"The Only Vote that Counts"
The Sunday after the election is the Sunday when we make our commitment to the church for the coming year. This is an important day for us for a number of reasons.
Ultimately, whatever we decide about the elections will have an importance we can measure, but, in the long view of things, it is of relative significance. "In view of the cosmos" whether it is John or Obama matters not so much. Both are good people. Either will do the best they can for our country.
In the light of the major issues of life and death; of war and peace; of good or evil the pledge me make to the church will drift into unimportance as the years advance. We give what we can give and the church takes what we give and does something important with it. We empower the church in the measure in which we feel it is important to us and to the world in which we live.
The most important vote is the vote each of us makes every morning we awaken to greet the dawn. Every day we are asked to vote on what will happen to us and how we will respond to it. We cannot choose to withdraw because that leads to a lapsing of responsibility and other factors will determine what we do and who we become.
Sunday is a reminder that we have the privilege of standing up and being counted. We count by the way we vote, and we count by the influence we have over the things that are important to us.
The most important vote is the continual self- assertion of our will into the mix of wills and ways.
Our best hope is that we will choose well; and that our choice is consistent with the God we worship and the faith that informs us.
How will you vote?
What is your stand on the following?
1. Poverty
2. War
3. Inclusion
4. Kindness
5. Joy
6. Hope
7. Love
I'd like to invite you to weigh in on this topic. If you have thoughts email me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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1 comment:
Chuck, I need to point out that Mr. Obama is a Methodist at heart:
What kind of decision maker and leader Mr. Obama will be remains unclear even to many of his supporters. Will he be willing to use his political capital and act boldly, or will he move cautiously and risk being paralyzed by competing demands from within his own party? His performance under the harsh lights of the campaign trail suggests a figure with remarkable coolness and confidence under enormous pressure, yet also one who rarely veers off the methodical path he lays out.
Perhaps John Wesley was correct in using a method to change the world. Vision shows the horizon, but doesn't get you there. This is the Bible story: Moses leading toward the promised land, Jesus transforming the world beneath the crush of the Romans...
Tom Hartmann
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