PHOTO: Mary van Balen Preparing to write my monthly column, I had read today’s readings last week. As I sat in the pews at church and listened to them again, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the campaigns that ended with re-electing President Obama last Tuesday. I know Jesus was not talking about election funding and stretching the story of the widow’s mite to do that may draw criticism. So, I want to be clear that I am not attempting an interpretation of Scripture here. Just sharing what came to mind.
First, an obscene amount of money was spent on this election. I have heard an estimate of 2 billion. I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but they are staggering and surely could have been put to better use.
Second, small amounts of money, small investments of time, one person, can make a difference. Over the past few days, a number of conservative spokesmen (most were men…) have pointed to a variety of reasons their candidate lost. Besides accusations of Obama suppressing the vote, hurricane Sandy derailing Romney’s momentum, the 47% backing Obama, or the demise of the white majority, the claim has been made the liberals bought the election. (Huff Post Politics Nov. 11 article by Sabrina Siddiqui)
As I pictured a widow placing her two coins on the table beside much larger donations to the Temple treasury, I thought of the money spent on the presidential election. While I am not suggesting the the Democratic Party ran its campaigns solely on small amounts of money given by ordinary people, I do believe that much of their money was raised by small donations given by individuals.
I am proud that a coalition of many people and groups held together to make their voices heard on Tuesday. Big money could not buy the election…either way. People who stood in long lines, who rode buses to polling places, who chipped in $3 countless times when an email arrived in their inboxes, these people helped make the re-election of President Obama a reality. People who wanted their voices heard. The “ground game” involving countless people hitting the streets, making phone calls, driving people to polling places made a difference.
What happens next is more important. How will this country, divided as it is, come together to address serious issues? Will we be able to work for the common good rather than try to protect special interests? Will programs like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid be viewed as rights given to those who have contributed all their lives to those funds or as assistance to the most vulnerable among us rather than as “entitlements?” Will issues of poverty be raised as well as issues that affect the middle class? Will the LGBT community enjoy the respect every human being deserves?
As Jim Wallis of “Sojourners” has pointed out that the Bible contains more than 2,000 verses about poverty. Poverty did not make it into the campaign spin. Abortion and Gay marriage did, put forth by some Christian churches as the only two non-negotiable Christian values. (I have to ask why protecting a child in the womb is more important that protecting it once it arrives.)
Our nation is no longer a majority “Christian” nation. It is comprised of people of many faiths and no faith. I think rather than worry and wring their hands over it, Christians should be busy about living their faith. Stop wasting time, money, and energy fighting over issues like putting the Ten Commandments on public property and reach out to those in need.
Madeleine L’Engle, one of my favorite authors, has inspired not only my writing, but also my commitment to try to live out my faith. She told a story about speaking at an evangelical college not long after her Newberry Award winning book, “A Wrinkle in Time,” was published. Some attending her lecture found fault with her book and questioned her faith. They wondered why she didn’t do more “evangelizing.”
Her answer was simple: She would live her life in such a way that others would look at it and want something similar for themselves. She would evangelize, it seemed, not so much by her words as by her life. Reminds me of a comment often attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (Though I have searched his works and have not found it stated just so.): “Go forth and preach; use words if you have to.”
That seems to me the message of this election. People of many nationalities, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual preferences, faiths, non-faiths, philosophies, and economic circumstances have joined together and said: We are hurting. We are suffering. We are in need. We have ideas. Listen to us. Reach out to us. Do something that matters.”
Will we? Will those Christians among us live and respond to need with such joy and faith that others will be moved to wonder how we do it? Will compassion be evident? Will we give, as the widow in today’s gospel did, out of our need, not just out of our surplus?
This election is not an end. I hope it is a beginning.
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