Love Your Neighbors by Voting

Tuesday, August 18th, is Primary Election Day here in Florida and the day when many of our local and county elections will be decided. I hope that you are registered to vote, and maybe you have already taken advantage of early voting or voted by mail. However, if you choose to vote, I hope and pray that all of you who meet the criteria to be registered voters exercise this important right and responsibility.

It seems that this year in Key West has been quite a challenging and even disturbing election cycle. I think we have all gotten used to negative campaigning on the national and even state levels. We expect to be slammed with a constant barrage of attack ads, innuendo, false narratives, and even name-calling in the weeks heading into the general election. I do have to say that, for me, experiencing an ugly local election is a first.

Maybe it's my own fault for actually reading social media posts or the dozens of glossy flyers that arrived in the mail. Maybe I should just ignore the name-calling and the inappropriate remarks about people's past struggles in life or the "us versus them" mentality of Conchs versus non-Conchs, wealthy versus working class, gay versus straight, and conservative versus liberal (and these are much milder descriptors than what we are reading on social media). Maybe I should just rise above it all and ignore it. When they go low, we go high, right? But that's hard to do when these are people we know, see almost every day, and work alongside in what we once thought was our One Human Family.

All of this makes many of us just want to put our heads in the sand and ignore the whole thing. But is that really the answer? As people of faith, there are many reasons to vote, and, to be frank, not voting is never the solution! I would suggest that we should rise above the name-calling and vitriol (which I have seen some candidates and their supporters do well), but we cannot just turn our backs and not vote.

Here is why....

Scripture calls us to love God and our neighbor (and Jesus makes sure we understand that EVERYONE is our neighbor). Voting is an important way to love our neighbors, care for our community, and act as good stewards of God's creation by choosing the candidates who will not hesitate to stand up for the marginalized and oppressed and make the brave choices that promote the common good, instead of simply defending the wealthy and powerful. In other words, those who live as Jesus did.

Some of you will read this and say I am being "too political." I do not see it that way. I follow a Savior who came "to proclaim good news to the poor......freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free" (Luke 4:18, Isaiah 61:1). I serve a God who calls us to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God." (Micah 6:8) I am guided by the Holy Spirit that leads me to treat all people (immigrants, minorities, the poor, the outcast, etc.) as I would treat Jesus because we see Jesus in the eyes of all people, not just the wealthy and powerful. (Matthew 25:35, 40) Therefore, I am duty-bound to vote for the person I believe is most devoted to and will work for these Scriptural ideals and commands.

Rev. Raphael Warnock said, "A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children," and Rep. John Lewis said, "The vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democracy."

So today, I invite you to join me in doing two things:

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you in how to vote in a way that reflects your faithful witness in this world.
2. Vote!

Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than human beings!" (Acts 5:29)

Grace and Peace

-Pastor Madeline