Thomas Merton wisely said that Gethsemani, the little abbey in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky where he and other monks prayed constantly, is the most important place in America. And, like every week, there’s way more to pray about than this election. Your soul and the soul of the nation, your holiness and zeal for God, the needs of the world – with plenty of space and time for giving thanks and praising God for beauty and creation and the resurrection and our hope that no election outcome could crush.
The Rev. James C. Howell is senior pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C. This post is republished with the author's permission from his blog.