How Should We Vote?

Passages: Is. 22:15-24; Eph. 1:1-14; Lk. 8:17-21
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. ԻԲ 15-24; Եփես. Ա 1-14; Ղկ. Ը 17-21

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Today perhaps my dears, you will be disappointed in my words or wonder why it is that I have chosen to prepare such a sermon. Today, I will be speaking on who, we as children of God in the Armenian Orthodox Church and as citizens of the United States should vote for! Now if you have voted already or are curious or even feel upset or think Der Hayr has lost his mind by speaking on such a polarizing topic, I invite us to take pause for a moment. For many of us especially living in modern societies like the United States and Canada, Church and State are separate and should never be mixed. Yet, we as members of the Holy Church, living here are also citizens of these United States and that is why I say let us pause to reflect on the words that I humbly attempt to convey through this sermon.

Before I begin, let me ask, what is a sermon? Is it a message to make us feel good? Is it any different than the speeches we hear from political podiums vs. the podium of the Church? Sure, the sermon has religious teachings but for so many of us, we view the sermon and a campaign speech as similar: words to take with us, to affiliate ourselves with or disagree with. How often have we listened to a political speech and walked away upset, or in agreement or confused? How often has it been, we have heard a sermon we don’t like, or agree with or connect with? Yet, a sermon is not a campaign pitch, nor is it a “feel good message.”A sermon is a teaching tool to be challenged by; it is words of advice from a priest, founded in the Holy Scriptures for us to take, reflect upon and apply to our daily lives. The truth is, we are each different; We have our likes and dislikes, we have our points of view, our perspectives that have been shaped by the life we have lived and experienced. What unites all of us here in the Holy Church is not blood, language or party lines. What brings us together is the blood of Christ and the love of God our Heavenly Father.

Therefore a sermon, my dears, is advice, on how though we are different, we are united in Christ. Advice can either be accepted or rejected. So advice, regardless what the subject matter is, should be given with caution even if it is from a priest. Hunter S. Thompson, an American author when writing a letter of advice to his friend opens with these words, “You ask advice: ah, what a very human and very dangerous thing to do!… To presume to point a man to the right and ultimate goal— to point with a trembling finger in the RIGHT direction is something only a fool would take upon himself.” The reason it is foolish and dangerous to give advice is because our advice is biased and only considers the advisors experience. We all want advice; we want guidance and direction especially in times of hurt and the unknown. Yet, advice in the Church should be different. It isn’t the priests’ opinions and bias but the teachings of Scripture. Advice that we receive in our Church through discussions and sermons from our priest are given therefore to guide our faith, shape us and help direct us towards Christ. Even this advice is neither easy to give nor receive.

So what advice, what word of teaching could I, as a priest, give my dears in today’s polarized political world? Today we are bombarded with hateful words, lies, and manipulation from all sides. We are told not to trust the left or the right; to vote based on our ideologies and political views on reproduction rights, immigration, climate advocacy, racism, policing, taxation, etc. As Armenian’s I hear so often, we should vote based on the party that will most help support the Armenian cause. Yet, what is the problem with voting in such a way my dears? The problem is that whether we vote left or right, we are grounded on a false foundation. What do I mean? In the book, Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis’, a story about how demons try to manipulate humanity, one of the underlying themes is that the devil doesn’t need us to believe in him. All the Devil truly desires is for us to be distracted and to not trust God. Listen to this passage from this famous story:

“My Dear Wormwood,
Be sure that the patient (humanity) remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure that the patient continues to believe that the problem is “out there” in the “broken system” rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself.”

What this is saying my dears, is the issues of gender, race, climate, life, liberty and so many other polarizing topics have become a distraction for us. It is this lie that we have all fallen victim to by removing God from them – our focus has been shifted and perverted, we have been distracted to think that those topics are what give us purpose and meaning, defines life and anyone who thinks differently is the problem. We have put our trust in flawed human systems to determine how our identity should be formulated and about what we think about these matters. Yet, for us, our root, our foundation of decision making, of hope, of compassion and of how we treat ourselves and others, something we call ethics or ethos, must be rooted in Christ Jesus.

