Our Election

            I’ve got to tell you that I have been devastated by this election.  I don’t know how it is all going to work out.  There wasn’t much by way of substance to the campaign; we don’t know what our President-elect will do; only what he will get rid of.  The entire congress in is the hands of his party and I am afraid that the Supreme Court will get more and more conservative, flying in the face of the direction of the country over the past number of years.  It is a time to worry. but I don’t like worry.  I need to find something positive to hold on to, to give some hope for the future.  I feel like the people of Judah who were taken captive by the Babylonians.  They were asked by their captors to” sing them some of the songs of Zion”.  Their answer was: How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?  That is Psalm 137 and is an eloquent testimony to how it feels to be lost and afraid. 

            I can’t imagine a better summary of human history than the Gospel.  It is a perfect description of what humanity has endured over the centuries.  We keep praying for peace and hoping that somehow peace will endure.  Somehow, we seem to contradict what our God hopes for all of us and pursue our own ends. 

            Through this seemingly endless election campaign, we have heard every variety of selfishness.  Narcissism has been often the theme of campaign speeches.  What will happen to our country or what will happen to all of us has been secondary to the hopes and desires of one candidate.  I don’t want to do this anymore.  I want our politicians to care deeply for the welfare of not only the country, but for the welfare of those who are knocked down, abused and left behind.  I think that many of those in that category made their desires known over these past months and I know that they have been heard.  We need care to prevail in our politicians.  Over the last number of years, that hasn’t been the case.  We have had a clogged up congress that has not been able to do much of anything.  They have even refused to hold hearings for a new Supreme Court justice, leading to an eight person court that often ties and can’t give us decisions about important subjects.   What will happen now is unclear.  How will we be governed with a narcissist in the White House and a congress that is in the hands of his political party?  We simply don’t know at this point what is going to happen.

            I have been reading author Ken Follett’s trilogy about the twentieth century. It is an excellent account of the first and second world wars, of the rise of Hitler and the Brown Shirts and then Nazism and how it was defeated and then the rise of Communism in its place.  There was terrible oppression in Europe in all of these times and it took a tremendous amount of effort and capital to get our civilization back to some kind of normality.  I know that prayer and devotion played a large part in the way that all of this was straightened out and I know that going forward after this election will require all of us to be faithful and responsible to the Gospel that our Lord has given us.  Last week’s gospel ended with the words:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Those words are the foundation of a Christian life.  That is the way that we need to behave if we are going to continue to have a faithful community.   I have no political advice for us.  I can only rely on the God who loves us all to show us the way.

            In our Gospel this morning, Jesus talks about the terrible times that are coming.  He talks about persecution, betrayal and even desolation.  He says to his followers: You will be betrayed by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends and they will put some of you to death.  You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance, you will gain your souls. 

            These are not words of comfort from our Lord, but they are words of hope.  Even if the worst happens, God will not abandon us, but will keep us in the care that has been promised to us from the beginning.  Keeping our faith in Jesus Christ is the issue.  Political regimes come and go.  They last for their time, but are not eternal.  Our God’s promises are for the long run, God will be with us no matter what it is that happens and will redeem even the worst occurrences.

            In this time of political uncertainty, we can rely on the promises that our God provides for us.  Never stop your prayers.  They are the antidote to selfishness and bigotry.  If we simply do unto others what we would have them do unto us, we can create a world there bullies have no power and bitterness can be lessened.  The legacy that has been left to us by Jesus’ followers is immense.  They all lost their lives in the course of their work.  Their faith is what has been passed down to us.  In the coming years, our faith is the legacy that we have to give to our children and our followers.  That legacy doesn’t depend on any political message.  It depends on our willingness to give ourselves in the service of others.  God will bless all that we do.