Hello my friends,

With Election Day being this week, I wanted to just take this time to reflect with you and think with you, which is always the goal of my work. I want to share with you on a bit more on a personal level and then invite us to ponder the posture of our hearts as we move through the election and beyond.

But before we get to that, here are some resources to consider:

The season of Advent began December 1st! This season extends an annual invitation for us to reorient our hearts toward Jesus as we approach Christmas. I have written a daily devotional for this season in hopes of stoking greater hope, peace, joy, and love in our hearts as we journey together toward Jesus from Advent to Christmas. Details: What: An "ebook" of 25 daily scripture-based devotionals, designed to conclude on Christmas Day, to be downloaded and read on your favorite device. When: It is available to download now. How: Purchase access to this daily devotional by clicking the button below. $20.00 Arrival: Daily Reflections For The Season of Advent Crafted to begin on December 1st and end on Christmas Day, each of these 25 daily readings will focus on a passage from... Read more Download here! ​

​

​

​-Religious Liberty is NOT in Danger This is a great video from the Holy Post featuring legal expert David French on the actual state of religious liberty in the United States. Worth a watch, especially for those who have conversations about this topic frequently.

​-Jesus' Response To Satan's Temptations Should Be The Christian's Voting Guide. I wrote this a few weeks ago and with it being election week, I thought I would share it again here. I look at the temptations faced by Jesus in the wilderness and how it should inform the heart behind the way we vote.

​-The Way of Jesus Isn't The Way of Thrones or Empires, but The Way of The Cross. This is also another article I wrote back in August in which I try to highlight the stark differences between the way of Jesus and the way of empires like ours.

Okay, onto today's content.
​

Following Jesus Through A Tumultuous Election.​
​

A follower of mine sent me a question this week that said, “I so appreciate your encouraging words in times like this. Do you ever get scared or feel like you’re losing your mind with all that is happening? It is so hard to keep things together right now mentally and spiritually.”

I felt this question deeply and it is a sentiment I have heard from many of you as well. It would be dishonest to suggest that these were not tumultuous, monumental, and scary times we are living in right now.

To answer the question, yes, I do have moments of feeling scared about what the future might hold. I do have moements of panic where I feel like I am losing my sanity, trying to make sense of what I am seeing in my country, espeically from so many who claim to be Christians. I do have moments of self doubt, wondering if I’m making a positive dent at all in the midst of all that’s happening. As the election draws closer, it feels like these moments last longer and longer too.

I think so many of us can have moments like that right now, which is why I wanted to address it today. I just wanted to let you know that it is okay to feel this way. In fact, it is a very natural reaction to all that is happening in our country right now. This doesn’t make you wrong or bad, it just means you are a human being with very real emotions and concerns.

I think it is important for you to hear those words this week precisely because of a lot of the phrases I see used by some Christians time and time again this election season in response to such concerns.

Here are some phrases that have been said directly to me:

“God said not to fear”

“No matter who wins the election, Jesus is still king.”

“God raises up leaders and takes others down. This is up to God.”

And of course, the classic, “Everything happens for a reason.”

​
While I know some of these were said with good intentions (and others were not), they all came across to me as forms of spiritual bypassing. Downplaying personal turmoil by emphasizing the supernatural. They are often said to make the person who says these things feel better rather than for the comfort of the person who hears them.

This stems from an unfortunate way of reading passages from scripture that say “do not fear” or “don’t worry” as if these are commands to follow or rules to make other people abide by. Rather than being read as forms of encouragement from the God who says them and who is promising to be present and take care of you. So, in times of distress, these phrases have been so often used as ways of telling people they aren’t allowed to be scared rather than compelling the reader of these passages to “go and do likewise” and sooth and comfort others in the midst of their fear like God does for others in the Bible.

The goal is to comfort one another, not tell people they aren’t allowed to be scared or worry about things.

Several of these phrases also are deeply out of touch with our current context too. In our society, where leaders are democratically elected, it is yet another form of spiritual bypassing to say that only “God raises up leaders and takes others down.” This ignores the will of the people who have a large part to play in who gets elected and who does not in our country. This also downplays the pain so many of us have gone through in recent years when we watch how loved ones support policies and politicians that we believe are just so harmful for us and other people. To say that it is just "God putting people in power" denies the pain of being so politically divided while we navigate electing someone ourselves.

In this reality, “everything happens for a reason” is true at face value, but sometimes the things that happen are bad because of really bad reasons behind them. I think this phrase is often said with the implication that “God is in total control” but forgets that even God allows human free will too. So while good things can happen for good reasons, greed, bigotry, and grievance can be the reasons bad things happen in our world too. These things need to be understood clearly, not just because we claim to be a people of truth, but because we want to address the needs and injustices that happen to people because of things like greed, bigotry, and grievance.

