Who will roll away the stone?

Written on Election Day 2016.....

Today ends the most contentious election season of my lifetime.  Not that there weren't some very strong opinions in past elections (Goldwater-Johnson comes to mind) and riots around the Democratic Convention which nominated Hubert Humphrey.  However these past 15 months we have been bombarded with nasty.  There will be many staying up to watch the results tonight.

It is easy in this atmosphere to anticipate the worst, and I think, we risk taking the vitriol of the campaigning into vindictive governing.  This, of course, will be of no help to anyone but human nature is what it is.  It is very difficult, even for us professional types, to look upon both candidates and their supporters as children of God, made in the image of God, and loved and redeemed by Jesus.

Instead we have doomsday prophecies and inquiries about moving to Canada (I just can't think anyone is serious about that).  Our national constitution has worked (albeit not always perfectly) for over 200 years.  I believe it will weather this storm as well.

But that uneasy feeling lies in the pit of my stomach.  Like a diagnosis with poor prognosis.  Like a conversation that begins with 'Honey, sit down.  I have something to tell you.'  Like death on the horizon.

In this week when we have celebrated the saints of the 'great cloud of witnesses' and buried a dear friend, I am thinking about Easter.  Three women (there is little agreement about who the 3 were) brought spices to Jesus' tomb early in the morning on the first day of the week.  They were on their way to anoint a dead body.  They were doing the sad work which women had done for centuries.  They were trying to bring the horror of the past days to a close as best they could.  Yet, for them, one problem remained.

Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?

They needed help.  God sent it. Those women may have thought they were only following ancient customs and defined rituals, but in fact, God was in charge of this story and the story was something they could have never anticipated. God will bring life.  Life will conquer death.

God emptied the tomb and then rolled that stone away so the whole world could see.  This was God's drama; God is director, producer, and star.   Oh yes.  And Savior too.

So it shall be for us.  The politics will not be pretty and most possibly petty, but we already have a Savior and Jesus has this covered.  No matter the outcome, let us 'do mercy, love justice and continue to walk humbly' with this God who rules the living and the dead.