Countless times I have heard it said, \u201cThis is the most important election of our lives.\u201d I do not disagree. Yet, I have also heard a few voices remind us: \u201cEvery election is the most important election of our lives because every election has significant consequences for our life together.\u201d It is always good to ground hyperbolic statements of our present reality within the full arc of history\u2019s unfolding, where the past\u2019s importance and the future\u2019s significance have and will be keenly felt for the living of those days. Still, I feel it \u2013 this election is of the upmost importance for us all. I have felt it on campus, seen it on your faces in Zoom calls, and experienced it in our communal COVID-impacted life together as the endless election soundtrack plays out on the 24-hour news cycle, is plastered all over social media, and blurs by in the reds, whites, and blues of ubiquitous yard signs painting our pathways.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These are the final days leading to Tuesday, November 3rd<\/sup> and the subsequent results of this ever-important election. The results may be known hours after the polls close or in days thereafter. Whatever the timing and whatever the results, this is a prayer for the space between, the hours leading up to this time of choosing for the leaders of our nation, our state, and our local communities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let us pray:<\/p>\n God of all time and every moment to come,<\/p>\n these days are rife with anxiety, fear, and distrust.<\/p>\n We see it on our Facebook feeds; we know it at our dinner tables; we feel it in our bones.<\/p>\n Compounded by the dangers of COVID-19,<\/p>\n our country and our communities linger in the in-between spaces:<\/p>\n between unknown and known;<\/p>\n between votes cast and votes counted;<\/p>\n between political discourse and political action;<\/p>\n between discord and the frail hope for unity;<\/p>\n between the now and the future of our democracy.<\/p>\n Hold us, ever-present God, in all our between spaces.<\/p>\n And no matter what the unfolding days bring,<\/p>\n secure us in the truth that nothing past, nothing present,<\/p>\n and nothing to come will separate us from your love<\/p>\n borne out in Christ Jesus<\/p>\n and calling us through your Holy Spirit<\/p>\n to be beloved community beyond every between. Amen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rev. Justin Lind-Ayres<\/p>\n University Pastor<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Countless times I have heard it said, \u201cThis is the most important election of our lives.\u201d I do not disagree. Yet, I have also heard a few voices remind us: \u201cEvery election is the most important election of our lives because every election has significant consequences for our life together.\u201d It is always good to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52936,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52935\/revisions\/52936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/campusministry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}