Election day is this Tuesday. I hope that you either have already voted or will vote. It is a sacred American responsibility to vote. I still remember how excited I was when I first registered to vote at the age of 18.
My friend, Rev. Craig Carter, senior pastor of Lynn Haven United Methodist Church in Panama City, Florida, has suggested that Christians pray for the following four things as we approach election day:
1) Pray for those who are on the election ballot as they finish their campaigns and await results.
2) Pray for elected officials and for smooth transitions as leaders enter and exit public office.
3) Pray for public discourse about the elections to be civil and respectful.
4) And pray for the embodiment of the rules of voting that the founder of our church, John Wesley, suggested 250 years ago: "Vote for the person judged most worthy. Speak no evil of the person voted against, and take care that your spirits are not sharpened against those that voted on the other side." (John Wesley's Journal dated October 6, 1774).
I am so thankful that we live in a country where we have a voice and a vote. May God's blessings be upon our families, our church, our community, and our nation.
