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Election Eve Reflection

written by Jim Mathes | November 7, 2016

Bishop Mathes

While mindful that many of you have already voted, I am also aware that tomorrow is a momentous day in the life of our nation. This has been a remarkably divisive political campaign in a time where our nation’s divisions have been growing more acute.

As a community of Christians we hold differing political perspectives and affiliations. Indeed, we hold those views with varying degrees of passion. Our vote is just that — our vote. We exercise it in private and we need not share it with anyone. It is an obligation for each of us to participate in the process of choosing our next leader.

Sometime tomorrow evening, we will likely know who will be president-elect. We will also know the outcome of a host of other elections and ballot initiatives. As marred and ugly as this campaign season has been, Wednesday will be God’s gift to each of us. It will be a new day filled with possibility. I pray those elected, and those not, will choose to behave in such a way that they honor the core values of our democracy.

I also call on people of faith to move from this election as participants in dialogue who seek solutions to vexing problems whether their candidates won or lost. What is truly remarkable is not when people who agree come together, but when people who disagree come together. The truth is that in the church, and in the world, we need to hear from the one who offers a different view. Let us strive to be the church that models respecting the dignity of all persons. Upon this foundation we can build a peaceable and just society.