Regardless of political affiliation, we’re all pretty tense
right now, understandably so. News via every medium is a mess of innuendo and
accusation. We turn on our television to watch some baseball or a favorite
program, and our ears are bludgeoned with ads of grownups calling each other
names that we would send our children to timeout for using. Facebook,
ordinarily the repository of vacation pics and cat memes, has become the place
where “friends” engage in bitter, partisan commentary. Even in the places where
we usually try to be honest, like our families and our churches, we are so busy
trying to be careful about what we say that we’re not saying much of anything
to each other at all. So we’re tense and terse and snapping at people that,
under normal circumstances, we like a whole lot.
We’re all holding our breath, praying that it will all be over
soon. And praying that we won’t wake up The Morning After to find that our
deepest fear is now our elected President.
How do we retain our sanity and our joy in these times? How
do we maintain our friendships, even when we may be hoping that our friend’s
deeply held hopes and dreams come crashing down around them on Election Day?
How do we, who try our best to follow the One who is above all earthly
governments, find places of faith and grace in these days as we pray and strive
ardently for our own vision for our government?
Breathe. Right now, just pause and take a deep breath. Relax
your shoulders.
Be kind to someone today, even if you feel pretty certain
they’re voting for the scoundrel that you aren’t. Be especially kind to those
folks.
Be kind to yourself. Turn off the television, or watch cable
channels for the duration. Feel free to take a Facebook vacation, or
unfollow people whose posts you find troubling. Instead, walk outside in this
unseasonably warm autumn, look at God’s good creation, and breathe.
Practice trusting God. I mean that literally. Trusting God is
hard work, and it takes practice to get good at it. Sometimes I’m pretty good
at it, and sometimes I need to go back to the batting cage or the books or The
Book, or wherever it is that I can remind myself whose I am.
On Election Day, we’re going to practice trusting God by
praying. The sanctuary at First UMC will be open for prayer from 7 a.m. until 7
p.m. Feel free to come by before or after voting. We will also have prayer
services at 7:15 a.m. and noon. We’ll gather together with whoever shows up,
and we’ll lift our candidates and our concerns for our nation to God. There will
likely be people praying side by side who have voted for different people. That
will be exactly as it should be in God’s house.
An attorney who spends most of his times in courtrooms said
to me a while back, “You know, politics isn’t like a lawsuit. In a lawsuit,
there is a winner and a loser, and you never have to see each other again once
it’s over. In politics, you still have to live next door to one another even
after it’s done.”
Yep.
So we’ll be together in God’s house on Election Day. And the
day after that. And after that, and on and on, we’ll all be together in God’s
house until that day comes when we all feast together, Republicans and
Democrats and Independents and everyone else, in God’s heavenly kingdom. So we'd better keep practicing our manners for that big heavenly potluck, even now. Especially now.
