Aloha mai kākou,
I thought we had a good day in church yesterday. Another Sunday of “real good church.” I want to express my gratitude for all the wonderful musicians of our church, and for our choir, which debuted their first Choral Anthem yesterday with Na Ke Akua ‘Oe E Kia’i.
It’s the day before the election, and I have been fasting since last night. It’s a “partial fast” today, which I will break at 3 pm, to have an early dinner with Resea and the family.
Fasting helps me to focus on things which are most important in my life. It is an ancient spiritual discipline that has helped me grow in my faith. Jesus fasted (Matthew 4: 1-4), and fasting is one tangible way that we can follow Jesus. Finally, fasting helps as a reminder that “it is not all about me.” More than any other single discipline, as Richard Fosterpoints out, fasting reveals the things that control us.
The election tomorrow has given me an additional reason to fast and pray. I hope that Keawala’i Congregational Church will join together in prayer during these days of division and unrest in our nation.
We pray for love, mercy, and justice, asking God to heal our land. We pray and we vote because voting is a kind of prayerful expression of our heart’s intention for the world we want to have and to pass on to our children and grandchildren.
My friend, retired UCC pastor and consultant Rev. Anthony B. Robinson posted a prayer today that spoke to my heart, and I share it here with you:
Lord, it’s a mess here, but . . . after chatting this morning with that young Hispanic woman on her way toward the ballot box with two ballots in hand and a proud smile on her face, I am humbled and grateful . . . that we are still voting, that our votes do actually matter, and they will decide the outcome. Like so much with you, Lord, what looks small and insignificant turns out to be strangely, wonderfully grand.
If the candidates we are rooting for do prevail, grant us joy in the moment, gratitude for the folks who put themselves out there to run for office, and graciousness toward candidates and voters on the other side.
If the candidates we want to win end up losing, grant us your company in our grief, then fresh courage and resolve to continue to in the struggle for justice and for peace, and a confidence that the story is not over.
Lord, help us to learn whatever lessons are to be learned from this present time of testing. Protect us from cynicism, bitterness and despair. Make us a better, stronger and wiser people. And help us, I pray, to take ourselves a little less seriously, and to take your grace and power and promise far more seriously. In the strong name of Jesus. Amen.