Election Security

A majority of people on earth know that Americans go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a president. Around the world they are watching, because it is not business as usual. There is almost universal agreement that this has been the most contentious U.S. election in memory.  

There is another troubling fact: these are the two most unpopular major candidates since polling began in the 1930s. Both people have unfavorable ratings in excess of 60%. We have never seen this before. Most people will vote against one candidate, not so much for the other.

What this means is that Wednesday morning, it doesn't matter who is elected, a majority of Americans will not just be unhappy. They will be afraid or stressed or angry or frustrated. Or you pick another negative word. Polls show that more than 50% of US citizens are feeling significantly stressed by this exercise in democracy. It is not surprising that the American Psychological Association has released information on how to deal with "election anxiety."

Christians don't live in a bubble, or at least we should not, and are not immune from all this. We can be tempted to sink into the darkness, but we must hold on to our unique perspective. Whatever happens on Tuesday,  and whatever the networks tell us perhaps late into the evening, we must remember that Jesus will still be Lord of all, the Cosmic Christ that Paul describes in Colossians, the one in whom all things hold together. Our confidence must be in him, not in the outcome of this or any other election.

On Wednesday morning, our role will not have changed: we will still be charged with declaring that the kingdom of God has broken into this present age and that Jesus is giving people power to overcome the darkness and to live as salt and light in this world. And should the world get darker, it will still be true that "our citizenship is in heaven." 

In the midst of the craziest of elections, we are given an opportunity to shine like stars in the universe. We do that when we show that our election security is in Jesus and that the government of this universe is on his shoulders.