Good evening,
Everybody.
We are less than a week away from the 2024 presidential election,
And I'm guessing you have zero anxiety about it whatsoever.
I'm kidding.
Almost everyone I know has this brooding sense of anxiety,
Both anticipation and concern around the election.
And I think it's perfectly natural to have such concern.
In fact,
In a way,
It may be a good thing.
So many people are caring about the direction of their country.
I think of Noam Chomsky's famous statement about the United States of America,
If you're not outraged,
You're not paying attention.
Well,
If you're not a little anxious,
You're not paying attention.
And yet,
For me,
My prayer for my country is that democracy works well.
I want democracy to work well.
And looking back at the 2020 election,
One of the things that we don't talk a lot about is how well democracy worked that day.
And by that in particular,
I mean the numbers of people who voted.
In respect to President Biden,
More people voted for him in a presidential election than any other candidate before and he won the election.
In respect to President Trump,
If you take all the votes from 2016 and 2020,
More people in the whole history of our United States have cast a yes vote towards Donald Trump more so than any other candidate in presidential history.
And so it was quite a stunning feat to see so many people participate in their democracy in 2020.
And that's my prayer for 2024,
Is that our democracy works well,
That our country works well.
And yet,
I know sometimes we get attached to outcome,
Don't we?
And I know there's more anxiety than would be in a normal election.
I think it was surprising in 2016 for even people who supported President Trump that he won,
It really shook everybody up.
2020,
We had everything leading up to that election.
It was a pandemic year,
George Floyd,
So much stuff going on in the country.
And that election took place,
And of course,
January 6,
Where democracy felt that it was being put on trial through riots at the Capitol building.
All of this adds a lot of anxiety for everyone.
And there are so many people who believe that if the candidate they don't want wins the election,
That our country might be moving towards a very dark path.
And yet,
As religious scientists,
It's in a way our conscious duty,
Our spiritual duty,
Not to have any illusions,
Not to not have discernment or concerns,
But to hold a greater truth.
And it's so easy in these election years to get really pessimistic.
If things don't go my way,
If my guy or girl doesn't win,
I'm leaving the country.
Honey,
There's a lot of inexpensive places to live in Mexico.
Honey,
Those Canadians are awfully nice.
Oh,
They've got some great health care and such and such.
And although I'm all about moving and living in new places and embracing the adventure of life,
What does that say about our consciousness and our belief in our country?
Another thing that the critic does is they want to detach from everything going on in the country.
I'm going to become apathetic.
I'm going to become like one of the Jedi Knights after the Empire wins the Clone Wars.
And I'm just going to kind of wander around aimlessly and do my thing,
But no longer be connected to the ways of the world.
This to me is a refusal of being part of the democratic process.
And part of the democratic process is not always getting your way.
And I would ask you today,
Are you prepared to not get your way and still love and be invested in the highest good of your country?
Your answer may be an authentic no,
And I respect that.
And yet at the same time,
In an election year,
It is my personal goal to be a good American,
To root for the process,
To work well,
And to deal with the results,
Whatever they may be,
To respond with faith in my country,
And to be willing to do everything I can to make my country successful,
Even if that does mean being part of the loyal opposition,
Or being critical of power,
Or being a part of the checks and the balances,
How important that is to do.
What I know is the best way to confront anxiety is to know a greater truth.
Yes,
It's great to take some deep breaths.
Yes,
A pill might help too.
But ultimately,
What does it mean,
Especially in a time like this,
To know a greater truth for your country?
I tell this story a lot,
And you may have heard it before.
But it's so worthy to the moment.
And it has to do with Abraham Lincoln,
Discussing with some Congress people,
The state of the war,
And people's feeling that the Union was falling apart.
They had every reason to believe that in the time.
North and South,
We were killing each other at great numbers in order to finally confront the terror of slavery in our country.
And Lincoln shared with these Congressmen that one day I was boarding with an evangelical minister.
And in the middle of the night,
On the train ride,
I was awoken.
Arise,
Abraham,
The day of judgment has come.
And the minister was pointing me to the window.
And I looked outside,
And I could see there was a meteor shower taking place.
It really did look like the cosmos was falling apart.
But then I looked closer.
I looked past all of those fireworks,
And I could see the grand old constellations still in their places.
My friends,
Lincoln said to his fellow Americans,
The Union did not end on that day,
And the Union will not end now.
And I think that's so important to remember,
That as easy as it is to get caught up in the fireworks of the moment,
That we must always remember those grand old constellations.
When I think of those grand old constellations,
I think of Frederick Douglass.
I think of Martin Luther King Jr.
I think of Eleanor Roosevelt.
I think of Bobby Kennedy.
I think of Abraham Lincoln,
George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson.
I think of all the people who gave their lives for the greater good of our country.
And I think if they could go through a tough time then,
I could go through a tough time now and still know the greater truth for my country.
And so when I vote this year,
Even though I'm very clear on which candidates I would prefer hold office over other ones,
I am still casting my vote for that grand constellation.
George H.
Bush famously spoke to those grand constellations as something existing as the American people.
He called it the thousand points of light.
And I like how Bobby Kennedy spoke to it as well.
He said,
It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice,
He sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.
And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring,
These ripples build a current that sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
Grand old constellations,
Points of light,
Ripples of hope.
What can we do to know a greater truth for our country?
We can affirm the prayer of our country that even though we have struggled,
We are ongoingly seeking the demonstration of liberty,
Of justice,
And the pursuit of happiness for all people.
Another thing we can do is we can cut down on our news intake.
Don't let the media think for you.
Get the information that you need,
And then that's enough.
It's not a UFC fighting match.
It's just getting the information you need,
Listening and carrying on with your day.
And lastly,
And most importantly,
And I know this is hard for some people to do,
Can we have a almost religious faith in the good of our institutions,
That the institutions of our country are spirit ordained?
What I mean by that is you can love Congress without needing to love the Congress people.
You can love the judicial branch and the Supreme Court while not loving a certain members or membership of the court.
You can love the executive branch and not be thrilled with your president.
But it's these institutions themselves.
In the secular world,
They look like our police and our firefighters,
Our teachers,
Our nurses,
Our doctors,
Our ministers even.
And yes,
There are those who become ignorant within those groups that express our history of a lack of equality or misogyny or racism.
And yet,
If we can continue to believe in these institutions by caring for them,
By confronting them when need be,
By helping to shape them,
We can build a greater country for ourselves and for others as well.
So I hope I've helped a little bit.
I hope I haven't added to any election anxiety.
But I do invite you,
Even in the midst of the drama of the moment,
Can you know a higher truth?
Can you remember that grand old constellation and to know that nothing can tear it asunder?
As we close today,
I wrote a little prayer for all of Mile High Church around the election.
And I just want to share it with you today and just invite you to perhaps repeat it to yourself with me.
My country is a prayer.
I pray for my country.
Voting is a prayer.
I pray for all voters.
Running for office is a prayer.
I pray for all candidates.
I pray for all those who count the votes,
All who protect our votes,
And all those who ensure the results of those votes come to pass.
My country is a prayer of liberty,
Justice,
And a course towards happiness for all.
I pray that the 2024 election moves us even more into our country's answered prayer,
A glorious manifestation,
An even greater embodiment of what it means to be equal,
Prosperous,
And free.
Amen.
