I hear the following comment from time to time: “I went to my son’s/daughter’s church in another city. And you know what the pastor did? In the sermon he told the church that they were going to vote and then he told them who he thought they should vote for.” For a myriad of reasons, this is something that we don’t do at White Memorial.
Reason 1: Our Presbyterian and Reformed tradition values freedom of conscience. We hold it as a principle of our church’s identity. God has given each of us a mind, and we hope that everyone will use the mind they have been given. We encourage prayer and the leading of informed civic lives.
Reason 2: The current climate of the body-politic is so toxic-laden that any remarks we do make invariably illicit strong reactions. Indeed, even when we preach about political issues as a call to prayer, invariably we risk upsetting people on several fronts. We say what some deem to be the wrong thing. We say something and others deem that we didn’t say enough. Or, some wish the church would be a safe haven, set apart from so many of the debates which dominate the news, the office or the home.
So what do we do? If we cannot talk and pray about issues that effect our city, state and country at our church, then when and where can we talk about them and give direction to our members and friends about how to pray about them?
Why am I writing about this now? As you know, we are in an election year. Primaries. Conventions. Speeches. Campaigns. On top of this, we live in the capital city of North Carolina and we have an amazingly politics-literate congregation. We have a number of elected officials in our church family. This means we’ll be praying and thinking about elections at church, just as we are praying and thinking about it at home.
Pastorally I will be praying for all of us. Since 2001 I have heard story after story of our toxic political atmosphere infiltrating families—grandparents, parents and adult children who do not speak to one another for months on end because of political disagreements. I have heard stories of friendships lost or permanently altered for the worse. No candidate, no position is larger than our shared faith in Jesus Christ. No vote is worth losing a loving relationship.
Elections matter. Elections affect our lives, and they have impact on real people of every kind. We all know this. But why have our elections become so mean-spirited? The historians and political scientists of future generations will know for sure. But I think it is because so many of us are afraid. It is when our fears divide us one from another and our differences limit our conversations and interactions that we have slipped far away from the beloved community that God has called the church to exhibit to the world.
On this side of Easter, the call is to leave fear in our wake, to remember the Lord who called us to pray for our enemies and to put the needs of others ahead of our own. It may be complex. But Easter asks us for our best, complex or not.
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