Because of our newsletter publishing timeline, the deadline for articles and the actual distribution of The Good News straddles the time that we will know (possibly) the outcome of this year’s election. I’m straddling the line between hopes and fears and outcome. I’m straddling the line between campaign and results. What will be different on either side of that line? What will be the same?  I can’t say much about what will be different because we don’t yet know the outcome of all of the elections.

I can say a few things about what will be the same about our church and our society:

• First and foremost, God will still be madly in love with creation and the people within it…. All of them. Let us remember that within every home behind the now outdated political yard signs there are people whom God loves just as much as you.
• The great commandments still stand: Love God with all you’ve got and love your neighbor as yourself (note that neighbors include those you might think are hardest to love, according to Luke 10:25-37).
• We will continue to care with and for one another because it’s so ingrained in our spiritual DNA we really can’t (or won’t) do anything different (even though it might be really hard).
• There will still be people in need of love, acceptance, comfort, food, clothing, shelter, hope and peace and our purpose as Christians is to do whatever we can to be the hands and feet and heart of Jesus to anyone in need.
• There will still be places in our society in need of justice and God still expects it to come rolling down like the waters (Amos 5:24).
• As a unified congregation, we will still worship, sing, pray, laugh, cry, and serve together.

I’d suggest we concentrate on the sameness that exists on either side of the election line. We might find that what is different isn’t as frightening as we thought it might be.

Be kind to yourselves and to one another as this week continues to unfold.  Rev. Lynne