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“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.”
(Isaiah 41:10, NRSV)
Dear Friends,
We recently held our Ministry Day training at St. John’s UCC in Fullerton. We focused on unity, dignity, and respect. As a part of the opening session, participants were asked to write their fears on an index card. We offered them as a means of releasing them to God’s hands. There were twenty-seven (27) index cards offered. Of those, nineteen (19) index cards expressed fear related to the 2024 elections. What does that say to us when we are less than 2 weeks before the election day in the United States?
All fall, or really for the past 18 months, we have heard statement after statement, advertisement after advertisement, conversation after conversation from our candidates, especially our presidential nominees. As a minister of the gospel, I have prayed that people will use insight, knowledge, and love as they vote. I have encouraged individuals to practice their civic duty and vote – even if they feel their one vote is meaningless. Their vote is not meaningless, and we each need to act – whomever our choice of candidate.
The UCC current and former general ministers and presidents prepared a video about voting. (The link to the video is https://www.ucc.org/current-and-former-gmps-call-on-ucc-to-vote-faithfully-and-with-love/.) They remind us that we are called as Christians to act in love. They do not define for us how each of us may choose to love, but that we follow our hearts and our faith and act in love as we prepare to vote this fall. Trusting in God is an important part of our faith lives, and that is true even as, or maybe especially as, we live our public and civic lives, fulfilling our roles as citizens and Christians. We cannot separate the two. God holds us. We need to hold God near us in prayer as we make decisions and act in the world.
This fall I took training to serve as a Poll Chaplain Peacekeeper. I have been assigned to a polling location in Philadelphia. I will be there from 6 am until noon striving to keep peace, encouraging people to feel free to act on their convictions as they vote, answering questions, and praying with people if they ask or choose. This feels like important faith work to me. It is one of the ways I am living out my civic and faith responsibilities, one of the ways I am acting in love.
I will be praying for all of you, as well; the nineteen people who expressed fears about the election (even though I do not know their names), all of us who are striving to faithfully follow Jesus as we live our daily lives. It is my prayer that we will have a peaceful election process and that we will know God’s presence in our lives each step of each day.
Blessings,
Bonnie
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