A message from Pastor Erin addressed to the congregation of First Lutheran, written on Tuesday, November 5, and published the following morning, November 6. May it inspire you and fill you with hope as you ponder the question, “What now, Church?”
Dear Church,
As I write this, Lincoln community members are steadily streaming into the First Lutheran building to cast their votes. That’s just one way that we live out our faith, by making space for our community to be active participants in their government. Of course, you won’t read this until Wednesday morning at the earliest, and by then, the election will be over. At least the voting part of it and the campaigning part of it. What will not be done is the counting and certifying of votes and all the rest of the process of a transition of leadership.
So what now, church? Well, we are the church, the body of Christ, and we have been sent into our daily lives as people who bear the love, mercy, grace, mending, reconciliation, truth-telling of Christ in those lives and in all the roles we live into.
So there is work for us in this post-election time, when we’ll have to answer this question: “How do we cultivate love in communities that have been fractured and traumatized by this toxic, antagonistic election season?”
Hear more from Nebraska Synod Bishop Scott Johnson in the video below on where and how we are called to go from here.
Ministering alongside you,
Pastor Erin
