The Fleeting Inconsequential...

This blog may be deliciously random... I don't really have one point to make, I just want to get some stuff out.

I want to respond to a note left on the first blog.

"Hey lady im proud to know you and see progress in your journey! My opinion is that you should vote and ask the father who to vote for! If you believe He will tell you what to vote. Voting is our responsibility and God will judge us according to our works. Search your heart and seek the Fathers will. i believe that inaction is the work of the devil. The bible says "to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin". I know doing the Fathers will does not include doing nothing. With love and respect D!"

I appreciate the opinion of the author... I did what I said I would, I prayed about this, contemplated and considered whether I should change my view about voting. And I come to the conclusion that I can't. Now for a little dissection...

First, I have prayed and prayed about this whole election. And still I hear the same thing... that it isn't as big as everyone thinks. Or, not big in the way we see "big" from human eyes and minds. What is huge to us, is not as important to Him. He knows the outcome, and our directives are still the same: Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself. I cannot see how voting or not is going to effect these directives, at least for me. I need to think about this some more...

I do not think that voting is a responsibility, so much as a privilege and an exercise in free will. Our responsibility is to pray for the person in office, whomever that may be. Also, we aren't judged by our works... we are judged by our faith. (Protestantism 101... read some of Martin Luther's pamphlets.) Our works are an extension of our faith, an opportunity to show the love that nestles within us, an outpouring of something glorious and mysterious. We do works because we love God so much that we just cannot help but show His love to others.

Also, if you read my blog, it is the opposite of inaction. It is about a concentrated social effort to do good. However you feel led to do good, just do. For some it is political: voting and activism. For some it is religious: Mother Teresa giving her life to serve the underprivileged. For me personally, it is done through writing, and encouraging, and random acts of kindness. This all ties into a deeper understanding of the quoted verse.

"to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin" (This is James 4:17, if you want to read it in context.) I'm not a Theologian, so I preface this by saying that I may be wrong and am open to correction. That said, I think this verse must be taken a little deeper than the face value. I like the way the Message puts it... "In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don't do it, that, for you, is evil." "For you"... Each person has a different "good" ,or right, thing to do. And in fact, to deny the good that we are called to do, in the pursuit of doing what others tell us is good... this may be a greater evil. Let's see if I can illustrate this.

A man is called to go open a soup kitchen; that is the good he knows to do, so if he turns Jonah and refuses, this is "sinning"... this is evil. He was once poverty stricken himself, so he can relate to the destitute state of the people who eat there. He knows in his heart that it is right for him to work there, and this heart-knowledge compels him to go. His best friend is called to wall street to be a light there. He is busy balancing stocks all day, and is so tired on the weekends that he doesn't have time to volunteer in the soup kitchen. Does this mean he is sinning? He sees his friend doing it, and he knows that his friend is doing a good thing, but he doesn't feel God calling him to do that. You see, his "good" is the way his presence keeps the others in his office calm through market fluctuations... the way he always has something positive to say... the way he can smooth over inter-office conflict. He needs his rest and free time on the weekends to rejuvenate, so that he can be calm and effective in his calling. It would possibly be more evil for him to sped all day Saturday volunteering, get little rest, and then be grumpy and ill-tempered at work the next week.

What I'm trying to get at, is that each of us is called to do different good. What is right for me, may not be what is right for you. And the other way around, as well. The way we truly, as God followers, can make a difference... is by honing in on what God calls us to individually. This is how we fulfill the directive to "go into ALL the world". If we all work in soup kitchens, who will love wall street? Right?

This does tie into voting... For some, voting is thrilling. They believe in their candidate and they want to have a part in seeing him enter office. This is fantastic! As a democratic society we need this sort of ardent enthusiasm. I would never tell someone not to vote... I think its wonderful that there are people who love politics, understand them, and want to be involved in the government of this country. (These blogs are not meant to discourage these people. They are meant to encourage the few of us who do feel opposite... We are not un-American, we are exercising our democratic free will to abstain from voting.)

I'm feeling no compulsion to spend hours of my day waiting in line at a voting booth. New York's electoral votes already go to Obama, so one more vote in either direction isn't going to effect that. There are many better things I can do with those hours. The same goes for a mail-in ballot to Texas. The electorals there belong to McCain already. I'll spend the 42 cents better somewhere else. And when this whole mess is over, I'll support and pray for whomever is in office. Because that is right and good.

(I have a funny inclination that God doesn't care much for human politics anyway. Both sides think their candidate is the one God chose... how can we say which is right? Besides, he gave the Hebrews a perfect system of judges, and they wanted to be like "everyone else" and have a King... free will and all... I just think he cares more about love than law.)

So, to the final comment I say, "AMEN!!" The Father's will does not include doing nothing... so true. By not voting, I'm not doing nothing. Rather, I'm doing something... just something else. Enough said.

Well... I was going to talk about some other stuff, but I think that's enough to marinate in for this time.

Your passive social activist,
K