Navigating Election Year with Faith and Peace

I remember the first election year that I ever participated in. I was four. I went
down to the city or the county election offices with my family on the night of
the vote and they had hats and they had these little things that you could blow
and make noise like the horns from birthday parties and they had all of our
friends were there and they had signs up that said who we were voting for in
case we had forgotten. I lived in a small town. My small town didn't have cable, it
didn't have satellite TV. The only way we were gonna hear election results is if
we went downtown in this little town to 600 where all of our friends hung out
and we listened to them. And as a little four-year-old I remember thinking, "Wow
this is a whole lot of fun and I sure hope the good guy wins." Because as a four
year old that's really the as much sense as I could make of election year.
Somebody was good and somebody was bad and my parents had been talking about
the good guy and I was for that person and I didn't want the bad guy to win
because I was afraid we would not get our snacks. I remember my dad taking me
home before the election results came in completely. It was a bedtime. I was
probably cranky and tired. I didn't get snacks anyway. I woke up the next morning
to found out that our guy won and we were very happy. That instilled in me a
sense of political responsibility that I've wrestled with since that time.
Sometimes it's hard when I come to this time of the year, this time of the season
and we are electing our next president and things seem pretty crazy when we
turn on the TV and we look at our social media and we listen to the things that
we listen to. I remember when I went to college, now I want you to know I was
voted most likely to be president in high school. I understand now that's not
necessarily what the popular kids get. I didn't care. I felt really seen at that
point. I was really into politics. I went to college at one of our sister
universities. They had two clubs, one for both sides, right? And I remember thinking
why is that other club here? They even allow them on campus? What? We were really
ingrained, right, into one particular perspective. Earlier this week, Dr. Ayers
was talking about peace and how we find peace in prayer and I loved what he had
to say. I loved how he talked about how he prays during these hard times and
remembers that God's gonna bring him peace in those prayers, through those
prayers. And then I thought, I wonder how we're feeling about the election this
year. Now I've been thinking about this chapel speech since like way back in the
summer whenever it was first kind of on my heart and then Josh asked me to speak
and I was like, yay, I've been thinking about this. But I hadn't thought to ask
you, what do you think about the election? What do you think, college students, about
politics? And so after Dr. Ayers spoke that day, I went to my class, both of them
that I had that day, and I said, what do you think? And I was really surprised to
hear some of the questions that came up. Some of the questions were very good
questions. They're not questions I'm gonna try to answer in chapel.
Chapel's not the place for those questions. There's other places for those
questions, but some of them were easy questions like, how do we know who to
vote for? How do we find information that's not misinformation or bad
information? How do we get registered? All these kinds of questions. And one of the
things that several people said was, no one actually wants to talk to us about
this. Thank you for bringing it up. I'm so glad that you brought it up and you
opened the door for this. I'm not gonna answer those political kinds of
questions about who to vote for, how do we figure that out. I don't want anything
here to seem like I'm trying to sway your vote. I'm not. If you vote, that's up
to you. If you don't vote, that's up to you. Have good reasons for either one. I
want to answer the spiritual questions that came up in those conversations. And
there were three spiritual questions that I felt like we could address in
chapel. Now what I'm learning is, I don't know if I can address those quickly
enough in chapel. So we'll see how this goes. Question number one, how do we
reconcile our Christian faith, our Christian life, with our politics?
Several of you asked that question. Number two, how do we talk about hard
things with friends and family and we maintain our relationships? And number
three was, how, what do we do if we feel fear about the upcoming elections and
the results, regardless of which of the people win? And so I'm gonna give you a
few of the places I go to in scripture that helps me, that's helped
reorientate me over these years. Because I've had to do a lot of deconstructing
when it comes to politics. Because I really was raised in an environment
where there was one way of looking at politics and it was connected with my
religious beliefs to the, to the point that I couldn't hear any other sides.
That's not helpful. It's not helpful. We have to be able to listen to each other.
And so in doing this, I had to figure out first, who was I going to study? In other
words, was I gonna spend all my time reading what's online, in the newspapers,
magazines, TV, about all the different politicians? Or was I going to study the
one who I claim my allegiance to, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, that died and
was resurrected for our sins, that brings us into relationship with him? Was I
going to get to know him better or all these politicians better? So that was my
first step in deconstructing. I started reading the Gospels a whole lot more.
Because I realized that if I was going to reconcile my Christian life with my
politics, whatever my politics might be, I have to first know what it means to be
a Christian. And I have to be doing that as authentically as I possibly could. So
one of my favorite passages, and if you've been in my classes before, you
already know this, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7. I read this
obviously every year to teach it in my classes, but I read it probably 10 or 15
or 30 more times over that every year. I love when I read that, how Jesus is
capturing the attention of people that thought he should be something different
than who he is. Jesus had been going around and he's healing people, people
see something different in him. People are asking, "What is this kingdom of God?"
They want to know. They're following him wherever he goes, right? He's caught their
attention. He comes to this mountainside, he sits down, this is the traditional
stance of a teacher, he sits down to be able to start teaching them. I also love
that he sits down because that's a very non-anxious presence. And I think in that
world, it's just like ours, and it may have been a little tense. And it may have
been a little overwhelming. And Jesus is like, "I'm gonna sit here and I'm just
gonna tell you the truth." Right? And he starts off with this, and it should have
caught everybody's attention, just like it should catch our attention now.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are those that mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who
are meek, for they will inherit the earth." And it goes on and on. And what you
should notice in that is that his message is not the message that we will
hear from our politicians. None of them are getting up on this, on a stage and
saying, "Blessed is the one that mourns, you'll be comforted. Blessed are you that
bring peace." They may quote those passages, but when we watch their actions,
we usually don't see the same thing. We shouldn't. I don't know if that's their
realm. They have a job to do, and their job is something about power, and their
job is something about leadership, and their job is something about influence.
