Election Season Sermon Notes: November 1

By the Rev. Nathan Empsall, Episcopal priest and Faithful America campaigns director

A coalition of national faith organizations including Faithful America, Faith in Public Life, and others have provided suggested post-election resilience messaging for clergy and faith leaders. The following is a set of examples from Faithful America for how lectionary preachers can tie that messaging guidance to the week’s Scripture readings for November 1, 8, and 15. See the sermon seeds for other Sundays here.

Most weeks, the Catholic lectionary and the mainline Protestant Revised Common Lectionary have different lessons from the Hebrew Bible, but identical (or at least overlapping) lessons from the New Testament and the Gospels. These sermon notes draw on the shared portions of the lectionaries.

Election Season Sermon Notes -- November 1, 2020: All Saints' Day

Scripture readings: Revelations 7:9-17, 1 John 3:1-13, Matthew 5:1-12

On All Saints Day, we think of the whole communion of saints, honoring those who have come before us and those who will come after. 

Right now, many of us are preparing to vote. Thinking of our past loved ones and what they did to leave us a better world, let us do the same for those who will come later.

Let us vote this week – and work in the weeks ahead to protect the counting and the results of those votes -- with the values of social and racial justice, democracy, human dignity, and creation care in mind, for the sake of the saints yet to come.

This year, vote counting will take longer than usual due to extra absentee ballots, security measures, and coronavirus precautions. We may not know the winners for weeks. That is okay! The extra time means every vote can be counted -- a moral imperative for justice and democracy, responsibly respecting the voices and dignity of the most vulnerable voters. That’s something worth waiting for.

In the past, the saints who have come before us in this country have always managed to vote, count the votes, and uphold the results, even in times of great crisis. We held successful presidential elections amid the Civil War, the Great Depression, and both World Wars. Now, like those before us, it’s our turn to prove that nothing – not even the pandemic – will stand in the way of our commitments to justice and democracy. We will vote, count every vote no matter how long it takes, and protect the results against any threats to democracy.

Each of today’s readings refer to our fundamental values of justice and dignity. They can be woven together to talk about our call to love and stand with God’s most vulnerable children by ensuring that their votes are counted and the results are honored:

• Revelations 7:9-17: The author has a vision of the future in which he sees people who have gone through a great ordeal but now sit with God and hunger no more, thirst no more, suffer the sun’s scorching heat no more. Knowing they will be called to wear robes of white and sit with God, this election season we will honor those who hunger, thirst, and suffer.

• 1 John 3:1-3: A beautiful passage that says we are all called children of God, loved by God. Let us share that love with all our fellow children, secure in the hope of God this passage promises, by standing for justice, democracy, and dignity all November election season long.

• Matthew 5:1-12: The Beatitudes further reference those we love and care for.

Additional notes on Revelation 7:9-17

• It is ironic that we would hear these words just before ballots are counted: “there was a great multitude that no one could count.”

• The truth is that this year in the U.S., the great multitude of votes will take longer than usual to count due to extra absentee ballots, security measures, and coronavirus precautions. But those votes will and must be counted, for the sake of justice, democracy, and the God-given dignity of every voter.

Additional notes on Matthew 5:1-12        

• “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” In the weeks ahead, we might see attacks on democracy -- certain elected officials have said they will honor the results if they win; previously called for accepting only votes counted on Election Night; told white supremacist activists to “stand by;” and refused to promise a peaceful transition. People of faith may have to join with our allies, sisters, and brothers online and in the street to nonviolently resist possible attacks on justice and democracy, on account of Christ’s love for the meek and the poor whose votes may be threatened.

It’s clear that we need to put our values of justice, dignity, democracy, and responsibility into action not only by voting, but protecting the results of those if there are any attempts to stop or interfere with vote counting. The question is, how to do that?

Consider hosting – or at least encouraging your parishioners to join – a Protect the Results event or protest on Wednesday, November 4, or Saturday, November 7. The day after Election Day, if certain elected officials are trying to undermine the election results, thousands of Americans will mobilize in the streets and online, non-violently reclaiming the narrative to defend ballot counters and reject the corrupt power grab. More info: https://protecttheresults.com/?utm_source=Faithful-America