Voting Values
Thursday, October 26, 2006 -- Week of Proper 24 (Alfred the Great)
"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 989)
Psalm 37:1-18 (morning) // 37:19-42 (evening)
Ecclesiasticus 10:1-18 (found in the Apocrypha; also called Sirach)
Revelation 9:1-12
Luke 10:25-37
On my "to do" checklist today is "Go Vote." I remembered that bit of anticipated business as a started to read Psalm 37. This psalm is an invitation to hope during a time of trouble. It is a reminder that God defends the poor and vulnerable from the wealthy and powerful. That's a major theme throughout scripture. To me it is a political agenda as well.
Ben Sira starts the 10th chapter of Ecclesiasticus with a paean of praise for education -- "A wise magistrate educates his people, and the rule of an intelligent person is well ordered." He speaks of the importance of good leadership. Then he follows with a meditation on humility, reminding the reader that God replaces the proud ruler with the humble.
In the book of the Revelation of John we have the fifth and six trumpets, which are pretty incomprehensible to me and to scholars. But the woes of the apocalypse are reminders to our generation that we have to capacity to wreak unparalleled destruction upon earth through our military and environmental violence, and we also have unparalleled opportunity to abolish poverty, hunger, and much disease through our technology and knowledge. Will we promote blessing or woe? Many of those decisions rest among our elected leaders.
The final reading is a paradigm of right action. The scene is not unlike the setting of a political debate or hearing. A lawyer asks Jesus a question. Like many questions, it has a self-serving motivation. "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus gives him an answer. His answer describes our agenda -- personal and corporate: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." That is the foundation of all activity -- personal, social, religious, political.
Like a good press conference, the lawyer gets a follow-up question. "Who is my neighbor?" (Where do we put boundaries around our responsibility to love?) Jesus answers with a story about the good Samaritan.
The man is injured and in need. Officials from both the religious and political/business worlds find excuses to pass him by. But a Samaritan treats him with generous compassion. A Samaritan is an outsider -- a foreigner, a heretic, and enemy. But he is the one "who was a neighbor to the man." The punch line: "Go and do likewise."
Today's readings offer a fine context for the exercise of civic duties. I want to vote for leaders who I believe will defend the poor and needy from the wealthy and powerful, who will promote the education of all, who will lead with humility, who will eschew violence and enable the well-being of the earth and all its inhabitants, and who will be a servant leaders who act with neighborly compassion toward all in need. That's a good agenda for our corporate life.
Lowell
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