Opinion Column

Why voting should be regarded as a spiritual act

Andy Bryant explains why it is important to vote in the forthcoming election, and suggests that the act of voting is more than just a cross on the ballot paper.

Have you decided how you will vote yet?
 
It seems to me that how the election campaign is conducted, and how we ourselves approach the campaign, are almost as important as the result itself.  Does the nature of the campaign seek to exploit division or does it seek to build common ground?  Sadly, too often, the search for power (albeit in the name of wanting to do good) guarantees the interests of some but rarely fosters the good of all.  Power all too often seeks to protect some at the expense of others.
 
It is all too easy to join in the general cynicism about the whole process.  We too can easily repeat the myth that “they are all in it for themselves”, “they are all the same really”, “it does not matter who gets in, nothing will change”,  “they promise us everything and do what they like once voted in”.
 
But as Christians we should be slow to so devalue our fellow human beings.  We need to remember that each candidate standing for election is beloved of God.  We should be grateful for each of those willing to stand, and our first response should be not to judge them but to hold them in our prayers.
 
And, in the political process, are we willing to see good in those who we may consider our adversary?  Can we move beyond pre-supposed divisions?  Are we willing to learn from them, even acknowledge that they may have some insight into Truth that we need to hear.  Before casting stones at others, we need to be aware of our own risk of pharisaism.  How open-minded are we in our search for the answers to the ails of our society?
 
Just as God calls us frail, fallible disciples to be bearers of the divine light in the world, so too the governance of our nation is placed in the hands of equally frail and fallible men and women, who need are our affirmation of their willingness to serve rather than a continuing reminder of where they have fallen short.  Even as they are held accountable at the ballot box, we too will be held accountable on the Last Day.
 
In political debate we should take no delight in humiliating an adversary and always seek to avoid a facile self-righteousness.  Just because we may see an individual as our political adversary, we should not assume that they are an adversary of God.  Nor should we use God to justify our political cause.  We need rather to approach these matters in a spirit of humility, not claiming God to be on our side but humbly seeking how we may be on God’s side.
 
As those who seek to be Christ’s body on earth, honouring the one who died for love of all people, we need to do all we can to affirm the unity of humankind and seek to avoid all that divides, promotes rivalry or engenders bitterness.  The Church needs to be the place which encourages us to listen deeply to one another, affirms our common ground and enables us all to change to better reflect God’s love in the world.
 
Voting is a profoundly spiritual act.  Standing in the voting booth, voting slip before us, pencil in hand, should be a moment of prayer, a holding of all the candidates before God, and a seeking, not of our own political proclivities, but of God’s wisdom.  And as we place our vote in the ballot box, this should be a moment of commitment, when regardless of who is elected, we renew our commitment to strive for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.
 
As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we should not seek to avoid the political realities of the world about us.  Rather we should, at each election, reaffirm our commitment to live lives that offer glimpses of God’s kingdom at work in the world, seeking not our own advantage but the higher common good and affirming that deeper unity that binds us together, and together binds us to God.

The image is courtesy of pixabay.com

The Revd Andrew Bryant is the Canon for Mission and Pastoral Care at Norwich Cathedral. He was previously Team Rector of Portishead, Bristol, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, and has served in parishes in the Guildford and Lichfield Dioceses, as well as working for twelve years with Kaleidoscope Theatre, a charity promoting integration through theatre for young adults with Down’s Syndrome.
 
You can read Andrew's latest blog entry here and can follow him via his Twitter account @AndyBry3.

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