This means if we want to fight for genuine social justice, it is required as Christ teaches, that we first look at ourselves, that we be transformed in heart and mind, that we remove the plank from our eye in order to help our brother remove the sawdust – to see Christ in all humanity. If we desire to speak up about family values, marriage, gender ethics, we must uphold sanctity of marriage and all family through care and guidance; we must care for widows, and those who are from broken homes, encouraging families to embody the love of Christ through their relationships. If we value all life, then we must also realize that passing laws for or against abortion does not address the root cause that leads individuals to consider such options; but rather through compassion, education and mercy, we are called to pray for God to be with those women who face such decisions. What about the environment? I once heard a clergyman of another denomination once say, that they don’t like to talk about climate advocacy or change because it is such a political issue. Yet, it was the first commandment of God to Adam and Eve to be stewards and caretakers of creation – of all animals, plants, and waters. This is not a legal obligation but a Divine calling.

The list goes on my dears, of how the biggest lie we have all fallen victim to is that this life and how we live it is a political voting weapon, and can be controlled by legislation; by the party we vote for or the name we scream the loudest. We have fallen victim to being distracted into placing our trust in man over God. Do we truly believe that one candidate over the other cares for our well-being more than God? Yes, Church and State are separate but for each of us, where does our foundation, our value, our god reside? My dears, who should you vote for? Who should we trust? While there may be many other religious leaders that will give a definitive left or right answer, my advice is that our trust can only be placed in God our Heavenly Father. St. Paul writes that God chose us in love, that He gave us adoption as His children through Christ Jesus, “With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” Therefore, I ask my dears, are we bringing unity to all things in heaven and on earth through our political choices?

Vote my dears, exercise your God given freedom to choose yet, vote Biblically. Vote with these words as reflection, with this conviction to ask who we should vote for. Vote with prayer in our hearts! We are called to pray for all our leaders, clergy, laity, left, right, liberal or conservative. We are called to have compassion and mercy, love and hope for all creation, not determined by legislation and party affiliation. For it is Christ Jesus that we have put on through our baptism. It is Christ Jesus who died for you and me, regardless of how we look, what we have experienced, how we vote, what highs and lows we have faced, how many skeletons we have buried or what heights we have climbed. For Christ directs us give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God. We, my dears, our heart, soul and mind, belong to God!

Yes, my dears, I would be foolish to stand here and give advice as to who we should vote for. That is done behind political podiums; something that the Church is not. But I would be far more foolish to not stand here and not preach that true salvation, true life, hope and healing comes only when we focus on Jesus Christ. We are children of God; we are called to hear his word and to live it in our everyday life and not just Sunday to Sunday. So yes vote, be engaged in the public square, because we are members of the Body of Christ, but we are also citizens of this nation. We all face significant challenges ahead made only more difficult when we who claim to believe in God live distracted in such a way that removes God from our everyday decisions. For if we love God, we must begin by loving our neighbor; if we want change, we must begin by being changed by God. This advice is neither easily given nor easily received.

Yet, as we step out from the doors of this Church, as we wake up and go to work or school each morning, as we step into the polling booth on Tuesday or whenever it may be, I invite us to pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate our heart and mind not just in that moment but every day, in all our relationships, decisions, and challenges. Pray that we will not worry who is elected but rather, in whom have we placed our trust in. Pray, so that the life we each live will bring glory to God our Heavenly Father, that the grace of the Holy Spirit will strength our communion with Him through Christ Jesus forever. So perhaps my dears, the choice if this homily surprised us, yet, the message and advice my dears remains the Word of the Holy Gospel, which is when whatever we do, even when we vote we should pray. Amen!