Happy Monday, Friends! Again, this week, I’m pausing from our series drawing inspiration from the Gospel canticles to focus on tomorrow, Election Day 2022. Those of us who are US citizens and electors either have or will go to the polls to cast ballots for representatives to the US House and other federal, state, and local offices depending on where we live. Here in Ohio, we have a US Senate race, US House races, all executive state races—including governor and lieutenant governor—as well as members of the General Assembly and the Ohio Supreme Court. Short of a presidential election, it’s a busy election cycle in the Buckeye State.
Before I go any further, I need to write a particular and definite statement: LOVEboldly is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We do not and will not engage in partisan politics and we do not and will not endorse any candidate, group of candidates, or political party. That being said, it would be both antithetical to our ethos and deeply problematic for us to even suggest for whom you or anyone else should vote. First, we are convinced, as an organization and as individuals, that we can and should work across political and ideological divides. Second, the process of researching candidates, deciding for whom we will each vote, and then voting is a nearly sacred obligation which transcends partisan affiliations and sectarianism.
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” When faced with the current economic, political, and religious landscape of life in the United States (and beyond), it’s easy to become convinced that not voting is the answer; taking no action because there seems to neither be a good option nor a good outcome. However, inaction, even in the face of overwhelming odds and enormous tides of discontent, is still an action and an action which does nothing for the oppressed. Voting, particularly in the United States, is often one of the simplest actions we can take which can have a major impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. Remember, your liberation is bound up in my liberation and your oppression is bound up in my oppression. None of us is truly free until we are all free.
If you have already voted, thank you. If you haven’t voted yet, I urge you to choose action rather than inaction. Yes, I hope you also take the time to critically examine the issues and where each candidate stands on those issues. Yes, I hope you vote for people who will help to make our country and our society more just for all people. Yet, the important part is to go and vote. Even if we disagree on the candidates and issues, we each choose to support or oppose, it is important to vote. If you are stuck, rendered to inaction because nothing ever seems to change, vote only because someone like you couldn’t vote in the past or because someone like you can’t vote today.
Have you voted? Will you vote tomorrow? Why or why not is voting important to you?
Let us pray: God, who gave us government so that we might order ourselves, give us the strength to participate and show up among the governors instead of being simply governed. Grant us the courage to hold our leaders accountable. Help those we elect to represent us wisely always with an eye to the people from whom they derive their power. May we live into the promise of democracy and dismantle the structures and systems of oppression. We ask this through Jesus who came not to condemn, but to confront and gave us a model to follow. Amen.
Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
Faithfully,
Ben