Monday night was the first presidential debate of the 2016 election season. As reports about the event began, I heard about Clinton’s shimmies and Trump sniffs. These of course are the most important things about the debate. (Read lots of sarcasm here.) There have been accusations, rumors, and outright lies told and retold during this election cycle as we average Americans try to decide who we will vote for on election day. Many of us are confused or just disgusted. I, as a pastor, am concerned about how Christians are to respond to what appears to be politics as un-usual.

First Timothy has something to say to Christians as we participate in the election process. This pastoral letter is giving advise to the young pastor Timothy. It touches on a wide variety of topics, but what is of most significance to me is found in chapter 2. Verses 1-2 read, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” I emphasis the “everyone” because it hits many of us where we live. We do not want to pray for (the well-being not the death of) everyone. We do not want to give thanks for everyone. Trump supporters do not want to give supplications on behalf of Clinton. And Clinton supporters do not want to make intercessions for Trump. And yet, if we are a Christian nation as so many people want to believe, that is exactly what we good Christians should be doing. And it doesn’t end with politics.

Throughout my life I have met individuals who really don’t like me. I mean REALLY don’t like me. And in return I tend not to like them either. Whatever may have happened between us or whatever we may have done that the other dislikes, the instruction remains the same–pray for everyone. I would add especially for the individuals you don’t like or who have hurt, offended, or betrayed you. This is a good practice for the people who follow the one who came into the world to forgive us all. But that is not the reason for the instructions found in 1 Timothy.

Why do we do this? Pray for everyone? Those in authority (or trying to become a person in authority)? “So that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” (v. 2) Praying for EVERYONE is a benefit to us. We are instructed to do this to make our lives better, more godly, more dignified.

I belong to Facebook and I love it. I enjoy connecting with friends, family, and brothers and sisters in Christ across the country. However, what I have read on Facebook about the presidential candidates in the last few months is anything but godly or dignified. And each side is just as bad. When I read the posts these days, I feel like I am in the middle of a gossip ring delighting in the very worst that can be said about individuals. What would happen to Facebook, our nation, and the election if all the people who claim to be Christians actually did what we read in 1 Timothy? Actually prayed for the welling-being of EVERYONE. I don’t know about you, but I sure would like to see what would happen!

My name is Peg Harvey-Marose. I am the pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lewiston, Idaho. I have served here for over 12 years. For me the name Grace has great significance and it is one of the reasons I love serving God with the people of Grace.

One thing you should know about me is that I was not raised in the Lutheran church. I joined the Lutheran church for a very specific reason. Let me explain.

Where I grew up, I hand never heard of grace. I had been told on a regular basis that I was a sinner and was going to burn in the pits of hell. When I was in 5th grade, my best friend at the time had been told by her Sunday school teacher that anyone who was not a member of their church was going to hell and that she should not associate with people outside of the church. The next time we got together to play with some other friends, she informed us that she was not going to play with us any more because we were going to hell. I left that day having lost a friend and having a very uncomfortable feeling about the church.

I had always had a relationship with God. As a child, I had experienced God’s power and love in some very real ways. Being told by “the church” in whatever form that I was going to hell just didn’t fit with my experience.

When I went to college, a friend of mine introduced me to Lutheran Campus Ministry. The very first time I attended an event there, I knew I had found a home. At some point in that first year, I came across a pamphlet about Luther’s teaching on grace. Grace is unmerited love given to all by the God who created us and loves us unconditionally. I was shocked. I had never heard anything like this before. I turned to our campus minister and said, “I want some of this!” I have been a Lutheran ever since.

God’s grace is not just for the chosen few. God’s grace, God’s love, is for everyone. Whether you are in the church or outside the church, God loves you. Whether you had made good decisions or bad decisions in your life, God loves you. That’s what Jesus is all about. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

Remember, in all times and all places, God loves you!

Blessings,

Pastor Peg