The Morning After

I went on a walk early this morning, to take the dog out and to pray along with my daily podcast of Morning Prayer.  As it turned out, the dog and I stepped out the front door just as the sun was beginning to rise.  The eastern sky was lovely as new life arose, once again.

Election Day has come, and the nation has chosen Donald Trump as president.  For some, that’s cause for joy; for others, it’s not just disappointing but frightening.  “I wonder which Donald Trump we’ve elected,” one parishioner said to me this morning.  Will it be the one who moves across political lines pragmatically or the one who names categories of people to exclude?  People fear most what they don’t know – and this morning, there’s a lot about the future we don’t know.  And yet, the sun rose, another divine masterwork to welcome us into another day of opportunities for discipleship. 

When I pulled into the church parking lot this morning, I saw discipleship in action.  A new member of St. Andrew’s had spent all of yesterday at the church (beginning at 5:30 a.m. and ending after I left at 6:30 p.m.), helping us offer hospitality to the hundreds of voters who lined our halls.  This morning, the same man was outside the church, removing political signs from the yard and otherwise tidying up.  “This is a good thing for me to be doing today,” he said.  Service nearly always is.

Wherever you land on today’s continuum from joy to fear, remember: We are the Church.  No matter who is elected to any office, our sovereign is Jesus Christ.  He calls us to worship, to repent, to proclaim good news, to serve others, and to work for dignity, justice, and peace.  That was true yesterday; it is true today; and it will be true tomorrow.  First and foremost, ahead of any other allegiance, we are called to follow Jesus and be his body in the world, each one of us an essential member of it.

So take a moment to admire the sunset this evening, or the sunrise tomorrow morning, and ask how God is calling you to serve.