The past seven days have been unusually stressful for many Americans. The Presidential election produced record turnout and vote counting took longer than many expected.
Now, we know that Joe Biden is President-elect.
Preaching
Pastors have faced unexpected challenges throughout 2020. Nearly all pastors in congregational ministry have learned to preach to a virtual audience or have worked to improve competency.
On top of the ongoing (and recently worsening) pandemic, today pastors had the challenge of preaching their first sermon since the election.
Listening
I devoted a good portion of my morning and early afternoon to virtually participating in worship in four congregations in the greater Dallas – Fort Worth area.
upper left: Rev. Dr. Kanter, First Unitarian (Dallas)
upper right: Rev. Dr. Mohn, Trinity Lutheran (Fort Worth)
lower left: Rev. Dr. Stewart, Rev. McLean, Rev. Michalove, First Presbyterian (Fort Worth)
lower right: Rev. Dr. Thomas, Cathedral of Hope (Dallas)
First Unitarian
The Rev. Dr. Daniel Kanter, Senior Minister of First Unitarian Church of Dallas, opened his message by noting that worship occurs in the context of history and by naming that we just elected the first woman of color to serve as the next Vice President. Rather than emphasizing the person chosen to serve as the 46th President of the United States and/or the future Vice President, Kanter focused on the importance of living up to and in to core principles of Unitarian Universalism. And, he encouraged people to continue to live out their faith in this democracy.
Now the actual work on issues of racism and systemic economic and health disparities can be looked at seriously without leaders denying their existence.
–Rev. Dr. Daniel Kanter
Trinity Lutheran
The Rev. Dr. Kendra Mohn, Lead Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, started her message by linking the four Scripture readings together with the theme of raising awareness. Her message focused on wake up calls, moving from a literal wake up call in the Gospel lesson to the many unexpected wake up calls many people have experienced in 2020. With an enhanced awareness of the wake up calls of the pandemic and the election, people of faith have been changed and are called to continue to be change makers.
(This Sunday is commitment Sunday or the day when members and active participants of the congregation are encouraged to pledge their financial support for the coming year. As part of that emphasis, this sermon was also a call to give.)
Wake up calls don’t leave us the way the found us.
–Rev. Dr. Kendra Mohn
First Presbyterian
Rather than a traditional sermon preached by one pastor, First Presbyterian Church opted for what they called a fireside chat without a fireplace. The conversation featured Rev. Dr. Joshua Stewart, Associate Pastor for Youth; Rev. Brendan McLean, Pastoral Resident; and Rev. Robyn Michalove, Associate Pastor of Mission and Family Ministries.
The conversation was introduced as an opportunity to reflect on the election in light of faith while reading through the second chapter of the book of Colossians. Staying connected – especially during this time when it is unsafe to gather together in person in large numbers and while the partisan divide is unusually strong – is essential. Additionally, they proposed that seeking true wisdom will help unite followers of the Way of Jesus.
It’s tricky though, as pastors . . . to be not too political as pastors and yet we engage with a text that is by its very nature political.
Rev. Robyn Michalove
Cathedral of Hope
The Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas, Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ, concluded a series of messages on heart matters with a message on healthy heart habits. This final message considered Proverbs 4:23 as a reminder of the centrality of the heart in the life of faith.
Thomas noted that this week highlighted just how divided our nation currently is and reminded us just how much work is yet ahead. The way forward requires both internal heart work, and collaborative justice work.
300 years of our country has amalgamated into where we are today. We can’t expect fixing to be done in just four years.
–Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas
So What?
While the approaches differed considerably, I was encouraged that the pastors of all four congregations intentionally spoke about both the election and the pandemic.
I’d welcome hearing about your worship experience. On this, the first Sunday since the election, how did your pastor and/or other leaders speak about the election and the role people of faith have in continuing to make the world – including America – a place where all people can live freely and love fully.