Vote for the Love of Christ.

Well here we are, two days before “the most important election of our lives,” until Wednesday, when we embark on the next election, which I’m sure will be billed as “the most important election of our lives.”

I hope you’ve registered. All of us should pray about it and vote our convictions and consciences. I’ve already voted. I have my opinions, and while I’m not shy about them I’m always conscious of an overriding necessity. They cannot become an issue.

You see, I’ve got to be a priest to all the saints and to all the potential saints who cross my path. This is true no matter what they think, how they feel, their life experiences or even where they are in their faith – from zero faith in God at all (I saw a tombstone Halloween night in Babson Park that said, “Here lies an atheist, all dressed up and no place to go,”) to mature, faithful and involved Christians. I’d like to share an example.

In our previous parish we had this fellow who was in his late 80’s. He was a World War II veteran who served as a bombardier in a B-24. That was a low-altitude bomber that was nicknamed “The Flying Coffin.” Once the plane was in the air, he had to climb down into a glass bubble under the plane, strap himself in and stay there until they got over the target area. Then, in his glass bubble with antiaircraft flak bursting all around him and enemy fighters shooting at them, he would sight the targets and drop the bombs. Talk about concentration! He flew many missions on D-Day, at low altitude, and said there were so many ships in the English Channel that it looked like you could walk across it.

He was a great guy, always smiling and interested in everyone. He wasn’t in the best physical shape, but he’d always show up to events and participate where he could. And he generously supported the fundraisers the youth and other groups would have throughout the year. He was also very conservative, a member of the Tea Party at the time, and he would forward me their emails and so on.

There was also a woman in the parish who was born in Jamaica. She became a nurse and moved to New York City where she had a successful career and eventually wound up in charge of all the nurses at her hospital. She dedicated her entire life to caring for people. She retired and moved to the Ocala area. She became a Lay Eucharistic Minister at our church.

She was a great lady, always smiling and interested in everyone. She had surgery so I made a pastoral visit to her home. Over her mantle she had a 3 or 4-foot portrait of President Obama.

They were both very faithful members of the church. I couldn’t regard or treat them differently. Jesus’ command is that we love one another. And that isn’t something you can pretend. You can’t act the part. It has to come from your core. People will know if you’re faking it.

A lot of rhetoric in our culture pushes the idea that we are all at the mercy of our feelings, that our feelings are what they are and, “Oh well, that’s how I feel and I have to go with it!” But that is not true.  It is a lie. At times, the decision to love, to do the loving thing, comes through our will, a decision that we are going to be the person that God is calling us to be, the person that Jesus commands us to be. Love is a choice.

John wrote to the Church, he wrote to us, “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. (1 John 3:1)

And here’s the thing. You know how, well, before COVID, most of us used to sit in the same seat every Sunday? Those two parishioners I discussed earlier, the right winger and the Obama lover, sat side by side every Sunday. They didn’t like each other.  They loved each other. They loved each other with that true depth of Christian friendship that builds over years of worshipping and sharing life together. I don’t have any idea if they knew or maybe assumed each other’s politics. But I knew. And week after week I’d see them greet each other with sincere joy in fellowship, embracing, smiling, radiating joy.

There was always another option. They could have put their politics first. They could have bought into the demonization of the other side – not just of their policies but demonizing “them” as people. That seems to be the way of the world and many are hell-bent on seeing everything through the prisms of power and money. But, “The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” as John puts it.  (1 John 3:1)

There is a poverty of spirit in these Beatitudes that Jesus shares at the opening of the Sermon on the Mount that overturn all of that thinking. They are, therefore, perhaps more daunting than the Ten Commandments. 

We do know him. Or, at least, we are growing to know him. I’ve got to serve every saint and every one as Jesus commands. It isn’t easy. Here’s the challenging part: You do too. We all do.

But, like any daunting challenge, the key is to break it down and offer it in prayer. “What is the next right thing I can do? And Lord, help me do it as unto you.” This is the way of the saints of God, “Lord help me to be one too.”

This is absolutely vital to our life in the church. Thankfully, we don’t have roiling controversies or conflicts afoot at Good Shepherd. We are a happy group! But we know there is a great deal of tension, anger, distrust and demonization in our community, in our nation and around the world.

Being formed by Christ, we have a particular role. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God.” We are called to be the buffer between the clashing sides, the lubricant in the gears of society that can calm the anger and bridge, even transcend the divides. This is spade work. It comes in the daily, moment by moment decisions we make in the ways we treat people, the counsel we offer and the actions we take or refrain from taking.

I’d like to close with a quote. The story of how it came to me is a witness of its own. Chip Thullbery’s siblings were sorting through his stuff and brought over a box full of his religious books. Lisa Carter called me to her office in case I wanted any of them. I took just a few, including this, “A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants.” It contains prayers for each week of the year based on our lectionary. It’s always good to have a variety of devotional books and this one looked good. There is a ribbon in it and I turned to the page where I saw Chip had left a star next to a particular passage.

“We are always praying, when we are doing our duty and turning it into work for God.” Among the things which we should regard as spiritual in its sense are our household or professional work, the social duties of our station, friendly visits, kind actions and small courtesies, and also necessary recreation of body and of mind; so long as we link all these by intention with God and the great movement of his Will.” – From The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill

That was Chip. All the hospitality, the kind words and small courtesies linked with an intention to God. Then I noticed that the ribbon was set for the week of September 18-24, wherein my birthday falls right in the middle. “Lord, are you trying to tell me something?”

Let love be our aim and may our lives be an example of the way we should live in community as beloved Children of God and as servants of Christ Jesus Our Lord.

AMEN