Grace and Peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

I sat down to write today’s sermon on Wednesday, after the election, and I wrote a draft. And I wrote a different draft on Thursday. And I wrote a different draft on Friday. And then I did a whole bunch more editing on Saturday. All week long, I couldn’t stop thinking about how so many of my friends were heartbroken, dismayed, scared, disappointed, saddened, and so on. Perhaps some of you were, as well. Perhaps many of you were. And perhaps some of you were pleased with the results of the election.

And as I was thinking about today’s readings, and thinking about what to say, and searching for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I found myself thinking about a couple of my friends, and their experiences, from the week. I thought about my friend who is a pastor in a church that meets outdoors all year round, and serves an often vulnerable and invisible population. And I thought about how her community sought her out, and needed to be comforted, and encouraged, this week. I thought about my friend who is a school nurse in a school with a diverse population. In addition to being the nurse, she is often also a counselor and a comforter, to the kids. And I thought about how the kids in her school needed her to comfort them, to help them feel safe, and to tell them everything will be ok. I thought of one of my teacher friends, who got to explain checks and balances to her third graders, and how a president’s power is limited by the constitution. And I thought of another one of my teacher friends, who had difficult conversations with scared Muslim parents, and with the worried parents of a transgender student in her classroom, and even with her own kids, who were afraid for their bi-racial cousins.

And if you’re wondering why I’m talking about the election, it’s because this is the first election in my lifetime where America’s school children have been afraid of a President, after listening to him use so much hateful language directed at so many different peoples. And too many of our nation’s school children heard the racist, and sexist, and xenophobic, and islamophbic, and bigoted language directed against themselves. Or they heard that language directed against their friends, against their relatives, against their parents.

The superintendent of the Waltham schools, a diverse and multi-ethnic school system, much like Malden’s, with a substantial minority population, and a substantial Muslim population, and a substantial population of kids whose families were immigrants, or refugees… The superintendent of the Waltham schools, had to send out a letter to his staff, advising them about how to talk to kids who were scared their parents would be forced to leave the country, and how to talk to kids who were scared they would be persecuted because of their religion, or their race, or their sexuality. Some of you are teachers, and may have had similar conversations with your students. That’s unprecedented.

Too many Americans, too many of our friends, too many of our family members,
and too many of you, were singled out with ugly and hateful language from our President-Elect during the campaign. And too many American feel less safe now, then they did last Sunday. And yet, half of the voters voted for Donald Trump. And the President-elect, in his victory speech, struck a much different tone than during the campaign, and talked about being the president for all Americans, and even asked for the guidance of the people who didn’t support him.

And this is where our Lutheran heritage can be helpful. Martin Luther, in the Small Catechism, about how to apply the 8th commandment, reminds us to put the best possible construction on the actions of our neighbors. And it is helpful to remember that the vast majority of the Americans who voted for Trump, didn’t vote for him because of the racist language, or the bigotry, or the intolerance. They did so because they see a corrupt and broken political system, and the need for a different economic reality in America.

And yet the reality is that our next President fueled his campaign with bigotry and hate. And too many Americans are scared about what might happen to them. And so what do we do? What do we do now? How do we who are people of faith react to all this? And what do we do in our daily lives?

And so this morning I’d like to point us to our second reading from the Book of Thessalonians, which is probably one of the most mis-understood passages in all of the Bible. In today’s second reading, Paul writes: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” Which does not mean what it sounds like it means. “Anyone unwilling to work, should not eat.” Here’s the interesting thing about that verse. It has less to do with willingness and ability to work, and is actually about apocalypse, and end times.

In Paul’s day, many people thought that the world was going to come to an end, soon. Even Paul thought Jesus’ return was imminent, and was about to happen. And people in the city of Thessalonica thought so, too. And some were so convinced that Jesus would return very soon, that they stopped working. They stopped working. They stopped being productive. They stopped contributing to society, and they stopped helping each other. They weren’t lazy. They weren’t trying to game any system. And they weren’t unable to work. They simply chose not to work, because they thought that Jesus was going to return soon. And Saint Paul, in a letter to their community, called them on it. Paul, in his time, wrote those words to implore some confused people to continue on, regardless of what they thought would happen soon. And Paul, in his own life, lived that very message, constantly working to share the Good News of God in Jesus Christ, even though Paul, himself, thought that Jesus was about to return, and the world was about to end.

And so for us who are people of faith, in the aftermath of an election that has divided our country, and scared too many of our fellow citizens, what do we do? We continue to love and serve as Jesus taught us. We continue to love and serve God by loving and serving our neighbor. We continue to work together to care for the people in our community. We continue to feed the hungry. And we continue to look out and care for each other, and for the most vulnerable in our midst. In the words of our baptismal calling, we continue to  “strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”

And in our time, that might mean comforting scared children, and worried neighbors. That might mean speaking up for our Muslim sisters and brothers. That might mean advocating for refugees. That might mean defending the rights of our LGBTQ neighbors. That might mean confronting racism, challenging sexism, opposing bigotry, speaking out against intolerance, and meeting hatred and fear with comfort, and hope. It certainly means always viewing our neighbors through the lens of compassion.

Paul, in our second reading, this morning, encouraged the people in Thessalonica to press on. And Paul encourages us to do the same. As people of God, as followers of Jesus, and as a part of the Body of Christ, Paul encourages us to live as Christ’s Body, and to reach out to love and care for others, as Jesus did. And just as Paul encourages us to, we find our hope in Jesus, we find our strength in Jesus, we find our comfort in Jesus, we find our compassion in Jesus, we find our voice in Jesus. And we find our purpose, and our way of being, in Jesus’ call to love and serve God by loving and serving our neighbor. And we find our neighbor, in Jesus’ example of love, and care, and inclusion of all those, who were otherwise excluded, judged, looked down upon, spoken against, and despised, in his society. We find our neighbor in anyone who has been scared by the hateful language of the campaign, and needs to be comforted, or defended. We find our neighbor in each other, no matter who we voted for. And we find Jesus, in the faces of all of our neighbors. What do we do now? We love and serve as Jesus has called us. And just as we have always done. In the very last verse of today’s second reading, Paul offers a final word of encouragement to us: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” Amen.