Bishop Ward urges persons to exercise the right to vote on Election Day, remembering the United Methodist call to both personal and social holiness as we choose public servants.
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ who reigns.
Today is All Saints Day and we celebrate our partnership with all God’s saints. Those who in heaven surround the throne of Christ victorious, and those on earth, who love God and who through the Holy Spirit, are at work in the world, engaging in the witness of Jesus Christ.
A week from today will be election day, the final day of voting here in the United States. Our participation with all others will determine the outcome for the years ahead. As we select leaders from the president of the United States to those who lead in our communities, let us pray and let us exercise our right and responsibility to vote.
We who are United Methodists know that we are called to personal holiness and to social holiness as we worship, learn, and serve in our local churches. We are always aware of the importance of our witness in the world.
Some of our churches are polling places, which place these congregations at the very intersection between the life of the Spirit and the life of the world in this time of choosing public servants.
One of our clergy, Laura Wacker Stern, has written a wonderful meditation on this very thing. I hope you will read it.
Let us pray. Let us engage and let us anticipate God’s work among us in these days to come.
May the mercy, grace, peace and love of Christ be yours this day.