Election Day

Election Day

“For an Election

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers

and privileges: Guide the people of the United States in the election of a president and other officials and representatives;

that, by faithful administration and wise laws, the rights of

all may be protected and our nation be enabled to fulfill your

purposes; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” Book of Common Prayer, p. 822.

It is hard not to think about the election today. I remember all those who are running for office, some I know personally. I have looked through a small window to see what a great sacrifice it has been for some of them. It has been a sacrifice for their family, for their bodies, for their minds, for their hearts, and for their spirits.

How difficult it must be for candidates to stay with their core values through the whole experience. How hard it must be to stay truthful. We see this at every turn. We hear people saying things they did and will do after the election which we know did not happen and that they will never allow to happen.

That is a great price to pay to win, to lose your integrity. More than any other people, politicians may be susceptible to bribes coming in the form of people with deep pockets who offer money so that they will support their programs or businesses. Winning becomes so expensive or so important that all other values go to the wayside. May this be a lesson for all of us in our own lives as we are tempted to compromise in order to reach a goal.

Our Daughters of the King will be praying in St. Mark’s chapel all day while the polls are open for those running for office today, all of them. They all so need our prayers. We give thanks for their courage to stand up and try to make a difference in this world, often at great sacrifice.

We pray for all of us that we will be able to accept the results of the election and continue to pray for those who did not win and those who did.

We also must pray that all who are elected to office will be able to keep their core values and become the people they say they are and the people God created them to be.

While we are at it, let us pray the same prayer for ourselves.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Heaven

Heaven

There’s something real about the communication between this world and the world to come, a kind of communion between saints and souls and sinners that spans the gulf of time. It is not just we who are praying, but we are being prayed for by a great cloud of heroic wit­nesses, some of whom, I believe, are attracted to us, who have our name and have our number and who remember us. It’s a wonderful thing to be remembered. I think we are. Br. Curtis Almquist, Society of Saint John the Evangelist, ssje.org, Brother Give us a Word

I have been rereading Heaven, a book edited by Roger Ferlo, where twenty-five well known spiritual writers write about some of their ideas about heaven. I bought it over ten years ago when I was preaching at more funerals and spending more and more time with people who were grieving. Heaven is almost always a question about which all will eventually ask.

Barbara Crafton writes that perhaps we will be with our loved ones in heaven and suddenly realize that they never left us. Nora Gallagher talks about a difficult parent who was dying and how they eventually find love and peace shortly before she dies. She begins to see her mother’s life from a different perspective. She finally reaches a place where she does not describe her mother as someone who “tortured” her, but that her mother led a “tortured life.”

Alan Jones describes heaven being already all around us. Heaven is a “code” word for the presence of God in our midst. Michael Battle discusses how we are to practice how to show love the way God does in preparation for heaven. “We are to practice heaven.” Barbara Brown Taylor writes that her sense of the communion of saints is so strong that she has never felt alone.

Kathleen Staudt writes about times at prayers when she imagines being in the presence of all those, living and dead, who have been spiritual mentors and friends to her. Maggie Ross writes that heaven appears to her when she is not looking for heaven.

Benjamin Morse humorously writes that pets will be in heaven but they will not chew “on the upholstery.”

Of course, none of us knows what heaven is like, but our promise is that God will be with us throughout all eternity. We know we have a God of love. We have that promise that God and love will always be with us.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Tutu: Revelation and Saints

Tutu: Revelation and Saints

"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:1-5a

Churches throughout the world who use the common lectionary and transfer All Saints to the first Sunday in November will be reading these words today from Revelation. These passages from Revelation are very important to Archbishop Tutu. To him the book of Revelation is poetry and liturgy. It is not a Rand-McNally map of heaven. It is not a timetable for the end of the world. It is full of encouragement, hope and comfort, especially for the oppressed. When Tutu was fighting against apartheid, he would say, "DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T GET DISCOURAGED! I HAVE READ THE END OF THE BOOK! WE WIN!"

Bishop Desmond Tutu later chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which heard grievances from those who suffered during the apartheid era. The commission gave voice to horrific stories in the hope of burying past bitterness. This is another excerpt from one of his addresses. "People may commit demonic acts but they are not demons. It is very dangerous to demonize our opponents. Everyone has the potential of becoming a saint."

Today we honor saints we have read about and all the faithful departed whom we deeply loved, some of whom died naturally and some who died violently or in great distress. We eventually remember mostly their goodness, but we must not forget that they all struggled with the challenges of the world just as we do today.

The difference is that they are now right beside us, praying for us and with us throughout all eternity. Sometimes in the quiet of the evening or in the early morning before the rest of the house has awakened or outside in nature when a gentle breeze touches our face, we get a hint of their presence and their peace.

Joanna joannaseibert.com