Post-Election Insights

Got an email from my friend, Brett Fuller this morning about his post-election thoughts. Brett leads a church in the DC area -- a multi-ethnic church that is about 50% African-American, about 40% European-American and about 10% Asian and Latino. Here's Brett's sermon/email - a little long - but worth reading...

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Please Listen carefully to every word I say & wait until I finish to judge both my spirit and my words...

1. Reconciliation is our calling - a key to unity is understanding, not just tolerance

2. We are called to influence thinking, not tell people how to vote

3. Whoever is elected is God's choice:
    Ps 75:6-7 "Promotion does not come from the ea t or the west, but from the Lord."
    Rom 13:1-7 "...ministers of God for our good...

4. Could it be that the election of Barak Obama is the beginning of an answer to the prayers of the saints who picked cotton as slaves? A righting of a 400 year injustice? Many African American Christians believe "Yes" and are praising God for His listening ear. Could it be that the beginning of the line for the "nationally need to be addressed issues" did not start 40 years ago with abortion being legalized or the gay rights agenda endangering biblical family values? Maybe, the beginning of the line was the correction of 400 year ethnic injustice where 25 million people died in the transatlantic slave trade. Where black folks were Constitutionally dehumanized, beaten, and denied basic human rights. Could this election be the beginning of God answering prayers in connection with a prior sin? Who knows, but something really big is being fixed. With President-elect Obama transitioning into the White house, racism is now localized, not nationalized. With this great advancement, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) must now justify its need to exist and Jesse Jackson may become just another very important historical American figure. Again, something really big is being fixed!

        Heb 11:13 "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

5. Grave Covenant Church tries embrace a complete Biblical world view. Some have accused us of being theologically liberal and consenting to me sex marriage and the pro choice agenda. Others have said we are overly conservative and are only concerned about Pro Life issues and the anti-biblical redefinition of marriage by the gay rights activist. They contend that we have no heart for the poor.
May I set the record straight...GCC is/hasbeen...
    - Pro Life till the grave
    - Started "Black Americans For Life" with Kay Cole James 1984
    - I've been arrested twice by peacefully trying to stop women from killing their babies
    - GCC Spent 3 years of Saturday mornings counseling women to not make the worst decision of their lives
    - Granted up to $5k those who wished to adopt
    - GCC gives approx $50k per year to orphange projects every year and has established 4 in Africa
    - GCC gives between $25k-$35k to assist inner city kids in education, morals, salvation and good citizenry
    - Cynthia & I have adopted
    - Pro Biblical Marriage ($60k on canvassing pastors to sign Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman in 2005)

6.We don't believe that October & November is the only time to present a Biblical World View. April, June and February are great months. If one doesn't hear me in April, they won't in November either.

By the way, I favored neither candidate because neither completely embraced a Biblical World view. However, the one I voted for will not be moving into the White House in January.

When I voted, it was one of the saddest days of my life because my version of a biblical conscience would not let me vote for a man who believes it's OK to end the life of a child before birth.

Yet, I was filled with memories of being the first family to break the color barrier in our neighborhood. I remember no realtor would sell to us, so we had to pay over what the house was worth when we bought from an individual owner. I remember reading about the cross burning in my neighborhood. Memories of being called unmentionable epithets freshly came back to me. Our property was destroyed, our family was denied access to our neighborhood pool and I had to fight physically and mentally just to be equal. All this ridicule strongly drew me - on Tuesday - to participate in God's rectification of history - indeed, His answer to my prayers & the prayers of my ancestors.

However, my version of a biblical conscience would not let me vote for history. Like those abolitionist who had to speak up for those who had no voice, I had to use my vote to be in concert with the spirit of my ancestors, not just their particular cause. Therefore, I voted for the policies of the man which I believed were most proper.

On Wednesday I cried for joy and for sorrow, but I felt God had done something right and so had I.
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Brett is one of the wisest and most principled men i know. I appreciate his insights about history and the election. What do you think?

Comments

[Sterling]

Wow. He just said what I was thinking... But better than I was thinking it. Thank God for Pastor Brett. I did, however, share the same sentiment post-election. A sense of deep sacredness, that something was being righted in our nations collective conscience. And a sense of sadness, that I couldn't participate fully in the historical elation due to a divergence on principle. I, too, voted for who I thought to be the best candidate not just my "party line" or racial camp. And who knows, maybe that alone is a huge step in a good direction.

[Thelma Bowlen]

Beautifully articulated by Pastor Brett. Had the president-elect not been pro-choice and same sex marriage, he would have had my vote too. This was a profound election for me and Kyera on so many levels, one of which was that it was both our firsts.

After living in Manila for 27 years - through my teens and adulthood - I feel I have come home in so many ways.

For Kyera, she now has the double honor of being able to vote in two countries. This alone has been worth all the sacrifices of this past year.

[Brent Garrard]

Wonderful insight and great explanations on a difficult subject. God is doing something great, I believe it! Pastor Brett, as always, communicates with such clarity and care.
www.brentgarrard.com

[Juannyo]

Thank you for posting this. I have been wrestling with this whole issue as well. As soon as the results revealed our new President Elect the text, facebook, and twitter world was flooded with status updates of people being amazed, awed, and inspired. Many expressing a sense of completion and arrival; as though we were living in the fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "dream". I felt none of this. I felt sick. I felt uneasy.

I felt this way because as a young African American who had longed to see a black president beyond episodes of 24, I wasn't filled with the election elation that I'd hoped for. I felt this way because, abortion and family structure policies aside, I strongly disagree with Obama's worldview. However, because he is the first President Elect of African ethnicity, much of the nation, my family, and many friends expect me to forget my convictions and join with Oprah in a rousing chorus of "We are the World." And if I do not embrace this "CHANGE", then I am considered un-reconciled, insensitive, or unable to understand the "black struggle" because my mom is white (ironic). I felt this way because as great an "achievement" it is for our nation to have a black president; I was voting for a president, not an achievement.

I don't believe that this election has shown have far we have come, as much as it has exposed how far we have to go in producing true reconciliation. What many have seen as a huge wound closing I see as an infected wound that has finally been uncovered after years of being temporarily bandaged and ignored. This election has brought many things to light and I pray that in exposing the real hurt, the real "struggle, and the real condition of our nation it will produce real CHANGE.