A Quaker Limbo

Indiana is a hotly contested state for President in this year’s election. I am really, really tired of campaign commercials. I lived in Africa for two US Presidential elections and trust me, being in the middle of Africa without a television was a great way to spend an election year! There ought to be a law…..

Seeing all the yard signs around our county does at times create a desire to declare my intentions for who I would like to see as my President. There are a few people close to me that actually know, and most probably assume they know, but I try to be careful about overt comments for my preference for President in this election. It just doesn’t feel right for someone in my position to advertise political preferences. Last night during the Soup and Prayer Supper in our home, a Friend asked for prayer for this election. She carries a deep burden for our nation’s leaders, has been outspoken about her wishes for President, and very faithful about writing letters to her legislators with her concerns. But her prayer request was for the people of our nation to do what is right, not what she desires. That is a good way to pray these days.

Yesterday was also the day a group from our meeting gathered at lunch time to fast, pray, and write letters to our congress about hunger issues. During that hour I was overcome with sadness as I wrote to my representative. I wrote to encourage the introduction of new legislation to increase the number of people eligible for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), Women, Infant and Children Program and free school lunch programs. Those programs are essential for my community; a community with many working poor, with high unemployment, and with many elderly people surviving only on Social Security benefits. My sadness arose from the realization the cost to increase these feeding programs was just a fraction of what the government spent last spring on the tax rebate stimulus or the more recent rescue plan for the banking system. I know (from experience) that my Representative will probably ignore my letter and continue to ignore my county. But I still write in hopes that a new administration will bring new priorities to our nation.

As I reflected on my day, I realized I am living in limbo. A place where nothing can happen until our democracy gets through this election and chooses a new President and congress in a few days. But for me, it really doesn’t matter who is elected. My responsibility is to write to those who represent me in government (whether I voted for them or not) to advocate for those who hunger, to advocate for peace in our world, and to advocate for just laws and practices. That knowledge makes the incessant campaign noise in Indiana a bit more bearable. Whoever takes office in January 2009 will have a monumental task before them and I do not envy the expectation we all have for the next President to make things right in our nation and in our world. Being in limbo gives me the opportunity to pray for the men and women who will be receiving my letters in a few months. But also this time helps me recognize that whoever is elected, Republican or Democrat, my responsibility is to be a witness to them through how I live and what I communicate.

Last month our Book Discussion group chose to read Tony Campolo’s Red Letter Christians: A Citizen’s Guide To Faith and Politics. We felt this book was a good way to educate ourselves before this very important election. And it was an important book. It engages from a biblical perspective many of the hot topics I hear bantered around in debates, commercials, news programs and opinion pieces. Campolo suggests three things for a biblical approach to politics I am focusing on during my time in limbo: issues over parties, authority over power, and knowledge over ignorance. “On some issues, Red Letter Christians (those committed to living out the things that Jesus taught) are conservative and others are liberal. Neither end of the political spectrum has a corner on the will of God.” On authority over power: “Christians will only have authority if they first serve the needs of others in sacrificial ways, especially the poor and oppressed…. Christians must demonstrate God’s love through sacrificial ministries. Sacrifice gives them the ability to be taken seriously by those who seem to be in control of political machines.” And concerning knowledge over ignorance: “We must be an informed constituency. Democracy requires an informed voting public, and Christians must pay special attention to this requirement.”

For the last several years, I’ve read and reread Apocalypse of the Word by Doug Gwyn. I came across a description in 1675 of Quakers in London renting a room in a coffee house in order to lobby Parliament on the issue of religious toleration. George Fox, William Penn and other Friends made personal contacts with members of parliament and testified in committee hearings. Gwyn points out “the Quaker view of the relationship between church and state was thus prophetic rather than political. The church’s effect upon the state was to spread in evangelizing the society, in demonstrating the new order within its own ranks, and in witnessing to the government for more just laws and practices.” This heritage sets an example for me as a Friend living in America. It is an incredible privilege to vote in our democracy, to participate in a political system that matters in our world, for good or ill. But the real work ahead of me today is evangelizing our society, demonstrating a new order by how I live, and witnessing to my government for just laws and practices.

Since our Catholic friends did away with limbo, I plan to adopt a Quaker Limbo: a place of preparation for my heart, soul and life to become ready to tackle the work ahead of me in our nation today. To learn how to speak truth to power through how I live, through how I vote, and through what I communicate once a new administration is in power. A Quaker Limbo can be a place to focus on the presence of God in my life and in my world and to seek how to put my faith into practice. I think this limbo might be a very good place after all……