For a while, I have been gently reflecting on the connection between faith and our desire and commitment to live together in love and community. For me, the shift from despair to hope about the 2024 election campaigns is a great relief. America is certainly proving to be a free society where everyone is entitled to their opinion. Having lived seven decades, I appreciate the ups and downs will continue. With that in mind, today’s post is about “acting as if”.

I’ve written before about the importance of “acting as if” in confronting difficult, at times, impossible change. It has worked for me through the Twelve Step practices to overcome addictions. I use it when I can see something I am doing repeatedly isn’t working, and yet I keep doing it.  I become frustrated and sometimes depressed with the results.

So, for me, the debate is over. There never has been a debate about which candidate I would support in November. But I was lulled into thinking it was important for me to have an opinion about whether President Biden is the best choice. Our national and local elections repeatedly prove that winning an election and being an effective leader are two different things. In the real world, you have to win in order to govern.

Having watched the Republican convention and their efforts toward unity, I grew in compassion for people who feel Trump is not only their only choice but a great choice. Faith in God has taken neighbors and friends to a different conclusion than I have reached. For me, that reflects a forty-year campaign where conservative political and religious leaders found common ground around charged issues.  These include abortion and sexual identity; they created a scary worldview and perspective.

A July 10^th New York Times story reported on the Catholic seminaries becoming more conservative for the past forty years, producing more conservative younger priests.  Having been in the Catholic seminary in the more progressive era that preceded this forty-year nightmare, I didn’t need to read the article. Nor did most practicing Catholics who go to Church, and find a narrow interpretation of whom Jesus was and is. They question what authentic faith calls us to do.

I thought Joe Biden is capable and could continue to lead. I was doubtful as to whether he was able to convince enough voters of that to win. However, what I think doesn’t matter much. What does is that whatever Democrat who runs against Donald Trump wins.

And for that reason, I decided before Kamala Harris was endorsed by enough delegates to act as if I am wildly and passionately confident that whoever is nominated by the Democratic Party will win in November. Similarly, that the Democrats will retain the majority in the Senate, and win it in the House.  I will do everything I can to support all the above endeavors.

What is the alternative? Do we really want deportation as our immigration strategy? Do we really want Donald Trump and his Congress to make decisions on AI and how that technology will be controlled in the future? Do we really want radically conservative Christians to dictate what marriage means, and how sexuality gets expressed in America? Do we really want to have the modest gains in addressing climate change reversed and ended? Do we really want our international policies to be about coalitions with governments that don’t respect their citizens or listen to them?  

If you haven’t stopped reading by now, I likely am not offending you and am not saying anything you disagree with. I, like many, am excited to support Kamala Harris. I was ecstatic to see the immediate support for her candidacy. The Zoom call on Sunday evening, organized by Win with Black Women brought together 44,000 women and raised $1.5 million for the Harris campaign. If you are looking for hope and excitement, read the Washington Post account of this amazing call.

We all have a big job to do to ensure that sexism and racism don’t collude to stop an effective leader from being elected President. For white Christians and people of faith, we have a specific job to do to broaden white support for Kamala Harris and push back against the fear-based worldview of White Supremacist Christians.

Brother Lawrence was a 17th-century soldier who became a monk. He wrote a handful of letters that became a simple, wonderful book entitled The Practice of the Presence of God. In his first conversation, he suggests: “That we should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God, which would yield us great joy….That we ought to quicken, that is enliven, our faith.” (p.4)

God is, in this case, whatever you believe in. “Acting as if” requires courage and boldness – a high notion or wild trust in the source of our faith. Brother Lawrence encourages us to quicken – step up – or double down on our beliefs in good, in LOVE, and in whatever we believe will give us hope in challenging times.

These are challenging times and I believe they invite and even demand deeper faith; they require acting as if good and love will triumph. Then, they will.