A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, November 2, 2008
Matthew 23:1-12
We may insist that our religious life and our civil life exist in two separate spheres but this is the season we need to remember how they overlap. One of the fine old traditions of New England Congregationalism is the Election Day sermon when the people of the community gathered together before they voted so the parson could remind them that human leaders have their place but that God is in the midst of the people, and God’s will must never be overshadowed by human affairs.
In Colonial times Congregational churches (including ours) were supported by the taxes of all the residents of the community. The buildings and pastors received direct support from the citizens regardless of their religious preferences. Two hundred fifty years ago Benjamin Allen was paid 400 pounds sterling by the taxpayers, and enough firewood to heat his home.
Remember, too, that religious and political spheres overlapped to the point that only white, male, land-owning, tithing members of the Congregational church could vote for their representatives. That was true right here until 1819, when Maine was chartered as a separate state, and in Massachusetts until 1833. Even so, there’s simply no precise line between the religious and civil spheres. Both in our private lives and in our communities we carry religious convictions into civic discourse about the kind of people we want to be and the kind of leaders we hope for.
One of the great joys during my years in Concord was three years as Chaplain to the New Hampshire House of Representatives; still called the General Court as a carry-over from Colonial days. I received a per diem from public taxes to open each day’s deliberations with a non-sectarian prayer.
I took my role seriously and worked carefully to craft prayers that were non-partisan but clearly in tune with the issues and dilemmas of the day. I considered it my task to remind the elected officials that God is God and they are not!
Then-Governor John Sununu (the Elder), who was notorious for wandering into the chambers well after the opening of these sessions, gradually began showing up for the prayer. He told me he’d been alerted that he would do well to know what the preacher was praying. We occasionally jousted about some remark or another, but had a few serious conversations as well.
I offer this because I believe I would be derelict in my duty to ignore the enormity of this particular election. or two years our nation has been consumed with partisan campaigning and positioning, all climaxing with this Tuesday’s general election.
This is an historic moment for a variety of reasons. One, of course, is because a woman and a person of color have seriously challenged the presumption that only white males are suited to the highest office in our land. Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s vote, we have finally reached the time when any mama can truthfully say to her child – “in this great land you can grow up to be President.”
By the time we gather next Sunday you and I and tens of millions more will have exercised our most fundamental freedom and will have chosen one of two men as our president-elect.
On Wednesday morning the pundits will dissect every aspect of the races. There will be sounds of weeping and wailing, and talk-radio hosts will shriek this or that, telling us they told us so and we wouldn’t listen.
This President – which ever he is – will not be able to fix our country, if by that we mean reassembling the house of cards that has tumbled.
We have wandered into a desperate situation with war on two fronts, a stock market that leaves us nauseous, housing values falling, foreclosures and joblessness rising, a 70% disapproval rating of our Congress and a 75% disapproval rating of our current President.
We want someone to blame, and ultimately we must lay it directly at our own feet – we the people.
• We have become selfish and greedy, each of us fighting against our neighbors for what we believe we deserve.
• We have wanted to look only at our own needs and desires.
• Like passengers on the Titanic, we haven’t worried whether there were enough lifeboats, but now that we’re sinking we want to be the first who are bailed out.
• We’ve built a nation on debt and desire, ignoring the truth our children and grandchildren would pay it,
• But now we see the reality that we must pay the debts ourselves.
And part of the tragedy is that we’ve begged our elected and appointed leaders to tell us everything is OK. Jesus saw some of the Pharisees who dressed up in fancy robes and spouted polished prayers but who did not practice what they preached. These were people who could repeat the scriptures and refrains but who lacked a deeper understanding of God’s purposes. They were full of themselves and not full of God. That is the greatest human temptation and we, too, have fallen into it.
Of course it matters whom we elect on Tuesday, from President down to City Councilor. But much more it matters that we, the American people, tell our leaders that we are prepared to face the truth – no more empty promises or sugar-coatings.
We the people know who we can be… and we see what we have become. Things are not OK; solutions will not be easy; paying back debts is never glamorous.
But it’s time for each of us to look ourselves in the mirror and ask the faithful question: “what is right? Knowing what I know of the scriptures, and of our nation’s founding, and of generations that have gone before – in light of this all, what is right for us as a people and as citizens of a global economy and global community?”
It’s understood that We won’t all agree on this. But I do have a suggestion. When the election is over and we’ve all had some time to adjust, contact your representatives and tell them what you believe is right for us as a nation – the whole nation, the whole community. Call your City Council members, your State legislators, your US Senators and Congress people and tell them that we believe in our future not because we are powerful but because we are ready to rebuild on a solid foundation – of trust, and honesty and integrity.
Then, one day we will again embody the best that’s in the hearts of the American people.
Then, we’ll be able to claim once again that we are one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
In these days we each must examine our own hearts as carefully as we’ve cross-examined candidates for public office. And we must remember the ancient wisdom of Psalm 146:
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; 8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. 9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. 10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!