Elections in the United States are unique in many ways, not least the protracted time many campaigns seem to (and actually) run. So, to say the last year has been long, to say it has been contentious and exhausting… these seem like understatements.
That part is over, the campaigning is done for now. And some are feeling relief as their candidates were victorious while some are anxious, concerned about what’s next. I share that not because I want to stir things up or appear wise and centered, but because I believe our faith calls us to acknowledge relief and anxiety as real, while recognizing that sometimes the same outcome will produce both diverging paths within our family, our friends, our church, and our faith.
So please hear one thing from me, from First Bonita: wherever you are we care about you, and we want to come alongside you there. Because this is not the end of the story. A victory does not mean the job is done; a defeat is not a call to stick our heads in the sand. Each of us is called into God’s kingdom and is about the work of that kingdom’s future. As my friend Rev. Roy Terry offered, “Every candidate that rises will eventually fall, and God’s love will continue, and continue to be shared through God’s people.”
Or, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offered in the sermon “Love In Action”: “Generations will rise and fall; men will continue to worship the god of revenge and bow before the altar of retaliation, but ever and again, this noble lesson of Calvary will be a nagging reminder that only goodness can drive out evil and only love can conquer hate”.
And so, as those who follow Jesus, as those who dare to do so as his first disciples dared to do, following into confusion and difficulty and the unknown, we will continue to love, to look for love, and to celebrate a love that conquers hate. For this is how we will be known as those who follow Christ, the foundation of our faith.
Grace and Peace,
Ben
