John Wesley's Rules for Voting

And an invitation to an Election Eve Prayer Service at Aldersgate

I’ve just returned from yet another trip to the mailbox where I once again found it crammed with large, colorful postcards extolling the virtues of one or more political candidates or the evil tendencies of the others. Needless to say, my recycling bin has been more full than usual the last several weeks.

Of course, the other thing one must do when heading to said mailbox is to avoid making eye contact with one of the several campaign door knockers who are canvassing the neighborhood and shoving the very same postcards under my welcome mat when I’m not looking. Surely I could have embraced the opportunity for an evangelism conversation with these eager folks, you might be thinking, but they seem to all have a singular religious devotion to getting the word about why their candidate is the Savior and the other a minion from the bowels of hell itself.

I really dislike this season that rolls around every four years. I’ve already expressed my ambivalence about any of the candidates competing for my vote, and yet someone is going to get elected (at least eventually, if history serves) and we’re going to continue on living next to our neighbors who have dotted their lawns with campaign signs of various stripes and types. How we live peaceably on the other side of this quadrennial madness is an important question.

A few years ago, I came across some advice John Wesley offered to those who were voting in the English parliamentary elections in 1774, an election in which Wesley noted that "in every county, city, town, men who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper, [are now] mad with party zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet neighbors, ready to tear out one another's throats and to plunge their swords into each other's bowels."

Sound familiar?

His response was to write to his fellow Methodists with three simple rules for voting:

1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy;

2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against; and,

3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side

A clergy colleague, Kelly McCuaig, has written a wonderful history and reflection on this advice in a column for Firebrand, a free online magazine for those of us in the orthodox Methodist tribe. I encourage you to check that out for a full discussion.

During the contentious 2020 election, I thought it would be a great idea to put Wesley’s advice on some yard signs and invited folks at the church to plunk those in their yard, hoping that it might temper some of the anxiety or at least get people thinking about an alternative way of approaching the election. I like to think it helped but, well, here we are again!

I still think it’s good advice, because regardless of who gets elected and which party is in power, we’re still going to have neighbors and we’re still going to be Christians who are commanded to love our neighbors (and, by the way, love our enemies, too!). I encourage everyone to vote their conscience, but to remember that differing opinions are part of human life given our limited knowledge and scope of control. Speaking evil of others, sharpening our spirits against them, isn’t a fruit of the Spirit. Sure, we can disagree and we can do so strongly, but we always have to remember the advice of the Apostle Paul—that “as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18).

It’s interesting that Paul says that right before he gets to chapter 13 and talks about being “subject to governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God” (13:1). Remember that Paul is writing as a citizen of the Roman Empire, where there were no elections and everyone just had to deal with whomever sat on the throne. In Paul’s case, the emperor du jour was Nero, who would eventually become hostile to Christians. Paul’s point here isn’t to just be a passive victim of the current regime, nor is it to be a rebellious malcontent. His point is to give the respect that’s due the government because it serves a purpose in the present, but that our ultimate authority and hope is in God’s Kingdom. Therefore, he says, we ought to “owe no one anything, except to love one another…Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (13:8-10).

That’s what Wesley was driving at in his advice to voters. Voting is a great privilege we have as part of a free nation, and the right to vote is something that every eligible citizen should exercise. I’m glad that Aldersgate will be a polling place on Election Day and that we’ll have some great people in place to offer a kind word, a snack, and an invitation to be part of our fellowship. That would seem to me to be living out the advice that both the Apostle Paul and John Wesley offer us. It’s so easy to be anxious, but far better to remember that no matter what happens on Tuesday, God is still on the throne. So get out and vote and then get to the task of loving your neighbors, whether their signs are blue or red. Choose to be peaceable, to offer kindness, to disagree agreeably, and be the best citizen you can be.

And don’t forget to recycle!

To facilitate a posture of peace and prayer, we’re going to hold a prayer service in the Sanctuary on Monday, November 4, at 7:00pm. I’ve put together a liturgy that invites us to pray for the country, the candidates, and the choices that we’re about to make. We’ll share in some directed prayers, ponder some Scripture readings, and I’ll offer a brief meditation on Jesus’ call to “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render to God what is God’s” (Mark 12:13-17). We’ll share in Holy Communion and also give you a chance for some personal prayer in the silence of our beautiful Sanctuary. I think this is a great way for all of us to come together before an important day in the life of our nation and offer ourselves and our prayers to our Lord and King.

This Sunday: We Believe in the Church

We continue our series on the Apostles’ Creed this week with a look at what we mean when we say we believe in “the holy Catholic Church.” In a culture that elevates the individual, people may wonder why we need the Church. But just as God's nature in the Trinity is unity in community, so are we designed to be part of a family of faith, the body of Christ with many members. This week we're looking at the reasons we believe in the Church and why we can't really be Christian without it. 

See you Sunday!