Election day: November 5, 2024. I woke up early this morning and could not get back to sleep. The polls have yet to open.

All I wanted to do this morning was write about the clear choice in this election. But that is not where this is going. Disagreeing with those I think are clearly in the wrong is easy. Loving the neighbor is hard. Like so many of my friends and fellow Christians, I have become the lawyer from Luke 10. But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). I have become the noisy gong and clanging cymbal from 1 Corinthians 13, but I will work to avoid banging that gong as I write this morning.

The dearly departed Jerry Manlove referred to camp as a glimpse of life as it should be. At camp, we bring people together who in other spaces might avoid or even ridicule one another, and we build community. We don’t always get along, and that is part of the point of the camp experiment. We practice forgiveness and reconciliation. We seek understanding, even when we vehemently disagree. Camp is messy, much like the world around us. I have spoken at length elsewhere about camp as a place of democratic decision making. My first prayer this morning is that we can all borrow from the wisdom of camp as we encounter our neighbor this day and in the days to come. Don’t try to avoid the mess.

Will Anything Change?

As you read this, I hope you have already voted. Maybe the polls are still open, you are anxiously waiting for results to come in, or the result has already been determined. It may even be months after the election and you are looking back, remembering the uncertainty and anxiety. Mostly, we long to be on the other side of this day and dread what the post-election reality might look like. Somehow, we imagine it will be different. 

Those of you looking back months from now, is it all that different?

There are fewer yard signs, I suppose. Other news has made its way into the daily cycle. The campaign text messages and constant stream of calls from “Potential Spam” have stopped (please tell me they have stopped). These things alone must bring a certain amount of relief. But I cannot imagine that the hearts, minds, and attitudes of people have changed, even if they are not as visible. For some of you, depending on the result (deep, anxious breath), there may be more fear and uncertainty or even feelings of despair.

The world did not break overnight. It is still broken, and people are still practicing hatred towards one another. We are still a people in need of grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. We are still called to struggle for justice and uphold the rights of the most vulnerable. We are desperate for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It’s Hard to Love the Neighbor

This election cycle, the simplest of Jesus’ commands has seemed profoundly challenging: love your neighbor. 

It seems that everyone is telling me to do the opposite. Any of us who doubt the forces of darkness that oppose God need only look to our friends and neighbors during this election cycle. More frightening still, we need only examine our own thoughts and heart. People of faith, those who I have heard passionately preaching the gospel, are repeating words that dehumanize others. They (we?) justify this rhetoric by pointing out the dangerous, anti-Christian viewpoints and actions of the other. We encourage one another to unfriend or block them on social media, to cut them out of our lives for our own health and for that of society. We stop listening because we already know that the other has nothing important or constructive to say – only lies and hatred. So, we hate. I hate. I hate my neighbor, even as I realize that my hatred is also anti-Christian and justifies their hatred and rejection of me. Somewhere along the line, we forgot that darkness does not drive out darkness.

Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:5).

We are somehow able to show more compassion and forgiveness to the prisoner incarcerated for violent crimes than to our neighbor who votes differently. We are better able to see the viewpoint of the terrorist who committed acts of violence in response to systematic oppression than we are to imagine someone being duped by the other political party. We drive past the signs in the yards of those we thought we knew, and we ask incredulously, “Who is my neighbor?”

Overcome Evil with Good

How can we live together, work together, and worship together when we disagree so vehemently? It seems daunting and even impossible. Perhaps it is impossible, but by the grace of God. My prayer this election day is for forgiveness and reconciliation. No matter the result (and it really scares me to write those words), our responsibility is to love our neighbor. Over and over in scripture, we see God speaking in the midst of violence and turmoil. The nations rage and kingdoms totter (Psalm 46), but God remains our refuge and strength. Our calling remains: By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).

The sun is rising, and it is time for me to cast my vote. I go with one more scripture on my heart, which will be my prayer for all the faithful today: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).