Changing the channel on contempt
I have reached my limit. Maybe you have too.
It used to be that I could escape political ads by switching to a streaming service. Not anymore. This fall, nearly every commercial break, on every platform, is someone telling me how dangerous, dishonest, or dishonorable someone else is. Ominous music. Grainy photos. Unflattering slow motion. A narrator who sounds like he’s announcing the end of the world.
What strikes me most is how rarely any of these ads tell me what the candidate actually hopes to do. I learn a great deal about who I’m supposed to fear and almost nothing about what anyone intends to build. I am tired of it. I suspect many of you are too.
As Lutheran Christians, we have language for why this wears on us so. In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther explains the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” by saying that we are not to tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or ruin their reputations. Then he goes further: we are to defend them, speak well of them, and interpret what they do in the kindest possible way.
That is a high bar, and none of us clears it perfectly. But it does give us a way to name what’s happening on our screens. A great deal of what we’re being shown is designed to make us assume the worst about people, both the candidates and the neighbors who might vote for them. We don’t have to accept that invitation.
And yet, being tired is not the same as being excused. In a few weeks, on Nov. 3, we will have the opportunity to help shape the common life of our community, our state, and our nation. I believe that casting a vote is holy work. Not because any candidate or party is God’s chosen instrument, but because God calls us to love our neighbors, and in a democracy, one of the ways we do that is by taking part, carefully and conscientiously, in choosing those who will govern on their behalf.
Holy work deserves serious preparation. Here is my encouragement to you, whatever your convictions:
- Look past the ads. Seek out what candidates say about their own plans and values, in their own words: their websites, debates, interviews, and voting records.
- Read from more than one source. If everything you read confirms what you already believed, widen the circle a little.
- Pray before you vote. Not for a particular outcome, but for wisdom, and for the neighbors whose lives will be affected by your choice.
We are a people held in the grace of God and called to vote responsibly for the good of our neighbors, especially those who are vulnerable. Being free in Christ, we serve even in the unglamorous and patient work of being an informed voter.
Here at St. Paul, we come with many perspectives, and that is a gift. When the election is over, we will still gather at the same font and the same table. My hope is that we arrive there having voted thoughtfully, and still able to look one another in the eye with love.
