Voting Is An Act Of Faith
Rev. Jacqui Lewis, Ph.D.

It is interesting to me that people of faith are often characterized in the media as either rabidly political or apolitical. Those who are political are often depicted as zealous, and enraged about things like abortion or banning gay marriage. They get really angry about those who are different than they are, are committed to a particular point of view, rather than conversation, and they want every one who is against that point of view out of the conversation.

Then there are the apolitical people of faith. They are depicted as more interested in the afterlife or more interested in Godly pursuits. They are characterized as folk who turn their faces away from the here and now. They are seen as pious, and as people who do not get involved with mundane and worldly things like politics.

Although they don’t get as much media attention, I think there are also some people in the middle. There are some people of faith who really care about things like the earth and the environment, they are really concerned about being a world citizen, and keep their eyes on events in Darfur and in Afghanistan. They care about civil rights and gay issues; they care about education and health care for children. They understand that family values are widely diverse, but they value families. They care about who gets tax rebates and who does not. Those people, some of those people in the middle, are sometimes too busy to get involved. They are sometimes too disappointed in the way things are to think that they can make a difference. They are sometimes too embarrassed to be connected to the rabid people of faith that they simply shut down on the whole thing.

I think much of our Middle family is in the middle. I think we care, and we want to make a difference and we are looking for ways to do so. Sure, life is full, and sure, we are embarrassed by some of the people on the fringe of religiosity. But I think, in the main, we want to, we even NEED to make our lives matter.

So, it is an election year. These mid-term elections matter. The races for governor and lieutenant governor here in New York, the Senate races all over the country that will determine the color of Congress, and various other issues will affect our tax base and our environment. We need to get out and vote. As an African American woman, descended from people—women and Black folk, who were deprived of the right to vote, I take voting very seriously.

And I know you do, too.

Middle people, I believe, are the New Faithful People of God. We are people who get it that our faith and our lives are not separated. We are in the world, we are part of the world, and we can change the world as we live purposeful lives. We are, Middle People are, the New Faithful People of God.

We are not by ourselves, either. If we take note, we can recognize our colleagues. How do we know them? We know them by their fruits. They are passionately committed to working for justice in the world. They care for the sick, drop notes of encouragement to the despondent, they pray for the lonely, they speak words that build up, and bite their tongue when they have nothing good to say. We know them because they are working to heal rather than hurt, they don’t have their heads in some holy sand, waiting for heaven; they read, stay current, and connect their secular and spiritual lives. How do we know them? They faithfully read and live the Qu’ran, they practice meditations, and they confess their sins at Yom Kippur and fast at Ramadan. They attend Bible studies and they take communion. They do not criticize the people who love God in ways they do not understand; they celebrate the fact that they love God. How do we know them? They are expansive in their love, creative in their partnerships. They are not looking for ways to leave someone out; they are asking how to open the door to let someone in. They integrate their lives with their faith. They go to community board meetings, they mentor children.

They vote.

They aren’t trying to separate sheep from goats; they are leaving that up to God. They instead practice radical hospitality. They share their table with the lonely, the lost, and the ones who feel out of place. And they do the mundane, ordinary, everyday things that make a difference, one day at a time, one person at a time, one life at a time, one issue at a time.