Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back! We made it through another election cycle, a particularly grueling one this year. For the past several months, strategically edited commercials, emotionally charged attack ads and flashy graphics have been interrupting our social media feeds, YouTube deep dives, and favorite TV shows. The noise has been inescapable — but now, the polls are closed and the ads are over.

What comes next?

I couldn’t tell you. Our feeds and streams have returned to normal advertisements, convincing the public to consume or be consumed. It’s almost as if the hatred and fear and the lies and manipulation never happened in the first place. Campaign signs are starting to come down, but the trenches dug behind them continue to divide neighbors and families. Where is God in all of this tension and division? Does the church have anything to say about where we go from here? How do teens, most of whom weren’t able to vote for their future yet, grapple with yet another event over which they have no control?  

God is big enough for all of us 

Jesus loves Americans. Jesus also loves Ugandans, Canadians, Russians, Italians, Guatemalans and every other nationality on earth. Jesus loves Democrats and Jesus loves Republicans; and Jesus also loves Joe Biden and Donald Trump. God’s love reaches beyond borders and above party lines, because God created each human in the Divine image. And while so many things are beyond our control, God is bigger than all of them. God is big enough for all of us. 

In the throes of the Great Depression, American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote the following prayer, commonly quoted as the Serenity Prayer: 

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference. 

As we bask in the sweet release from campaign commercials, let’s take a moment to pause and process the emotions and questions that have been swirling around these last few months of our lives. 

Question of the day: Where is the most inconvenient or annoying place to find a political ad?
Focal scriptures:  Luke 22:24-27; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; 1 Kings 19:1-15

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For a complete lesson on this topic visit LinC.