Election

Matthew 24:31 – “And God will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

See what I mean about it being obvious? Who could miss that? There is no room for doubt. All the peoples of the earth will hear that trumpet call and see those angels. Terrifying!

The questions that have plagued and continue to plague everyday Christians and theologians alike are: who are the elect? How do we know? What can we do, if anything, to become or remain one of the elect? Or, can we do nothing? Are we predestined to be elect or non-elect? So many questions, so many answers.

With all due respect to past theologians who worked on these questions, I think they miss the point. Focusing on whether one is elect or even how to tell takes our focus off our neighbor, off the suffering of the world around us, and off Jesus’ words, teachings, and commandments. Rather than feed our pride or insecurity, why not trust instead? Trusting that this question is taken care of frees us to focus on our calling, whatever it may be. Even if our calling is to theologize about the elect.

The biggest problem of focusing on these and similar questions is that we question the love unlimited and unconditional love of God. I write that with some trepidation, because I don’t want to imply that God never gets angry. God’s wrath is a real thing. God gets angry when we separate families and cage kids in inhumane conditions, or when we allow the police to kill Black people with impunity rather than indict them for murder. There are many things we do, that our country does and has done that make God angry. While I do not subscribe to God’s anger causing hurricanes or such, I do think that God speaks to and inspires people in her anger, causing them to rise up and work to address the injustice.

It is our desire to appease God’s anger that causes us to worry about whether we or someone else is elect. Human beings are vulnerable; to death, disease, poverty, violence, destruction. Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo in The Power and Vulnerability of Love, flips Augustine’s idea that sin is what causes us to be vulnerable and claims that our sin arises from our efforts to deny and decrease our inherent vulnerability. These efforts often harm others, personally and systemically. In our vulnerability and insecurity, we often forget about God’s love. We can never, ever be 100 % safe, yet that doesn’t stop people from trying. Accepting that fact leads to life and love. Trying to erase or lessen it often harms others and leads to death – of our spirits or the literal death of others. People who support Donald, although not Donald himself, are in this latter category. They’ve been told that their problems, their vulnerabilities arise from the presence of Black people, immigrants, or refugees. In the process of trying to address this, they end up supporting the inhumane treatment of their fellow human beings.

Dealing with our vulnerability by focusing on who’s elect and why leads to the categorization of behaviors and the judgment of our own or others’ electness. Just for today, let’s trust in God’s love and focus on loving him, our neighbor, and ourselves.

B