Dear friends,
I write these words the day after the 2024 general election. I stayed up as late as I was able last night, watching election coverage. Like many of you, I awoke this morning anxious to know who our new president would be. These words are not intended to praise or condemn any candidates who won elections. Neither are they intended to praise or condemn the millions of Americans who voted. Rather, I write to remind us we are all in this together.
Regardless of our personal political views, let us take a cue from 1 Timothy 2:1-2, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” This does not mean we must agree with everything a particular elected leader does or support all his or her decisions. These words invite us to pray for our elected officials, that they might lead us in a way that seeks the common good.
Yesterday I came across a quote from John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, that seems as instructive today as it did yesterday. The below quote comes from Wesley’s journal entry dated October 6, 1774:
“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy
2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”
I invite us all to take our cues from the Bible, to pray, and from Rev. Wesley, to disagree in Christian love.
Yours in Christ,
Thomas