(Many of you expressed appreciation for the pastoral letter emailed last week on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. I am posting it again here for those of you that missed it. Much of it remains relevant.)
Dear church community,
On election night 2016, I prayed the following prayer with my daughter as she lay down to go to sleep:
"Dear God, thank you for today, for the freedom to have our voices heard. Help us to remember we are not alone during this uncertain time; you are with us. Remind us that your love is the greatest gift this world has ever known, and that ultimately your love will triumph over hate, hope over despair, life over death. We pray that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven that all might know those truths. Give us strength, perseverance, wisdom and determination to keep working with all our hearts and courage toward your love in all things. You so often offered these words: Be Not Afraid! Fear Not! We are trying. You are with us; we are not alone."
My added prayer for this election, 2020, is that we would see one another as beloved and hold each other’s inherent dignity as we move beyond this election. It has become so easy to dehumanize and vilify one another. There are memes and posts, articles, podcasts, and radio broadcasts intentionally spewing hatred and lies to tear our country apart. Don’t give into hatred or vilification - use your measured sense. If it seems like exaggerated propaganda nonsense, it probably is - exaggerated nonsense to get folks riled up and angry at each other - to create a whirlwind of fear and mistrust. Don’t play into the farce. Don’t share fake news, bearing false witness against your neighbor. Fact check. Source check. Share love and hope. Live out mercy and humility. Strive for justice.
And by all means, vote! You matter and your voice matters. Whatever the outcome of this election, know that we serve and owe our ultimate allegiance to a God that is great and good, a God that is faithful and merciful and abounding in steadfast love - a God whose love we have come to know in and through Jesus Christ who taught us to love - first and foremost - God and our neighbors as ourselves, and who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Abundant blessings and peace to you all,
Rev. Daryn Stylianopoulos, Pastor