Voting.

Tomorrow we will elect a new president. Whatever someone’s opinions may be of who makes a more qualified(?) candidate, there are topics related to voting that I think we’ve overlooked.

It’s quite easy to become so preoccupied with voting for someone every 4 years. We can start to become naive in thinking that this is the most important way that we tell the world what we think about politics. But what if there is another way to let your neighbor know how you really feel about gun violence (or violence, or war altogether)? One that doesn’t include ripping down their favorite candidate’s lawn sign and burning it in your driveway. What if there is a better, more gospel-centric way, to be “pro-life”?

What if you have been voting this entire time with your life and casting a ballot with someone’s name on it is actually fooling us all into thinking its someone else’s job to fix things?

Electing a “Progressive” or “Conservative” or “Green” president doesn’t mean anything if nothing in you actually changes. It means you can think it would be nice to live in a world where women are treated equally but until you sacrifice your own reputation and privilege to stir up awareness to the craziness of inequality in the world, your vote for a woman president doesn’t mean much. 

All this means that if you really are pro-life… stop being anti-life, in every way.

Be for life by ending the death penalty. By helping offset costs of groceries and diapers for a single mother who is pregnant or just gave life to a new baby. By discontinuing your constant consumption of food and clothing harvested/made by child slaves. By refusing to participate in a system that oppresses people of color.

You are already voting. You vote by how you act, what you buy, how you love/hate people you walk by daily, what you fear, what narrative you live by.

People can go to the polls, as they do every election cycle, and still return home the same– unchanged – for another four years until we can blame all of our own problems on the next person. Stop projecting your fear and insecurity onto the world. Stop making other people who think differently than you the enemy. Start having more conversations and less one-sided, quick answers and debates. 

This is not about someone changing our future for us or changing our country. This is about you taking responsibility for the fact that change begins with you. Stop trying to change everyone else’s opinion. 

And if you’re a Kingdom person. You have a responsibility that is altogether different in devotion. The flag, the U.S., the president… is not where your allegiance begins or ends. I’ve been inspired by numerous church leaders who are holding ecumenical prayer+worship gatherings tomorrow night after people go out and vote. Jesus is who unifies us. 

So vote. Or don’t. It doesn’t really matter (especially if you’re a Jesus person). Your life should still be the same. You should love the same, regardless if taxes go up. You should forgive the same, regardless if there is a (God forbid) wall built or not. You should speak, act, and listen the same, regardless of who is our next president.