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A Few Words from Pastor Bryan
...and Drew Paton
So this will be my last "Few Words From Pastor Bryan" article before the upcoming election. Like most of you, I'm "feeling it." The tension in the air. This is an election like no other. The stakes are high to put it mildly.
As I shared with a couple of our members earlier today, it has been agonizing for me to do the "pastor's dance" when it comes to partisan politics in this electoral season in particular. I don't think a pastor should tell church members who to vote for, and so I haven't. I believe in the separation of church and state. God is not a Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian. God loves everyone in every party. There are people of integrity and faith in all parties. I don't believe in so-called Christian Nationalism, and I certainly don't believe in white Christian Nationalism.
And yet...
I've got strong feelings and convictions of my own based on my faith.
I don't think God is neutral. Yes, God loves everyone equally. But God also calls and stands for truth, compassion, justice, fair business practices, kindness, respect for Creation and all living things, mercy, and love. God wants what's best for everyone, including and in many ways especially for the poor, the marginalized, the outcast, the forgotten, and the most vulnerable. The God of Jesus loves and values women and stands with women when laws are used to harm them. The God of Jesus loves and welcomes immigrants and "strangers" among us. The God of the Bible is a God of abundance, but also has strong things to say about materially wealthy people who are completely disconnected from the poor and from any sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of all. Scripture condemns dishonesty, corruption, and greed. I believe a responsible reading of the Bible affirms the dignity and sacred identity of all races, nations, and sexual orientations. The God of Jesus is not neutral.
And yet...
There is something terribly dangerous about claiming that "God is on our side." Countless horrific things have been done in the name of those who were convinced that their side was the ONE most in alignment with the intentions of God. So we have to be REALLY careful. And humble. And open to seeing the logs in our own eyes. And to being in conversation with people who see things other than we do. And willing to acknowledge that there is no completely "righteous" candidate beyond reproach. We all have our shortcomings and our flaws and failures. You know what I'm saying.
But voting is taking a side, and I'll be so bold as to say that I really think the God of Jesus wants us to vote. Because elections matter. They impact lives tremendously, and this one is likely to be more consequential than any election in our lifetimes. This election will impact lives of people in our own congregation more than I even want to think about to be honest.
So vote based on who you are as a person of faith.
But I also want to leave you with a poem of sorts by a Presbyterian pastor from Berkley, CA named Drew Paton. His perspective actually takes me to the places that feel most True and sacred to me. I hope it speaks to your soul as does to mine. I particularly like his line, "it doesn't work like that."
I'm around if you want to talk about the election, how you're feeling about it all, or if you want to talk about how and why you'll cast your vote a certain way based on your faith.
May God bless and guide us all,
Pastor Bryan
Which Side Are You On?
By Drew Paton
“If ever they ask you,
“Which side are you on?”
Tell them, plainly,
“I stand with the people.”
With the precious ones, all, the integral,
the soft and the fierce, irreplaceable,
the beloved, if only
by God and trees, who were born,
who breathe and survive;
Say I stand with those who keep watch,
beneath the bright screaming arc of bombs;
with those who hide in dark doorways
or who through the moonlight flee;
with those who stay and fight,
and with those kept up all night,
by hunger and grief and terror and rage,
by desperate, unruly hope;
who are good and green at the root;
who are more than the worst that they’ve done;
who do their best to love, and still pass on
the hurt in themselves that they hate.
But what then
when they stand ‘gainst each other?
The people – against even themselves?
Stand fast with whatever is human in them,
what is fragile and feeling and flesh.
Stand with the truth of our stories.
Stand with the fact of our pain.
Stand in defiant insistence on freedom
Stand there again and again.
Stand there today and tomorrow.
Stand for the rest of your life.
Stand tall, stand together, until we belong
each one to every other.
If ever they ask you, “Which side are you on?”
Say, “It doesn’t work like that.”
Tell them you stand with the people.
Then stand where the people are at.”
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