We are on the cusp of a very important election. There is lots of hand-wringing, lots of tension and fear. If “my” candidate doesn’t win its going to be a disaster. If the “wrong” person is elected the future of our country is doomed. Anxiety is rampant among so many right now. Its palpable, you can almost feel the tension tightening day by day.
I will tell you, I’m not immune to such feelings. I have the habit of turning on the news to listen until I just can’t take it anymore, and then turning the channel to something more banal. I can let my emotions get so stirred up I find myself talking back to the tv screen, screaming my objections and incredulity as if those on the other side can actually hear it.
Elections are always going to elicit strong emotions in each of us. We care about the affairs of our community, of our state, nation and world. The season of campaigning and the election cycle is engineered to place us and our emotions squarely in the center and then divide us along these imaginary lines. So stress, tension, fear and anxiety are built into the whole thing. This is how our attention is grabbed and manipulated. If candidates weren’t bashing each other, saying all manner of things, we wouldn’t be as prone to tune in.
Setting the election aside for a moment, we are also closing in on a very important time of the year. Its almost Halloween! I write that with just a little bit of a glint in my eye. I’m guessing I’ll get some eye rolls with that pronouncement, as if it in any way compares to all that we previously talked about. Seriously though, tomorrow will be All Hallow’s Eve, the precursor to All Saints Day. This is a time we focus on those persons who have passed from this plane of existence into eternity. For all of the ghoulish costumes, horror-laden decorations and parties, this really is a sober time to remember our departed loved ones.
Do we think the election cycle is of any concern to those who have passed into the eternal realm? If we could hear them, what do we believe they would say to us about this emotionally vexing time we are allowing ourselves to be caught up in? Somehow, I don’t think there’s any of what we are going through to be found on the other side. I believe on that side there is peace, and a sense of being without any fear, any trepidation, any loss of one’s own centeredness.
The world has somehow continued through all the horrors of past administrations, past regimes, past kings, dictators, and potentates. On November 6, 2024, the world will still be turning, and the sun will still come up. One side will have won, and one side will have lost. And yet, we will still be here.
What I hear God saying to us in this moment is: “Fear not, for I am with you.” God has been saying this to us down through the ages, assuring us that no matter what comes, no matter who is in the White House, no matter who is in temporary power, God is still with us. And as the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8:31…””What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Back to All Saints Day and those we’ve lost. We’ve lost some truly dear people in this past year. People who made a difference in our lives, and the lives of others. They too would tell us not to worry, not to fret, not to panic. Where they are, they are experiencing total love, total peace, all in the presence of God. They no longer worry, but they also know, we can set our worries aside as well. God is with us, and come what may, God will continue to be with us.
I hope you have, or will, exercise your right to vote. Too many have sacrificed too much for us to have this right. When we vote, we participate in the process, we are invested. Even if our candidate doesn’t win, we will have been a voice for our desires, our wishes, our perspective. It all matters. What doesn’t contribute one solitary bit to any of it, is our anxiety and fear. So, fear not, God is with us and that’s all that matters in the end.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom