Make America Great Again or Stronger Together?

This is a difficult time in our country.  No matter who wins the presidential election, there will be a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Congress will likely continue to stall out with regards to legislation as it becomes increasingly difficult to work across the aisle.  

There are lots of negatives in this election cycle and the system seems broken.

Yet it is a privilege to live in this country.  We have freedoms that are guaranteed to us by law.  We have the right to vote on leadership who will represent us – even if our particular choice does not prevail.

We have the freedom to worship as we choose.

In our weekly staff meeting, we addressed the rending of our nation’s morale over this election.  The question was posed, “As we acknowledge the political divide in our country, what are things you think the church could do to help the nation heal?”

We had some good discussion but unfortunately, we didn’t come up with any revolutionary programs that would be a magic fix. 

We did remind ourselves that Christians are a people who are respecters of others – even if they have differing views.  We encourage civil discourse.  We cast a vision for people who think differently to come together under God.

Within worship, when we pray a prayer of confession, we acknowledge that none of us gets it right all of the time.  Furthermore, we recognize that God’s grace is freely available to all human beings.

Regardless of political persuasion, most Americans want security and freedom.  They want possibilities and potential.  They want these things for their loved ones.  They want satisfaction for a job well done and they want the work they do to make a larger difference in the world. 

These are things that Christians want as well.  Only we don’t just want them for ourselves or our family members.  We want them for all people because we are taught to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  This is what allows us to help with the healing of our nation. 

This Sunday, we will look at the lectionary passage from Isaiah 65:17-25.  It is very timely, I believe and I hope you’ll take a moment to read it.  Join us as we continue to lead our community in both “making America great again” and being “stronger together.”  After all, these may only be political slogans and we may be jaded by our leadership but the people make up the character of a country.  If we decide to make them our reality, we may find the leadership is trying to catch up to the people!

I hope you'll pray for our country and our elected leaders (no matter who wins) - that you'll pray for our church and our people!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by Memphis CVB via Flickr.com, used under the Creative Commons license.