The Pastor's Pen
Early voting has begun in Georgia, and with it comes an opportunity to do something both ordinary and consequential: cast a ballot. We study the candidates, consider the issues, and make the best decisions we can. Voting is one way we accept responsibility for the communities we share and the neighbors whose lives our decisions affect.
I hope you will vote. I hope you will give it careful thought and prayer. And I hope we will remember that our civic responsibility belongs within a larger calling.
For Christians, our highest allegiance is to Jesus Christ. The command to love God and love our neighbors reaches into every part of life, including our politics. It asks us to consider whose burdens might be eased, whose dignity needs defending, and whose voice we have failed to hear. It also calls us to examine our own assumptions with enough humility to admit that we may have something to learn.
No political party can carry the full weight of our faith. No candidate deserves the trust that belongs to God. Every platform and promise remains subject to the searching questions of the gospel.
And every person remains more than a political affiliation.
The neighbor with the yard sign you dislike may also be the person caring for an aging parent, worrying about a child, or quietly bringing meals to someone who is sick. That does not settle your disagreements. It does remind you that there is a whole human life behind that sign.
We can disagree strongly. We can challenge harmful ideas and hold leaders accountable. We can speak plainly about what we believe is right. Our obligation to love still holds. So does our obligation to tell the truth, including about people we would rather prove wrong.
Perhaps one faithful practice this election season would be to ask, before sharing a post or entering an argument: Will these words help someone understand, or will they simply give my frustration somewhere to go? Am I listening for what this person fears or hopes for? Can I make my case without diminishing their humanity?
Cast your ballot. Take your responsibility seriously. Then keep showing up for the people around you, including those who voted differently.
We will still be neighbors when the election is over. And Jesus will still be calling us to love one another.
I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
I hope you will vote. I hope you will give it careful thought and prayer. And I hope we will remember that our civic responsibility belongs within a larger calling.
For Christians, our highest allegiance is to Jesus Christ. The command to love God and love our neighbors reaches into every part of life, including our politics. It asks us to consider whose burdens might be eased, whose dignity needs defending, and whose voice we have failed to hear. It also calls us to examine our own assumptions with enough humility to admit that we may have something to learn.
No political party can carry the full weight of our faith. No candidate deserves the trust that belongs to God. Every platform and promise remains subject to the searching questions of the gospel.
And every person remains more than a political affiliation.
The neighbor with the yard sign you dislike may also be the person caring for an aging parent, worrying about a child, or quietly bringing meals to someone who is sick. That does not settle your disagreements. It does remind you that there is a whole human life behind that sign.
We can disagree strongly. We can challenge harmful ideas and hold leaders accountable. We can speak plainly about what we believe is right. Our obligation to love still holds. So does our obligation to tell the truth, including about people we would rather prove wrong.
Perhaps one faithful practice this election season would be to ask, before sharing a post or entering an argument: Will these words help someone understand, or will they simply give my frustration somewhere to go? Am I listening for what this person fears or hopes for? Can I make my case without diminishing their humanity?
Cast your ballot. Take your responsibility seriously. Then keep showing up for the people around you, including those who voted differently.
We will still be neighbors when the election is over. And Jesus will still be calling us to love one another.
I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings,
Pastor Greg
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