Between this Echo and our subsequent Annual Holiday Letter, we will experience our November elections. I urge you to take your duty to vote seriously. Be radically and holistically informed on the issues and steeped in prayer. In this divided time there are many attempts to ignite fear, indulge in grievances and create enmity. So, I beg you to guard your heart and mind from forces not invested in the well-being of your body, mind, soul and relationships. (And from any forces that tempt you to believe that your well-being is more important in God’s eyes than others’ well-being.) Make no mistake – I have “policy opponents” and perhaps you do too. But I call us to remember that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities (ugly dynamics that have a life of their own, born of wrong ideas and unhealed emotions). My policy opponents are my fellow humans, beloved of God and as important as I am. Vice versa. This is at my “political” (spiritual) center – “I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.” Because of that, I am clear about my obligations no matter the outcome of any election. My obligations are to trust, grow, serve and bless. To love God with all my heart, soul and mind and my neighbor as I love myself. Whether it’s 33 A.D., 620 A.D., 1517 A.D. or 2024 A.D. Yes, I evaluate candidates on who has best chance to represent, protect and guide the maturing American experiments that safeguard liberty and justice for all. I have my set of worries and hopes for the outcome. And… on November 6th I will have the same moral compass I had November 5th no matter the outcome. The Apostle Paul nails some serious timely wisdom from a jail cell in Rome, as he gives advice to the church in Philippi. I encourage you to read the whole passage of Philippians 4:4-9 as a reminder of the way to prayerful peace and Gospel-centered thinking. It ends with “Keep on doing the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
In Christ’s Peace,
Pastor Jacki