And when we mix all of those things together, it gets a little confusing. And
so I start first with, "What does Jesus say?" And Jesus reorientates us in the
sermon to what his kingdom is, and what it's about. And so much of that is about
giving up who I am, and my rights, and my responsibilities, my hopes and dreams, for
the sake of all of us. And so if I step into election year thinking that whoever
I vote for is only going to do the best thing for me, I'm gonna feel pretty
anxious about it, because that person's never gonna get it right. But if I come
into election year remembering that I firmly plant my feet, first and foremost,
into the kingdom of God, and first and foremost, into the footsteps of Jesus, and
I try my best, and I know I mess up, then I can weather some of the anxiety that I
might feel about election year. It is up to every single one of us in this room
to bring God's kingdom to bear wherever we go. And sometimes that's through the
political system, but more often than not, it's not through the political system.
It's through the relationships of the people right around you. The
relationships of the people outside these doors, the relationship of the
people around Lubbock, and around the cities, and counties, and states, and
nations that you come from. You can have direct impact on them in your everyday
life. It doesn't mean, it doesn't matter who you vote for. Jesus is on the throne
at the end of the day. Next, you asked me, "How do we talk about hard things with
friends and families and maintain our relationships?" Man, I struggle with that
one. Do you struggle with that one? If you do, nod your head yes, so I know you're
still awake. Do you struggle with, "How do we talk about the hard things with
friends and family, maintain relationships?" Yeah, so this is what I try
to remember. Jesus always encouraged us to seek unity, to seek unity with one
another. That is not uniformity. That is not the same thing as, "I believe
something, so you must believe something, and you must believe that same thing, and
you, otherwise you can't be my friend." Unity means we start from a common
starting place. Our starting place is that we have been saved by the blood of
Christ, and we know that. We start from there. And because you are my sisters and
you are my brothers, nothing will trump that love. Nothing will overthrow that,
right? Nothing that you say, nothing you wonder about in my office or in my
classrooms, or you come talk to me, no question that you raise is going to
change that. And if we can start from that place, when we sit down with one
another, if we can say, "Nothing is going to change how I feel about you because
you're my sister or brother in Christ," then we can have good civil
discourse about hard political things in which there might not be any really
great answer on this side of heaven. So I want to encourage you with this verse.
Jesus says in John 17, 20 through 23, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also
for those who believe in me through their message, that all of them may be
one. Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you, may they also be in us, that
the world may believe that you sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave
me, that you may be one as we are in one, I in them, you in me, so that
they may be brought into complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent
me and have loved them even as you have loved me." What brings me
peace in election year or any other time is that God's given me a job to do and
God's given you a job to do, and that is to bring unity through love of Christ to
every person, to bring that love of Christ to every person. And if something
I'm doing is not showing God's love, I have to change what I'm doing, right? I'm
responsible for myself, nobody else. I cannot control what people put on
Facebook. I can control if I reshare it. I can't control if somebody shares lies
about situations that I might be aware of. I can control if I reshare it. I can
control how I react to it. I can control if I create an environment that says to
each of you, my friends, my colleagues, I love you because of Christ and I want to
be unified with you. So the third thing you asked me is this, what do we do if we
feel fear over the upcoming election? This is reasonable. I grew up in a very
fear-based family. They do feel fear, that's why they're so into politics. I
feel a whole lot less fear over the years. The reason why I feel so much less
fear is because I've worked really hard to remember where I belong and who I
belong to, right? It doesn't matter to me. It does matter who wins the election. It
does. I don't know which one I want to win the election, I'll be honest. I'm
praying and jury's out. But what matters to me at the end of the day is I already
know the end of the story, right? God is on his throne. God's got this. God's will
is gonna be done and it may not be done in the immediate moments but it will be
done, right? And it is unfolding among us. And so Jesus talks about this in the
sermon because he knows everybody there has something to worry about. And this
has been one of my very favorite passages and one that I will leave you
with today. Jesus says to them in Matthew 6, "Therefore I tell you do not worry
about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at
the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than that? Can any one
of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about
clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. You tell
they yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was
dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which
is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more
clothe you, you of little faith? So do not worry saying what shall I eat or what
shall I drink or what shall I wear for the pagans run after these things and
your heavenly Father knows what you need. But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not
worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has trouble
of its own. There are real issues that come up at election time that affect
many people and I don't want to sound like I'm playing those off. I get that.
Some of those affect me, some of them affect you. But the end of the day if I'm
going to bed worried every night, it's not gonna help me, it's not gonna help my
relationship with God, it's not gonna help me with my relationship with you. I
can go to bed at night knowing that my heavenly Father knows what I need and it
will be taken care of. It may not be taken care of in the way I wanted it to
be. That's okay, I can accept that. But I can go to bed at night feeling peace,
feeling peace that I have God, God's got me and this is all gonna be okay. It
really is. So what I want to encourage you today, think on these, if one of
these three really stood out to you, embrace it, work on it, make it a
discipline over the next few weeks to work through it, grow in these moments.
But above all else, remember who do you belong to and that when it's election
year everything doesn't have to be wrapped up in the election but it still
needs to be dedicated to God, whatever we do. You are dismissed.
(applause)