Ruth 1: 16, 17; Matthew 12: 28-34

This nation is an exhausted nation, worn out by a seemingly endless election.  I think we all feel a certain amount of embarrassment about how these campaigns have gone.  Deep down inside we all feel a bit perverted by it.  And while there will be joy among a certain number of the electorate, a guaranteed 35% of American voters will be despondent and miserable by next Wednesday and feel pessimistic about the future of the nation.  By now you will have done everything you wanted to do for your candidates, except perhaps cast your ballot.  Fortunately there was a moment of bipartisanship last week when the President and the Governor of New Jersey toured the devastated areas of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.  Nevertheless we are probably at the high point of disdain for the views of the other team in this election. “We have only one person to blame, and that’s each other.” Barry Beck of the New York Rangers said that, when asked who started a brawl during the NHL’s1997 Stanley Cup playoffs.  When we look at this campaign, isn’t that the truth. But there isn’t anything any of us can do about that now.  What we can however, is re-center. We can re-center to what it is that is central to our lives as Christians.

There’s a story about Jimmy Durante, one of the great entertainers of a generation ago. He was asked to be a part of a show for World War II veterans. He told them his schedule was very busy and he could afford only a few minutes, but if they wouldn’t mind his doing one short monologue and immediately leaving for his next appointment, he would come. Of course, the show’s director agreed happily. But when Jimmy got on stage, something interesting happened. He went through the short monologue and then stayed. The applause grew louder and louder and he kept staying. Pretty soon, he had been on fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes. Finally he took a last bow and left the stage. Backstage someone stopped him and said, “I thought you had to go after a few minutes. What happened?” Jimmy answered, “I did have to go, but I can show you the reason I stayed. You can see for yourself if you’ll look down on the front row.” In the front row were two men, each of whom had lost an arm in the war. One had lost his right arm and the other had lost his left. Together, they were able to clap, and that’s exactly what they were doing, loudly and cheerfully.  But there’s our problem. Right after election day only one party will feel like clapping. The others won’t feel like it all.  It’s been a long time since the right and the left clapped together. One party will feel like it lost both hands while the other still has both.  They won’t want to help the other clap.

Friends, we’ve all way past oh “why can’t they just work together cry. “ We’re not that naïve anymore. Politics is too complicated for that and there is too much money in the rivalry between the two parties. There isn’t much we can do anymore.  What we can do is refocus our own faith on what matters.   Today’s lectionary readings give us a clue.  They remind us that people can come together.  First there is Ruth.  Ruth is from a different tribe than her mother-in-law.  Culture, language and faith are different.  But she chooses to abandon all the things that she has learned through her upbringing to be with her mother-in-law, because the value of family is more important than anything.   The tension between the teams is lifted.  In Mark Jesus has a conversation with a scribe. Jesus and the scribes did not exactly have a smooth, cordial relationship.  They were wary of his power and influence. He didn’t trust their motives.  But for a moment Jesus and the scribe clap together.  They are one in their applause of the heart of the faith and that is that we must love God fully and love our neighbor as ourselves.   They complement each other on the right understanding.  The tension is overcome.   How can we learn from this, friends.  One thing we know is that people with different perspectives have to keep talking.  There just is no other way. Ruth and Naomi did.  But we must also go back to the heart of our faith, to the love of God and our neighbor and recommit ourselves to it.  Instead of being guided by our desire to have a good image and by our wish to support our team, we must begin with this core value of our faith.  Friends, politics is always changing.  Yes, it is part of our life, but only a part.  In politics as in life, as Christians, we must ask the question:  when we say something and do something important, whether it is in voting or in deciding what to do with our time, are we trying to love God fully and loving our neighbor as ourselves? Are we ultimately guided by the principle of love of God and people or we being guided by ego and image or by the desire to protect our team? It is a question we should ask ourselves on Tuesday, but every day of our lives.  In the end we should be setting our priorities, we must set them and we must set them with our faith in mind.  In all our decisions, it comes back to this as Ruth and Naomi, Jesus and the scribe understood: are we loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves and are the many teams we support trying to do the same.  May God help us in all our decisions.