Why Do the Candidates Rage?
On keeping the Main Thing during election season and beyond.
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
I’ve got to stop looking at the polls.
As the 2024 election comes to its conclusion, the polls from various sources show the race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump as very close. Some show Harris ahead, and others show Trump and Harris even. Both campaigns are worried. Trump is angry that he’s not getting more money than Harris, and former President Obama is casting aspersions that black men must be sexist because they aren’t supporting Harris as they did in the past.
People are anxious about what will happen on election day. Will Harris win? Does that mean communism is around the corner? Will Trump win? Does that mean American democracy is over? If the other guy wins on November 5 (or 10th or 12th depending on when the vote is finally tallied), will the losing side accept the result?
I don’t think our nation is in a good place now. People are losing trust in each other and institutions. We look to our political candidates for some sense of salvation. We feel threatened and we hope and pray these candidates will save us from the dangers we feel are at the door.
As the election nears, I wonder how to preach on either November 3 (before the election) or November 10 (after the election). Do I mention the election? If I do, how do I do it in a way that honors God more than talking about a candidate?
I’m still captivated by the interview I had with Presbyterian pastor Joshua Gritter a couple of months ago. I asked him what he planned to preach on November 10 and he said he already planned to start a series on the Lord’s Prayer.
There is something bold about this willingness to focus not on who won or lost the election, but on who God is.
Some might look at that and think that a pastor not focusing on the election is someone who is trying to be above the fray or neutral in the face of evil. But I don’t think so. Of course, churches should be political (which is different from being partisan). But part of the problem in our country today is that we’ve made politics a religion. We see this clearly in Christian Nationalism, but frankly, being a Christian Nationalist is so obvious. I’m interested in the subtle ways politics has wormed its way into the doors of our churches be they progressive or conservative so that we don’t even know we are worshipping an idol.
Which brings me back to the polls. As someone who follows politics, and is a NeverTrumper I am concerned with what could happen if someone like former President Trump comes back to office. I’m not above the fray here.
But as much as that matters, for Christians, this is not and cannot be the main thing. If the candidate I don’t want wins, God is still God. We are called as Christians to make disciples, not promote a particular ideology.
As I was ruminating on all of this, I started to think of the song “While the Nations Rage,” by the late, great Rich Mullins. Based on Psalm 2, he talks about the nations of the world and how they plot and maneuver and contrasts that to Christ and his church. In the stirring chorus, he asks rhetorically, “Where are the nails that pierced his hands?” They’ve turned into rust he answers. What about the thorns in his head, he asks. They’ve turned to dust is the response. The tools represent the mighty Roman Empire, which put Jesus to death. It no longer exists, but Christ and his church still endures.
So when the election is over, I will say that God is God, that Jesus is Lord of all and that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are not. The election will have consequences and we will face them, but I will remember that while the candidates rage it is Jesus the one that the kingdoms of the world tried to kill, the one that rose from the dead, is what matters most.