“Continue to consider how you’ll pray, how you’ll vote, and to live in the aftermath as folks, as citizens seeking the common good.” Bishop Brian Cole encourages us to reflect on the Episcopal baptismal covenant as we vote in this latest election and as we hold our communities in prayer in the aftermath.
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Transcript
Hi, it’s Bishop Brian. I have a couple of thoughts I want to offer as we are in the midst of this election season.
As a kid growing up, my across the street neighbor was a man named Woodrow Wilson Chisholm, and he gave me two of my first jobs ever as a teenager in a state representative election and then a year later in a state senator election. He paid me $100 to help get out the vote. It involved me papering the city of Haiti with placards, ads and posters for the state representative in that state senator, and on the day of the election, to encourage people to vote. For me, it was exciting to be involved in that process, even though I couldn’t vote.
Yet, on the day that I was able to vote the first time, I remember going in and casting a ballot and discovering the person I vote for did not win, and yet I had engaged in the process. So, I would encourage you, as Episcopalians, to take seriously our role as citizens, to inform yourself about the vote, to make a plan to vote, and to think about as you consider who you might vote for consider these two questions from our baptismal covenant: will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
As you prepare to vote, or if you’ve already voted, continue to pray for our communities, our state, our country, as we consider the choices we’re making, and as we do so with a sense of we want votes to count. We want people to count and to matter.
As baptized Christians, we’re engaged as citizens also in this constitutional movement. So, continue to consider how you’ll pray, how you’ll vote, and to live in the aftermath as folks, as citizens seeking the common good. You are in my prayers. Pray for each other. Get out and vote and continue to serve each other and serve the common good.
Thank you.