Do You Love Me? A Post-Election Question From Jesus
In this post-election season, Jesus’ question to Peter still calls us to care for all God’s people.
The midterm elections are over. The votes have been counted (or at least most of them).
And now we can say, “Hallelujah!” to no more millions being spent on television attack ads that do nothing for the common good in the United States or the world.
As I reflect on the election season and its results, I ask myself: What can we learn? What do people still yearn for?
The election results buoyed my Hope Meter, as voters elected the most diverse Congress in the history of the United States.
People came out in record numbers to say with a loud voice that democracy is driven by people, not millions of dollars directed by a handful of people.
For the most part, citizens rejected bullying in partisan politics. They also rejected legislative and executive cruelty that ignores millions facing economic hardship. They rejected the targeting of immigrants with detention quotas, disruption and disregard for due process. The election results may indicate a rejection of Christian nationalism as a way forward for a nation defined in large part by its diversity.
A loud yes vote for paying attention to the needs of all people.
As I have been on calls with faith leaders across the country, I am inspired by the hunger and thirst for beloved community, where equal justice is not aspirational but operational: a clarion call for more love of neighbor that rejects the notion that there is somehow not enough for all people and all parts of society to flourish.
Could this be a season for turnaround? Could we see this post-election period as a “U-turn moment” for grace over greed?
As vote totals are certified, the news reports will classify winners and losers. What if we pray that all who are privileged to serve will humble themselves? What if they think and work with “We the People” in mind?
There is plenty of work to be done. People are weary of wars. Many experience a lack of resolve to address the cost of health insurance, a lack of commitment to feed the hungry, and the targeting of people because of who they are in our diverse American society.
As the sign on the United Methodist Building says:
The work of justice continues. The work of love never ends.
I pray that our prophetic witness will echo the call to “uncommon courage” in Joan Chittister’s The Time Is Now.
Our moral and spiritual responsibility requires us to say no loudly to some things while choosing to say yes to others.
No to the sexual abuse of women No to rejection of the stranger No to the rape of the trees No to the pollution of the skies
Yes to equal rights for all Yes to alleviating suffering Yes to embracing difference
Jesus asked many questions as recorded in the Gospels which called for answers from those who would be his disciples.
Three times, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17) Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Each time, Jesus responded with an assignment: “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.”
Not just privileged sheep, but all of the sheep.
Be encouraged,
Bishop Julius C. Trimble General Secretary The General Board of Church & Society
