Devotionals Detail

Reading: 1 Samuel 17:41-51

Some of you are feeling elated today, while others are feeling disappointed. The day after an election invites us to make a choice about how we will respond. Will those whose candidates prevailed gloat? Will those whose candidates lost assign blame? Or will our faith lead us toward a different response than the one our political culture often models?

One of the people I am most excited about from last night's election is Rev. Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. If you have been United Methodist for any length of time, you have likely studied one of his books in a Sunday school class or small group. Rev. Hamilton has a unique gift for seeing complexity where others see only division, as reflected in his book Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White. He is not afraid to name the pain and brokenness of our human experience, as he does in When Christians Get It Wrong. He also has a remarkable ability to build bridges between people of differing perspectives, as demonstrated in Christianity and World Religions.

Through both his writing and preaching, Rev. Hamilton has embodied a distinctly United Methodist way of living: extending grace through deep listening, recognizing the image of God in one another, and pursuing social holiness alongside personal holiness. I am grateful that his voice will now be heard in the political arena because it is a voice our nation needs.

My 18-year-old daughter voted for the first time yesterday, and politics is a frequent topic of conversation in our home. We have often told her that politics was not always as polarized as it is today. People could belong to different political parties and still respect one another, work together, and even become friends.

She knows the story of her father and myself. Twenty-five years ago, on our first date, we spent three hours talking about politics. He was a Republican, and I was a Democrat. Yet by the end of the evening, we still genuinely liked one another- as obviously- there was a second date! But for her generation, that story seems almost unbelievable because they have grown up in a culture where political disagreement too often leads to demonization. My prayer is that, for this generation and the next, we can reclaim a spirit of mutual respect, kindness, and genuine curiosity about one another.

This is why our United Methodist beliefs matter at the intersection of faith and politics. We are called to be "purple" people, choosing not to demonize others simply because they belong to a different political party. We do not belittle, bully, or dismiss people whose views differ from our own. Instead, we believe that every person bears the image of God, and we listen deeply enough to discover that sacred connection.

To me, this is what it means to be "connectional" as United Methodists, not merely in our denominational structure but in the way we live with and love people with whom we disagree.

As we study the bully in this week's Scripture passage, Goliath, we may be tempted to identify with David and imagine ourselves throwing stones at the other side. But before we make that choice with our words, attitudes, or actions, let us remember the United Methodist theology. Our calling is not to destroy an enemy. Our calling is to discover how God is connecting us to one another and to participate in God's work of bringing about the future good of all God's people.

May we be known not by the stones we throw, but by the connections we make in Christ's name.