I voted yesterday.

I definitely appreciate the opportunity to vote early.

You never know what will be happening on a specific day, whether it is work related, life related, health related, or national emergency related. I don’t like leaving things to chance.

It was a smooth process with minimal waiting. I got to follow a walking path with a whole bunch of “vote here” stickers, which reminded me of the old Dunham Shoe Store in my hometown of Brattleboro, VT which had footprints on the carpet leading to a closet with toys in it. Clearly, I have trained for this.

When I came back from the poll site, I was meditating on Psalm 115.

It’s a statement of worship contrasting the worldview of people who trust in an almighty creator, and people who worship idols, who make statues and then expected their gods to inhabit them.

In verses 3-8, it says this:

³ Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

The problem is that many of us who speak of one God, and are quick to roll our eyes at the veneration of statues have a number of unaddressed idols in our lives.

They aren’t handmade; we think we’re far too sophisticated for that.

But they’re symbols. They’re parties.

They’re cultural identities and affinities.

They are ancestors, and children, and animals.

I’m going to say this with respect.

There are many reasons to revere our forefathers and foremothers.

There are reasons to defend children, babies, and animals.

One advantage they offer us, however, is that they can’t speak for themselves.

They can't tell us that we're out of control, or deceived, or that they'd rather do the talking.

We can, therefore, project onto them anything we want.

And we do a lot of this.

Many of us wrestle with sacred texts, and spend time in prayer, and ask God to reveal to us His will for the nation, and his will for us within it.

It is, however, easier to make Him agree with me, than for me to change to agree with Him.

It is always tempting to remake God in my image and likeness, as much as I know I’m made in his.

This is true because we have finite knowledge and understanding.

It is true because we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity

It is true because we are deeply emotionally unhealthy, often blissfully unaware of both the internal and external forces that are motivating our behavior. We are just out here reacting to stuff.

And it makes us easy to manipulate.

We are agents of chaos who don’t even realize we are dangerous.

When I speak to Christians about politics in the modern moment, I often encounter people who say it’s really quite simple if I pay attention to “the signs of the times.” There are, they explain, prophetic indicators that clearly show an attentive person what God is up to, and what he’s telling us to do.

And while I am as interested in discerning God’s activity in the world as the next guy, I have a point of unease with “signs of the times” people.

It always tells them to do exactly what they wanted to do. They present it to me with the implication that I am getting it wrong until I come to their side.

I have never met a signs of the times person who tells me that despite a lifelong affiliation with the Republican Party, they clearly see God’s hand on Bernie Sanders.

I have never seen a progressive Christian say that they recognize that God is using Libertarians in a unique and dynamic way in this election, so they are all in.

And I have definitely never heard a signs of the times person say that God’s will for the United States is to exercise less power now than it did 20 or 50 or 100 years ago.

When it comes to voting, therefore, I pay as much attention as I can to what’s happening in the world.

I learn as much as I can about the current state of the parties and candidates

I listen to their rhetoric, and I look at their record.

I look at how they function individually, and collaboratively, since nobody in government works alone.

I look at how they function within the nation, and diplomatically in the world.

I pay attention to their affiliations, and influences, and the affect their words and actions have on people and institutions.

I look at how much respect they have for the freedoms and responsibilities that I consider the bedrock of a functional society.

Then I vote my conscience for the candidate that I believe does the most good for the nation and in the world

I do not, however, feel comfortable saying that my choice was God’s choice.

Nor do I believe that yours was either.

Even if we could say that a given official was God’s choice, my question is “to accomplish what?”

You could say they were God’s choice to prosper a nation or humble it.

You could say they were God’s choice to build your pet institution up, or to use your hubris to expose it as unsustainable, or corrupt.

So with regards to my vote, I vote my conscience, with as much information as I can get, and I simply pray that you are doing the same, voting, in good faith, according to a clear set of values. And I pray those values are healthy, but I have no way of knowing if they are.

If I have learned anything in 27 years of faith, and 50 years of life, it is this:

People of good will can and do disagree.

People of shared faith may practice them in radically divergent ways.

People who find sacred truth in a given text may have opposing conclusions at to its meaning.

And that’s ok.

I can share my convictions with you.

I can work to rally like-minded people.

But I can’t change your heart, and it’s not my place to try.

I pray you make good choices.

I pray you make informed decisions.

I pray nobody tricks you into doing something not in your interest.

We’ve all been in at least one relationship like that before.

I believe it’s time for something new.

Be well. Be blessed. And go vote.

(Photo Credit: Sora Shimazaki)