Vote Early and Vote Often
/September 13, 2021
Scripture
And I will say to my soul, “‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (Luke 12:19-23 NRSV)
Vote Early and Vote Often
Advance voting ends today and one week from today is Election Day. 20 years ago, was 9/11, and the Afghanistan mess continues apace. Promises, good intentions, mixed motives in the exercise of power abound with great warnings that “this” decision’s the most important of the decade or century or maybe just this afternoon. Past elected governments have made decisions we live with today.
The day of 9/11 Touchstone held a Forum at 7:00 a.m. entitled “Life is a Demand Note (and you never know when it’s going to be called). It was an excellent discussion of Jesus’ story of the foolish rich guy who kept storing more of his accumulated wealth but didn’t do anything with it. He thought he had run out of spaces for his “stuff” when he might more easily have stored it in the hands of the poor, hungry or homeless.
We emerged from our breakfast to the news of planes hitting the World Trade Center and we were all rattled in the towers of Bay Street. Life is fleeting, decisions are important, even elections, but power used only for our own accumulation and not for the common good does no one any good – especially ourselves.
It would do my heart good if we had a national commitment to make sure everyone has a safe roof over their heads but politicians follow what the public pressures them to care about, and making sacrifices from the common wealth for the common good isn’t popular. Has our country some of the qualities of the rich fool?
A Prayer for Today
Loving and compassionate God help us to exercise our responsibilities as citizens with good character and responsibility. Grant us wisdom to sift through what we hear and discern that which is most important. Help us use what influences and resources we have for the good of our country and the good of our world …. And the good of our souls … for Jesus’ sake
