BY JANE RZEPKA, SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
The United States is poised for an election. While many members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship are not US citizens, to some extent or another everyone in the world will be affected by this vote. Therefore, one might expect a word on the topic in a column such as this.
It’s not that I don’t know who I’m going to vote for. I do.
It’s not that I don’t know who you should favor. I do.
I have thought these elections through, I have strong opinions, and I’d like to tell the world what’s what.
It’s just that, darn it all, I believe in democracy. And if I believe in democracy, I have to accept the fact that even though I am perfectly clear in my own mind about who ought to win this election, even though I’m so sure I know who the best candidate is, those other folks, those folks who are about to vote the “wrong” way, might turn out to be right. Unimaginable, I know.
True, in our religious tradition, ministers in my neck of the woods have always preached “Election Sermons”—right back to Colonial times. But alas, our clergy have never figured out a system where we get to tell voters how to cast their ballots. At most, election sermons comment on an aspect or two of the current political scene.
In my heart of hearts, I know that’s best. In a democracy, the views of a minister have no particular clout. And within the context of Unitarian Universalism, we want people who have a variety of views to feel at home. While members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship are religious liberals, we need not be political liberals.
My mother is a Democrat. When I was growing up, she was the only Democrat in our village. My father was a Republican. When I was growing up, he was the only Republican in our Unitarian church, which was some miles away. I remember that both in town and in church, one or the other of my parents was the designated political oddball. But because in both places they were always included and treated with warmth, respect, and good-natured humor, I have seen that political diversity can work just fine.
So, I am not in favor of exclusionary partisan politics from the pulpit. Yet I am all for politics in church! Religion and politics couldn’t be more tightly linked.
I know that the first phrase that comes to many of our minds is “Hey, what about the separation between church and state that the USA is so famous for?!” Certainly we would never support the establishment of a state religion—that’s what the separation of church and state is designed to prevent. But religion does get to comment on how we live our lives both in the private and public arenas—that’s what religion is for.
In the end, the election is not so much about politics as it is about real life, same as religion. Whether you plan to vote this way or that, most of your concerns are shared concerns that manifest in the world beyond this election.
None of us, and none of the candidates, has sure-fire answers about how to solve all our problems. None of us knows the very best order of priority in a complicated world, none of us could ever predict all the wild cards that will show up in the future.
In 1630, John Winthrop preached a sermon on the deck of the little ship Arbella, before the Puritans set foot on land in North America. He said:
We must be knit together, in this work, as one.... We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities.... We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
I, for one, find it difficult to, as Winthrop suggests, “be knit together in this work as one.” As I said, inside I feel as though I know exactly who to vote for, I know who’s right and who’s wrong. But we need to move beyond that. That’s not what democracy is. That’s not what Unitarian Universalism is.
As my colleague Ken Sawyer once wrote,
Whoever wins or loses in the races on Tuesday
or in the next or the next beyond them,
let us bear our little victories with humility
and our defeats with grace.
In the midst of whatever may come,
may we be spared from vengeance and bitterness alike.
May we instead be graced with laughter,
perspective, gentleness,
forbearance,
patience, and peace.
Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108-2823, U.S.
or
Phone: 617-948-6166; or for international callers, use 00-1-948-617-6166
Fax: 617-523-4123, or for international faxes, use 00-1-617-523-4123
