November 3, 2024 – Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 15.7-11
Acts 4.32-37
The Election Sermon
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
“If the right men are elected, such democratic power will be our strength; but if the wrong men gained office, it could well be our undoing.” These are the words of the Rev. William Hubbard, speaking to the Massachusetts General Council in 1676, in a typical example of that truly unique Puritan form of address, the election sermon. For two hundred fifty years – from 1634 until 1884, the Commonwealth’s Congregational clergy preached pointed and personal election sermons to and about the politicians of their day: the kings, the councilors, the deputies, the governors and the magistrates, unapologetically directing the force of the word of God to both rulers and subjects alike. In 1694 Samuel Willard titled his election sermon, The Character of a Good Ruler; in 1689 Cotton Mather reflected on The Way to Prosperity; in 1711 Peter Thacher cited the example of Jesus in The Alsufficient Physician; and in 1707 Samuel Belcher’s election sermon title was nearly a sermon in itself: An Essay Tending to Promote the Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ. To stand on the word of God and address both politician and populace in no uncertain terms in election season is a steadfast New England and Congregational tradition.
Of course it also has the added benefit of making the congregation more than a little apprehensive. What if the preacher says something we disagree with? What if somebody in the back pew doesn’t like it and decides never to return? What if, heaven forfend, she or he says something that is so obvious and germane and spot on that it goes straight to the heart of what the rest of us are thinking?
Of course, the first line of defense is almost always the so-called “separation of church and state,” which holds the mistaken belief that the church and its esteemed representatives should refrain from preaching about politics. I call this mistaken on two counts. First, the constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state, if one bothers to read the Bill of Rights, states in the very First Amendment that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In other words, the state must stay out of the church’s business, not the other way around. The second mistake is to overlook biblical record of the prophets and of Jesus himself. Again and again the Old Testament prophets called out regents and rulers and kings and princes for their godlessness, for their abuse of their subjects, for their dishonesty and graft. For his part, Jesus had a few choice words to say about Caesar. No, the only governmental policy that could mitigate against the church speaking out on contemporary affairs is the Internal Revenue Service, which can threaten to withhold a church’s tax-exempt status, but at the end of the day not even the IRS can keep politics from the pulpit.
Still, what the IRS permits and what the congregation indulges of its preacher may be very different things, so regardless of our long-standing Congregational heritage, I hope you will not be too disappointed this morning when I do not endorse any of Tuesday’s presidential candidates, as much as I might like to. This is not merely an exercise in self-preservation. Theoretically, even if I did endorse one or more candidates, and even if I could convince every single one of you to vote as I will be voting on Tuesday, and even if I could convince every single one of you to convince a friend to vote the way I will be voting on Tuesday, in the end it will not make a whit of difference because we live in Connecticut! There are not many bluer states than the Land of Steady Habits, and neither I nor you nor all our friends are likely to affect that in two days. Though while this is true for the Electoral College, I recognize that local races could be swayed by yours and my and all our collective friend’s votes, which is why I will keep my vote to myself. But still, there is an element to Tuesday’s national ballot to which I do want to speak.
At our UCC clergy group last week, one of our retired ministers observed that at his advanced age, it would not make much of a difference to him who wins the Presidency this year. His retirement is secure, his children are grown, he lives comfortably, and life is good. And by the way, I have deep affection for this colleague, and I appreciate and have tremendous respect for him. But his words disturbed me, and as gently as I could I said, “I understand, but I need to disagree. While you may be correct that for some folks, life will go on as usual regardless of Tuesday’s results, there are many for whom it will not. In particular I worry for our children and the generations to come.” And I shared with him the story of how my two grandsons, seven year old Connor and his brother Elliott, who incidentally is two years old today, are in our lives because of in vitro fertilization. And by the way, my daughter Clare not only gave me permission to share this, but did so emphatically – she is more politically engaged than both her parents put together! So while there may be folks whose lives may remain untouched by who occupies the Oval office, this is not true for many of our sisters and brothers, the next generations in particular. Or as the Bible often puts it, may the sins of the parents not be visited on our children and our children’s children.
I saw a New Yorker cartoon many years ago that will always remain with me. In the middle of a pasture filled with sheep stands a political billboard featuring a snappily dressed Big Bad Wolf wearing a campaign button. The billboard reads, “I will eat you.” One sheep turns to the other and says, “This is why I like this guy! He tells it like it is!” As you have likely heard before, when someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time.
Jesus was very clear about who he was and what he planned to do at the outset of his ministry. You remember the story from Luke about Jesus going to the temple in Jerusalem, picking up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and reading these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, who has anointed me to bring good news to the poor… who has sent me to proclaim release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And while the words are a direct quote from Isaiah, I believe we also find their echo in the words Daphne read from Deuteronomy this morning. “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God gives you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor… since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”
When I go into the polling place – well, truthfully, I voted last week, so let’s fix that to when I went into the polling place – well, truthfully, I need to fix that too – whenever I go into the polling place, I take with me the spirit of Deuteronomy and the spirit of Jesus’s words about the captives and the oppressed and the blind and the poor and the widow and the orphan and the immigrant and the disabled and the infertile and all those who stand in the shadows of society. And I take the Beatitudes with me as well. You will notice that I changed the words this morning because as Matthew writes, it sounds as though Jesus is talking about other people, right? Blessed are those who mourn and those who are meek and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. But friends, Jesus was not talking about some nameless, faceless group out there somewhere who are to be pitied. He was talking about our friends and our neighbors – he was talking about us. We have those “poor in spirit” days, do we not? We experience mourning and loss, we often hunger and thirst for righteousness. And we are also merciful, there are times that we are pure in heart, and when we are or can be peacemakers. Jesus was talking to us. And because I take Jesus’ words to heart, I take Jesus’ words into the voting booth with me. As I have done in every election since I turned 18.
The month of November brings more than Election Day; in the church it also brings stewardship, when we consider the ways God calls you and me to live and move among our church and community in God’s name. There is a sense in which we can consider our vote a form of stewardship, I think. Our vote is a form of stewardship when we seek to minister to the world around us, to the poor and outcast and the captives and the oppressed and the alien and all the rest. Our vote is a form of stewardship when we consider our mandate to care for creation: “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” Our vote is a form of stewardship to reject idolatry and honor God and God alone. Thoughtful and committed engagement within our shared social contract is good and faithful stewardship.
And so on this Sunday before Election Day, I will let the words of the Rev. James Allen, in his 1679 election sermon, A Word to the Freemen, sum up for us: “Let not private respects sway you in your elections, to be for those that are your friends or favorers, [rather] see how men stand affected to religion and the common good of this people.”