This week I have experienced the beginning of the Fall several different ways.  One way is the gift of the turning leaves and the smells that come with Autumn.  The gift of the Headwaters Trail gives ample evidence of the beauty of this time of year as the greens are replaced by the browns, yellows, and oranges.  What a gift! 

On the other hand…we’re starting to see the political signage going up.  Those running for local office and the increasing signage of those already preparing for 2024 will start bombarding us over the next month.  The divisions between people get even more accentuated during these times drawing us into our ideological corners.  Certainly as citizens we have a right to free speech and to come to the conclusions we do.  What is our role as Christians?  
It would be presumptuous of me to name that for each person.  How we engage the political and economic powers in our world today is different for each of us. I do not believe the church to be apolitical—any reading of the New Testament will show Jesus, the Disciples, and the church constantly engaging in the political discussion.  To me, the idea that churches shouldn’t engage with politics doesn’t take the Bible seriously.  However, how and where and why and in what fashion the church does so will forever be up for discussion and debate.  

That being said, whatever our political persuasion, what is abundantly clear in the teachings of Jesus is the call to Love.  Love of neighbors and enemies may become particularly hard in these seasons of electoral politics….yet we are still called to love.  What does Love look like in these seasons of division and animosity?  What can you do to express love in the midst of it?  

As a start, I offer to you this prayer (below) from Arianne Braithwaite Lehn in her book Ash and Starlight.  I hope it to be a heartfelt prayer for each of us as we prepare to engage family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who might feel very different from us during this time…..
Looking forward to worshipping with you on Sunday and for our study after! 
God’s Peace be with you! Chad

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When I don’t want to love someone 

Lord Jesus, My very life grows from you, the Vine from which I stem with hope for fruit that will last. Your love force flows through me, and yet it also moves into neighboring branches. 
I don’t want to acknowledge my connection with some of them— these people who block my sun or suppress my spirit. I struggle, Jesus, to see and love the goodness in another, even as your life current nourishes me with the same sustenance. 
Maybe my first step is to simply name, each day, our connection through you. To remember the seed that brought forth me also birthed them. To unfurl my leaves— soak in the sun, the rainfall— and, in doing this, open my heart to you and every single other… 
To keep all veins open for transformative possibilities that come not through my own doing, but by being joined with you— the One who can and does bring redemptive relationships I never thought possible. 
Today, I will celebrate being a part of the Vine, and rest in the work you will do. You only ask me to stay connected, abiding in Love.

Lehn, Arianne Braithwaite. Ash and Starlight: Prayers for the Chaos and Grace of Daily Life (pp. 41-42). Chalice Press. Kindle Edition.