This isn't going to be a long post. I've pretty much said my peace about the election before and you're welcome to check out those articles. Though I won't be voting today, I will be praying for those who are.
At times I've made light of this election, not because I find it unimportant, but because its importance is significantly smaller than the amount of time, money, energy, and rhetoric spent winning it would lead you to believe.
No matter who wins the election tonight, we will still be here in the morning and we will still be here in four years. We may solve a few of the old problems, but we'll simply replace them with new ones.
Life will go on. The rain will continue to fall on the just and the unjust.
Today my friends have said what I want to say better than I. Lauren Plummer posted the following thoughts on the Amos House Community blog:
Today we will vote or not vote, and someone will be elected to lead our country. And still – to the children of distant lands and children of our own land, in the bodies of women, on the backs of the poor, in the souls of men, and to the earth herself – still unspeakable violence will be done. Our hope cannot rest in elected officials.
Yes, our choices today, and especially the intentions and consciousness they spring from, matter. But forget the noise and distraction of Right or Left; both are Babylon. As people of faith, Election Day is such a tiny piece (much more the beginning than the end) of our work in the world. Let this be our real work – to use up our lives every day casting a vote for Justice over Comfort, Mercy over Power, Community over Self, Love over Fear, Life over Death.
Today is also a day for prayer and reflection and I thank my friend Charlie Seaton for posting a collection of prayers relevant for today. This was my favorite and will be my prayer today:
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us
through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole
human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which
infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us;
unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and
confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in
your good time, all nations and races may serve you in
harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
It's going to be okay. That's what's going to happen. Everything's okay.
Peace,
Ben
You can follow Ben on Twitter @BenHoward87 or email him at benjamin.howard87 [at] gmail.com.
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