As the election on November 3rd draws near, we’re constantly reminded that Americans are deeply divided. Even if you’re not a political junkie—even if you have no interest in politics at all—it’s impossible to avoid all the campaign ads and the signs in our neighbors’ yards. It’s autumn in an election year, which means it’s the season for being reminded that we do not share the political views of all our colleagues, neighbors, and acquaintances.
But what’s remarkable about the Church is that, even though we might be as politically divided as the rest of America, we’re united by something more powerful than our differences: love. This love isn’t just a feeling or a vague principle. It’s the love we encounter directly in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s a love that owns and transforms us. It’s a love that directs every aspect of our lives. As the first epistle of St. John declares, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (4:16).
This love that dwells in us also bears fruit. One of the fruits of the spirit is kindness (Gal. 5:22), and kindness means more than simply being nice. As Pope Francis reminds us in his recent encyclical, “Kindness frees us from the cruelty that at times infects human relationships, from the anxiety that prevents us from thinking of others, from the frantic flurry of activity that forgets that others also have a right to be happy.”
This sort of kindness feels unnatural today, and that’s because we rarely encounter love that is willing to reach across differences. We form organizations and groups based on shared beliefs so that we can work with like-minded people. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But the Church is not merely a human institution with a shared set of values. The Church is the family of God. The Church is the Body of Christ.
Some of you may know the hymn “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” It was written in the 1960s, but it’s based on the phrase that non-believers used to describe those who belonged to the early Church: “Behold, how they love one another.” Christians weren’t known primarily for sharing the same opinions but rather by their love.
Sometimes the Church is described as having an ‘alternative politics.’ This doesn’t mean that Christians are apolitical, or that the Church is supposed to have a party platform that competes with Republicans and Democrats. What it does mean is that Christians have a healthy sense of all the ways in which the world is at odds with God’s plan for human beings. As Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren writes:
“We need postures of humility, truthfulness, joy, kindness, and love for our enemies—postures profoundly lacking on both sides of the aisle. The deepest divide in American politics is not between Right or Left but between those who are committed to these postures in word and deed and those who are not.”
As we approach the election, we should pray for all voters and elected leaders. But more importantly, we should pray for ourselves. We should pray that God’s love will be made manifest in us and that they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
Blessings,
Fr. Stewart
