Election Season Sermon Notes: November 8

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 8, 2020: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Ordinary Time 32, Proper 27

Scripture readings: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13

Notes on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

A central theme of Christian theology is that just as Christ died and rose again, so too can God’s people die and rise again with Christ. For early Christians, this brought up a troubling question: What happens to the people who died before Christ died? Will they rise again too? Paul answers with a resounding yes – there is no need to worry for our past loved ones; God takes care of them too. Jesus leaves no one out or behind.

As Christians, we are called to do our best to be Christ-like -- which means we can’t leave anyone out or behind, either. God’s love, and thus our love, is for everyone. That’s why our core values include justice and dignity: The God-given dignity of all people. And right now, that means defending democracy and seeking justice for the marginalized vulnerable whose votes risk being thrown out. Protecting the election results by patiently waiting for every vote to be counted and taking nonviolent action to take back the national narrative from misinformation is a moral imperative.

Notes on Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus tells a parable in which five out of ten bridesmaids are unable to meet the delayed groom after dark, simply because they didn’t think ahead to buy sufficient lamp oil. The moral is clear: Be prepared, for we never know when we as Christians will be called into action. God will see us through hard times, but God won’t do the hard work for us. We must always be prepared to put our faith into action when the big moment comes.

One such big moment may have already arrived by November 8. For the past four years, certain elected officials have signaled, time and time again, that they intend to try and bully, cheat, and scam their way to power by interfering with ballot counting, undermining the ultimate results. Whatever has happened by November 8, several weeks of ballot counting may remain before the deadlines for officials to certify the results. There is still time to be patient, to prepare, and to buy sufficient lamp oil for the next moment.

The nonviolent protests possibly ongoing by this point are about making this country a place where dignity and justice are for all -- no exceptions. That scares certain elected officials, which is why they try to use religion and race to divide us. The church must stand tall against the weaponization of white supremacy and Christian nationalism. By coming together across race and place to demand that every vote count, we will swear in a government of, by, and for the people to protect the vulnerable. This is the moment we’ve been preparing for – it’s time to light the lamps.

These sermon seeds were written shortly before Election Day in anticipation of a possible assault on democracy; be sure to reference specific current events and adapt the content as necessary.