Those of us reading this in the United States have a pretty big responsibility today. We have stressed over the election for months, prayed about it, and maybe talked about it with friends and family members.
As the hours pass today, and more and more of us have completed our voting duty or voted early by some means, all that is left is the waiting.
As Christians, we have seasons when we contemplate waiting intentionally. Even though the stakes feel high, like we are in the midst of Good Friday, observing a kind of Holy Saturday Vigil, or approaching the tomb early at sunrise…
I wonder if this is more like how we wait in Advent?
In the comforting night. Contemplating what the deeper meanings of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love might really mean to a weary people. Contemplating more than the birth pangs of a newborn baby, but the birth pangs of a whole people. A whole people delivered like how the Hebrew people were delivered from Egypt, or the Judeans living under colonial Roman rule.
Salvation did not come to all people through a political candidate in the time of Jesus, and it will not come through this election today. The grace, love, and peace of God remain the foundation we stand upon.
As people of faith – we put our trust in Christ Jesus, the one who calls us to love God and love our neighbors. Now, I am not saying don’t go vote. I hope you already have! And as we vote, we remember that we follow the one who restores us into community. The one who heals. The one who forgives. Who reconciles. Who brings us to new life.
Whether the election is called today, tomorrow, or legal proceedings drag this out to the very last minute up to the inauguration, may we know we are not alone in the waiting.
I pray you have already started the steadfast work of cultivating your network – the network of loving support – the kind that James Baldwin writes about – so that even when we do not feel like we are shining the light of Christ as brightly as we could be, our light together radiates.
About this author: Mycah McNett graduated with honors in Biblical and Lutheran studies from United Lutheran Seminary. She was called as the second pastor at Saint Luke Lutheran Church in Devon, PA in the summer of 2023. Before seminary, she served in church communication and youth ministry roles in Harrisonburg, VA, and was an ELCA Young Adult in Global Mission participant. Since 2022 Pastor Mycah has served on the Board of Directors for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and is an active member of the Proclaim Community for LGBTQIA+ Lutheran Rostered Leaders. Pastor Mycah lives in Downingtown with her spouse, Alyssa, and three cats, Minnie, Clio, and Clem.