Written on October 24, 2008

For the Lectionary of November 2, 2008: Matthew 23:1-12

"The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

VOTING RITES by Larry Patten

This is what Colin Powell said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when he endorsed Barack Obama:

I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I think the retired four-star general was wrong about one assertion. Having read parts of Obama’s memoir, Dreams From My Father, I don’t think the Illinois senator has “always been a Christian.” As a child, and then a young man, Obama questioned, wondered, struggled, doubted, debated, denied, and kept wondering about faith. Obama’s adult Christian faith, which I sense as real and potent, was and is part of an ongoing journey.

But how right General Powell was with the two questions that followed his “incorrect” comment . . . But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?

Whew!

I was thankful to hear those words. And I was awed by how articulate and bluntly truthful those questions were. As a Christian and an American, I needed to hear them.

Don’t we all?

I am going to do something that 1) doesn’t matter at all, and 2) I never did when I served a church. I endorse Barack Obama for president.

Big deal, eh? It would surprise me that anyone paid attention to my vote for the 2008 election.

When I served in churches as a pastor, I knew it was illegal to promote one candidate over another. Also stupid. And—regardless of the separation of church and state, or personal foolishness—when I served a congregation with a mix of Democrats and Republicans, shy independents and Green Party rabble-rousers, it wasn’t right to make endorsements. How could I effectively serve everyone if I declared allegiance to one particular political path? Does that mean I was a pulpit wimp or a weak-kneed preacher? So be it!

But I’m not serving a church.

So I publicly cast my vote for Obama over McCain. They both seem good people, but Obama reminds me we are on a journey. Faith is not something fixed at birth or from a baptism. It’s a doubt, a dream, a struggle, a believing. And then again, as time goes by, more doubting, dreaming, struggling, and believing.

And those, like Colin Powell, who support Obama, stir my imagination. My country needs people inspired to ask: Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? I wish everyone in the United States would take the time to ask and answer that question.

And I’m also inspired to ponder words attributed to Jesus: All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. What other words are better than humble to describe a living, breathing Christian faith?

I think that Barack Obama is like most politicians: egotistical, flawed, petty, and always trying to please too many people. And yet—though I could be wrong—being humble is on that list. I sense in Malia and Natasha Obama’s Daddy, a person still on a journey.

It doesn’t matter that I endorse any candidate.

Except right now, it does for me, and for my faith. From the beginnings of Obama’s campaign, I’ve been reminded what America is like. More than most, the Illinois senator helped me remember we are a country struggling to include Hindhu, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and more within the matrix of faith, family, and nation.

I long for all American children—like Colin Powell’s seven-year old Muslim—to believe he or she might become President. And I long for all faithful people to dig deeply into their beliefs, and yet still know they can learn from a brother or sister of a different faith.

I am an American. I get to vote for those that serve me. And I pray each politician remains humble (how naïve, eh?). I am a Christian, and—with all my foibles—believe that being a person of faith always trumps being a citizen of a nation. I pray I stay humble and remember, and revere, the God I serve and the Christ-spirit I follow.

And so I vote . . . a tiny act of personal, humble, faith.

in Peace,

Larry