Vote

On our journey of healing, let’s consider tomorrow.

Election Day is tomorrow. Finally! We have watched with disdain and boredom the variety of campaign efforts to persuade us. I have friends from all parties who are adamant in their beliefs for their candidates and I applaud their participation in the voting freedom we have as Americans. And while I am hardly a pacifist, I tend to quietly make my decisions based not on political rallies or phone and print propaganda, but some inner core of beliefs that often seem outdated and unpopular and definitely not politically correct.

This morning, I read about “Society” from Bobby Gross’s excellent book Living The Christian Year, Time to Inhabit the Story of God. Gross writes from the lectionary text through the year and elaborates today on the Ten Commandments. At the heart of the law is the command for us to be holy because God is holy. He says that holiness is a social thing – it has to do with our moral standing before God and our moral behavior toward others. Just how are we living with each other?

From the Ten Commandments, he moves to Psalms 15 where the question is asked, “Lord, who may come and worship with you? And the answer is clear – those who maintain relations of integrity and justice. Before true worship begins, we must know how to live. Do we?

And finally, he moves to Isaiah 65 where the prophet paints a new picture of creation. The city of God will be joyful and its society a delight. I am trying to imagine a world of joy and delight. Gross asks the question, “What kind of society should we all be working toward?” Isaiah answers: “In the delightful society, infant mortality is rare and elder care extensive, the economy is just and labor practices are fair, work is meaningful and families are protected, violence is low and collaboration is high. This social justice and peace is God’s shalom.”

 And this is our work as Christians to seek God’s shalom – a state of peace, justice, wholeness and human flourishing.

 Vote for God’s shalom.