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COMMENTARY

Christ and the polling booth

by Gabriel Fackre,

Abbot Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus,  Andover Newton Theological School

August/September 2008

Barbara Brown Zikmund pointed out in her October 2004 article in the UCNews that “Election Day Sermons” were common practice in 18th century New England.

These sermons took place in a time of church-state alliance, as  in Massachusetts, with a cannon roar and “a procession of government officials from the seat of government to a nearby church”  where the appointed pastor held forth for several hours on the theology of statecraft and the moral duties of elected officials.

Our changed circumstances, among them the separation of church and state, still allow us to learn from these Congregational practices.

In such a sermon, done this time in one’s own congregation, the pastor could point out that the Congregational legacy goes back to the earlier Reformed heritage which affirmed Christ’s rule over the voting booth and counting house as well as the soul and the church. And further back than that, to the time when Christians were confronted by the emperor’s demand for all Rome’s citizens to take the vow that ‘Caesar is Lord.’ Their response was ‘No!’ in Christianity’s first credo: ‘Christ is Lord.’ And many paid the price for their challenge of the political Powers that Be by death in the coliseum.

Yet parishioners may well ponder: Just how does the church make such a witness today? Does the preacher tell the members for whom to cast their ballot?  Do we pass out voting guides on issues and candidates?  Does it entail having a lobby office in Washington? Indeed, most denominations do, although, when making a case on specifics, our representatives are understood to be speaking for themselves on the merits of the case and against the background of resolutions of denominational judicatories.

Also, as with other comparable efforts such as policy declarations in denominational meetings or by their representatives, these are considered to be speaking to their members not for them, but proportionate weight can be given to them in an election sermon. (On a local level, the same double focus would apply to a social action or mission committee, another helpful venue for a congregation to make sure a public witness is made.)

None of these approaches precludes individual pastors or parishioners making their voices heard with other Christians such as Councils of Churches or interfaith groups on specific issues. So, on Cape Cod, for example, where homelessness is a pressing concern,  UCC pastors have been highly visible at meetings of elected officials, appealing for monies for health and human services and the defense of the rights of the homeless. So too the Massachusetts Conference leadership has played a key role in organizing constituents on issues that run from gambling to global warming.

And it surely can mean that clergy, collectively or individually, out in the world can and must make specific witness in marching deeds and unambiguous words.

But, finally, as well as giving this kind of theological and historical perspective, what else might go into an Election Day sermon today? Here is one guideline from our forebears’ practice and one learning from church experience since.

From our forebears: ground all that is said in carefully exegeted Scripture; call officials to account before the biblical norms of justice, peace, freedom and order; recognize the flaws in the best of such efforts in governance by those norms (sin persisting in the righteous as well as their foes).

And learning since, especially so from our ecumenical experience, notably the World Council of Churches: the importance of ‘middle axioms.’  A middle axiom (or ‘middle principle’) is a churchly consensus as to how the more general biblical norms relate to our time and place.

Thus, to connect with our present conversation on race, a faithful Election Day sermon today could declare not simply for justice but assert that the church ecumenical, learning from the struggles of the 1960s, walks down from generality in the direction of specificity to a middle norm that asserts justice for black citizens in housing, voting, education and public accommodations. Thus a candidate or an elected official is to be held accountable to these standards. They represent  ‘the mind of the church’ in this area of moral concern.

Here an important role is given for the church ecumenical in the interpretation of Scripture, affording a judgment that avoids, on the one hand, vague generalities, and on the other, pretending that the pastor knows the very mind of God on a particular candidate or specific circumstance. Indeed, that is a responsibility which belongs, in humility, to the individual member, especially so in a church tradition like ours which trusts that the Holy Spirit works from the bottom up rather than from the top down.

The 18th century Election Day sermons are said to have helped shape the ethical premises of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Rightly understood, this Congregational practice could make its own important impact today, as well.