IN FAITH
Reflections on All Saints’ Day And Election Day
“For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. {18} But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. {19} I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. {20} No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. {21} They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. {22} They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. {23} They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD— and their descendants as well. {24} Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. {25} The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:17-25 NRSV)
Two things are on my mind as the end of October draws near and as November comes into view. The first is All Saints’ Day, and the second is election day. You may wonder how the scripture from Isaiah 65 applies to both. Our God has a plan for the human race. God has never intended that evil hold sway down here on planet earth. But, instead, God has worked from the beginning to try and bring what Jesus Christ called “The Kingdom of God,” or, the “rule of God” in society.
It’s easy to read some newspaper headlines and discover all kinds of things that just aren’t right. We can read about the economy being bad, or crime rates being up, or international problems that just won’t go away. We’re all aware of these things if we pay attention to the news. Sometimes we may wonder what in the world we can do about all of them. Some of us may think that we can do nothing. In other words, some may feel powerless to bring about positive changes. But, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7-8) Jesus calls us to “ask, seek, and knock.” In other words, Jesus calls us to take positive action in the full confidence that as we do so, God will honor those positive, faithful acts, and they will make a difference.
My comments on All Saints’ Day are brief: Saints are formed as men and women follow Jesus or obey God’s commandments, and as that marvelous grace of God transforms us from the inside out, making us into nothing less than new creations.
But, as that happens, we have a responsibility to do something with that God given transformation. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation, and to make a difference. For evil to prevail, all that it takes is for good people to do nothing. If good people do nothing, then all the things they hope for will not come to pass, because there is a battle going on in this world between good and evil. The scripture from Isaiah is a painting of the hope that the prophet had for the future, after Israel had returned home from captivity in Babylon, roughly 538 B.C. The nation had been destroyed. The temple in Jerusalem lay in ruins. Everything that those people held near and dear had been destroyed because they had not lived as followers of the Living God, but had chosen either to do nothing, or to follow false gods and do the wrong kinds of things. In 538 B.C. Cyrus of Persia sent the Jews home to rebuild what had been destroyed.
I pray that the United States never comes to the point where people of faith simply give up trying to make a positive difference. Remember, for evil to gain the upper hand, all that it takes is for good people to do nothing!
We have an opportunity on election day to make a difference. Sometimes very important matters may be decided by one vote. So your vote may be the decisive one! Don’t give in to apathy! Don’t think that what you do doesn’t matter! You can make a difference. And here in the United States, we resolve problems through ballots, not bullets, like in some places on this globe. So, rise up, o men and women of God! Rise up, ye saints! Make a difference at the polls, just as our forerunners in the faith did!
Happy All Saints’ Day!
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