Galatians 3:26-29
The election is over, and some people are ecstatic, and some fear for the future of our democracy. As with any election, there are winners and losers. This day brings many of us conflicting emotions. As we celebrate our right to vote and the opportunity to have a democracy in our great nation, we also understand that there is a lot of division and sometimes hatred that rears its ugly head during this time. How do we manage this as loving people?
The good news is that we don’t have to choose hatred. When I get concerned about our country and try to find my way of loving others like Jesus, and St. Francis did, I remember something that gives me great peace: God is more significant than anything.
In this election year, we have constantly heard mean, nasty, and degrading speeches as part of the debates, rallies, and primary election ads. We have heard:
• Women are human incubators denying them decisions about their bodies,
• Personal religious beliefs are slandered
• A whole segment of society is prevented from having recognized loving relationships
• Blatant slander of immigrants, people of color and women
• Revenge and elimination of anyone who disagrees with them
• Code words denigrating and demeaning anyone who is not like them.
I have never heard such language and disrespect for others in my seventy-some years. For a country that professes to be a ‘Christian’ nation, what I see is about as far away from acting in the way Jesus taught as you could get. It makes me ashamed – and appalled that those who truly follow Jesus’ teachings were so silent or had made capitulation against their beliefs to achieve political power.
Aren’t we sending a message to those non-religious or unchurched a message that we ‘Christians’ are hypocrites at the highest level?
And in my humble opinion, at the root of all this . . . what is the unspoken issue . . . what no one wants to say it is
RACISM,
SEXISM,
CLASSISM,
PATRIARCHY
And BIGOTRY!
Those people who are fundamentally opposed to an African Asian woman president used codes to incite their followers. As we have seen, this can lead to insurrection and assault on the fundamentals of our government.
As followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to extend a hand in search of a united country that will continue to uphold the principles of democracy. The world is watching us, unsure about their future security and stability.
As we heard in the Scripture, Jesus taught that no one is better than another. This teaching was revolutionary at the time because society was based on ‘haves and have-nots’: those who were like the masses and those who were not. There were distinct class differences: the upper class did not associate with people with low incomes, servants unacknowledged by their masters, and people with illnesses or disabilities abandoned on the streets.
Jesus’ proclamation that we are all equal in God’s eyes upset all the cultural boundaries of the day—and still do today.
But He repeatedly said that we are all one – equal in the eyes of God. That means that each one of us, no matter whether.
Upper class, middle class, or poor
Homeless or housed
Healthy or disabled
Educated or uneducated
People of color or white
Citizens or immigrants
Straight or gay
Are equal in the eyes of God. . . are to be loved and respected as each of our brothers and sisters.
Did everyone forget the Golden Rule:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? (Matthew 7:12)
And I have to say that as much as we see all this in the public arena, I have also seen it in our community and churches. Lately, there has been an undercurrent that disturbs me – people are taking snipes at each other and making racial and sexual slurs.
I will tell you that this is NOT the place for that. This is a house of God—where everyone is equal. We should not and will not allow it to continue as a community!
We all have our good points and the not-so-good sides of our personalities. At any time, we may be having a difficult day, but that is NOT an excuse for treating our fellow brothers and sisters with disrespect. There is no place for any ‘–ism’ (racism, sexism, classism) in this place. . . or in God’s kingdom!
When we are hurt, we want to pull back, but the one who hurts us is often too powerful, so a safe substitute is found. We find someone we tell ourselves is lesser than us and blame everything on them. So many riots and wars have been fueled by this anger and bigotry. In a depressed economy, more people are jockeying for a position in society, which can cause one group to denigrate and defile others if not recognized and purposely controlled. It may be subtle, using code words so only those who feel that same way understand the ‘–ism.’ Or it may be pronounced and blatant.
But this lack of love for our brothers and sisters is a SIN!
We are all equal in the eyes of God.
We have the responsibility to expose these hidden ‘–isms’ so that we can all walk together, any race, any creed, any background, any gender, any culture, any socio-economic level.
We must:
• Acknowledge our negative thoughts, feelings, and attitudes of fear, anxiety, anger, guilt
• Acknowledge our thoughts, feelings, and attitudes toward those who are different
• Acknowledge that we are all children of the same Creator
• Acknowledge that hate, bigotry, and –isms prevent us from living into the fullness of life in Christ
• We must cleanse our hearts and minds of those things that feed hatred and bigotry.
Diana Butler Bass, an Episcopal priest, and writer, offered us this at a time when we fear for our future:
Go slow tomorrow. I urge you to pay attention to some small, beautiful things. We don’t need answers, a plan, or understanding. One friend texted me, “It’s okay to catch your breath after the wind has been knocked out. It will take a bit. But we will rise.”
Our spiritual connection unites us as one family:
We are all one in Christ, which has wide-ranging implications. First, it calls for unity and harmony among brothers and sisters. We must be willing to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, showing humility, gentleness, patience, “bearing with one another in love,” and making “every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1–3).
The unity of believers is emphasized in Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer.
“all be one, just as you and I are one so that the world will believe you sent me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:21–23).
Relational unity in the church and this country is the best witness to the reality of Jesus and God.
Paul also said,
“In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us” (Colossians 3:11).
How can we hate or demonize someone if Christ lives in them? We must repent of every form of condescension, partiality, and intolerance based on race, rank, and gender.
We affirm in church that we are no longer Jew nor Greek reflexively, not even aware of what we are saying. What if we said neither American nor Iranian, neither Jew nor Palestinian, neither person of color nor Caucasian? How many Israelis would eat at the table with Palestinians? How many God-fearing Americans would have Iranians among their friends? Or do they demonize all the refugees and immigrants among them?
Finally, we come to the last pair of opposites. There is no longer male and female. The language is different. It is not male or female but male and female, as referenced in Genesis 1:27.
So God created humankind in his image; in the image of God, he created them; male and female, he created them.
We, as Christians, must set the example of Jesus’ teaching as we move into whatever the future may hold. We must not practice racism, bigotry, or discrimination as we try to build a nation that upholds the tenets of democracy.
‘for the people, by the people, and of the people.’
The country we had on Monday is still the country we have today. Those who govern this country will have to decide what type of country we will have in the future.
The thing we need to remember is
The future is unwritten.
Franciscan monk Father Richard Rohr tells us.”
To pray is to practice that posture of radical trust in God’s grace.
We will endure Donald Trump and his sycophants. His time will pass, but sadly, he can cause severe damage. However, we can, indeed we must, limit this damage through our unceasing resolve. As active witnesses of justice and mercy, we will transform darkness into light and weakness into strength for ourselves and others. Every act of love, every gesture of kindness, and every healing builds the nation that, for now, seems to elude us.
Hope is not a mere feeling. It is a choice we make every day. When we choose hope, we embody the essence of our Christian calling—a calling to be agents of change and witnesses of the love our nation so desperately needs now more than ever.
Our hope is not rooted in some fleeting optimism but in the enduring truths of our faith grounded in the Gospels, which teach boundless love and the core belief that darkness does not have the last word.
So, we begin to write the next chapter of our nation’s and church’s history. May they reflect the most sacred of our values and an unwavering commitment to truth.
It is time for those who care about democracy and our country to pray unceasingly.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we are at a crossroads as to whether we will continue as a democracy and be a beacon to the world. Bestow upon those who will be assuming governance of this United States the principles of justice, mercy, and compassion for the entire people of our country and those of the world. May the people who bought their way into the government put aside their self-interests and work for a more united country that benefits everyone. This we pray In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Delivered at Ohio Living Westminster Thurber, Columbus, OH; 9 November 2024