So how are we to understand things clearly?

The truth is, we can all feel like we are scared and losing our minds when we feel like we are the only ones pointing things out that others are denying is real. I hear from so many of you about how so many people in your lives don’t seem to see the grip Christian nationalism has on many Christians and the Republican Party. How they don't seem to see how entire Christian and political movements are moving sharply to the right, where even many conservatives are shamed for not being “conservative enough” or for being “RINOs” (republican in name only). Watching this happen while feeling like you are among the very few who are actually seeing it is a lonely, isolating, and can make you feel like you're losing your mind.

This is why I have always felt it is so important to accurately name what is going on in our world. What we have been seeing within many Christian circles and the Republican Party isn’t classic conservatism at all. It is fascism.

Read the definition of fascism and see if it sounds familiar:

​Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Because it is opposed to democracy, pluralism, egalitarianism, liberalism, socialism, and Marxism, fascism is placed on the far right-wing within the traditional left–right spectrum.

This movement coincided with another issue within American Christianity at large. The issue of Christians seeing their political party as part of their Christian identity. When a political party is part of your identity in Christ, you have to defend it no matter what because it is part of your relationship with God, truth, and salvation.

As you might imagine, this can be deeply problematic when your political party is on the wrong side of an issue, like child labor laws, slavery, the civil rights movement, women’s rights, or the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, you have to defend your party no matter what, because it is part of your Christian identity. You have to defend your party, even if it is being overtaken by fascism.

I used to view my Christianity this way. I did for the majority of my life in fact. It wasn’t until seminary when I studied the early church and scripture more intently that I found the act of fusing my identity with a political party, or an earthly empire for that matter, was at odds with my identity as a follower of Jesus, whose kingdom is not of this world.

I also learned the legacy of the prophets of the Bible, those who advocated for human rights before the thrones of power of this world and that's when realized something. I realized that as a follower of Jesus, my goal is not to pursue political control myself. That is not the task of the church at all. The task is to hold all positions of power accountable to the needs of the least among us, like the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized.

This is why I don’t see a political party or political ideology as part of my identity as a follower of Jesus. I will pursue whatever political party or political participation that results in what is in the best interests of the earth (God’s creation) and those around me, especially the least among us. I will pursue whatever political party and political participation that I know is at least willing to work with others, even those with whom they disagree, and I will continue to call for its power to be held accountable to the needs of the poor and powerless. I simply don’t see how fascism allows for that at all. Fascism isn't good for anyone other than itself and those it places in power.

So, the reason why many of us feel scared and like we are losing our minds right now is because fascism doesn’t operate based on logic or reason. It is operates solely on identity politics and grievance. It can’t be reasoned with because reason isn’t its goal. Settling its grievance through vengeance and asserting its identity over everyone else is its goal. This causes the greatest amount of suffering among the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized. The only way to nonviolently stop fascism from taking hold of power in our society is to choose democracy instead. Democracy at the very least, in theory, allows for the opportunity to bring a voice to the voiceless.

Final Thoughts

I do have positive feelings about where this election is potentially headed, but the reality is, no one knows until the final results are in. One of my main concerns is a repeat of things we saw on January 6th. I simply don’t want to see anymore political violence or people getting hurt. I'd ask that you join me in praying for a peaceful election cycle and beginning of the next presidency.

So on this Sunday before Election Day, I want to leave you with this short list:

1. It is okay to be concerned. You are not alone and you are not losing your mind. Your concern shows that you care deeply. Pray fervently for peace and remember, you are not alone. We are in this together.
2. Remember, only the loudest people are heard. The majority of good people are quietly doing good work to help move us in a good direction. Trust in the goodness of the people you probably won’t ever see make headlines. Remember that you are one of those good people doing good work.
3. Our identity as followers of Jesus is in Jesus, not a political party. That identity is stronger and more stedfast than anything a political party has to offer. You can trust that it will carry you through and equip you to meet the moment of our time, no matter what that might be.
4. Allow yourself to hope for a good outcome. If we don’t allow ourselves to hope, despair will consume us.
5. Remember, as followers of Jesus, we will need to hold whoever is in power accountable to the needs of the most vulnerable among us.
6. If you do get the outcome you hope for, please celebrate and embrace the sense of relief, but do not gloat. Remember that no matter how much you may oppose those who lost, their grief over losing is still very real for them. We don’t do anything to build unity together when we rub people’s loss in their faces.
7. Let's keep working for a better world together.