TransPreacher

Voting is a prophetic act.

Christians have sometimes extended the essential principle of the separation of church and state to mean an abdication of the role of faith in the public space. Too often, we have seen our faith as an individual salvation project, divorcing what happens inside church walls on Sunday mornings from life on the streets on Sunday night.

Yet, in the familiar words of Matthew 6, Jesus teaches their followers to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

As Jesus followers, we are invited to care for widows and orphans, to work for freedom with the oppressed, to feed the hungry and visit the incarcerated, to welcome the stranger, and to recognize the sacred divinity in every person. The kindom of God is like a crowded street party of diverse voices chanting together “We Are Family!”

In contrast to this vision of abundance, we are bombarded my messages of fear. This election season we have been told to fear the person who has come here from another country seeking a better life for their children, as our predecessors did the same for us. We have been told to fear gender-diverse people with $65 million spent on anti-transgender political advertisements since August. We are even told to fear wind farms that are described as unsightly, slow, and allegedly killing whales.

Every news channel proclaims fear.

Every commercial proclaims fear.

Every voter marginalization tactic is based on fear.

But we can proclaim the counter-cultural message of faith. Faith that we all have sacred value and divine worth. Faith that we are all created in God’s image. Faith that our God is a God of abundance, not scarcity.

Voting can be an act of faith that we can live in a world with greater justice and equity, that systems can change, that the common good can outweigh selfish greed, and that love wins.

When we vote every voice is heard and counts the same.

Vote like you pray.

Vote like you believe.

Vote like the kindom of God will come.