A WORD BEFORE THE ELECTION:
Like many Christian churches, yesterday we celebrated All Saints’ Sunday. We remembered those who fought the good fight and passed on before us. We also remembered the the saints of our lives…those who believed in us before we believed in ourselves, who opened doors for us, who stood by us when nobody else did.

At the end of the service I spoke addressed the election tomorrow and this is what I said:

Like many Christian churches, yesterday we celebrated All Saints’ Sunday. We remembered those who fought the good fight and passed on before us. We also remembered the the saints of our lives…those who believed in us before we believed in ourselves, who opened doors for us, who stood by us when nobody else did.
At the end of the service I addressed the election tomorrow and this is what I said:

AND NOW this is one more thing….one more thing I need to address before we end this morning….yes, it turns out that something is happening this Tuesday. I don’t know about you but I am hearing so much fear out there right now….
Fear about who will win.
Fear about what will happen no matter who wins.
Fear for the future of our nation.
Fear of the loss of our rights and the rights of people we love.
Fear of violence in the streets.
Fear of endless lawsuits and political chaos.
And the fear is strong on both sides of the American divide.

So if you are afraid let me just say this:
This is All Saints’ Sunday. I want you to think about those you were remembering during the service this morning. Think about all they went through in their lives….all they endured.

Maybe it was a war or the Depression.
Maybe it was the loss of a child or a parent or being abused.
Maybe it was poverty or prejudice.
Maybe it was having to daily face the racism that is embedded in our society…or the homophobia….or any injustice.
Think about what they endured.

And now think about others….think about those Saints who have inspired us all with their capacity to endure and struggle for the sake of us all…

This year we lost at least two of them: Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis. Think about what they endured….how in spite of it all they persisted in order to make this a better world for all of us.

Think about the fact that they too are gathered with us here today and they will be with us on Tuesday and they will be with us no matter what happens that day and in the days to come.

In the spirit of John and Ruth…and in the spirit All the Saints who have gone before us, friends, we WILL endure. We WILL persists. We will stand strong in the power of love.

I thought of changing the closing song this morning….feeling like we might need something more uplifting….but then I realized that our usual song says it all.

We will still be ONE in the Spirit.
We will still Walk side by side.
We will still work with each other.
We will still praise God for blessings of life.

For we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. And with them by our sides, we WILL endure.