Heart and soul and mind
An election week reflection on the greatest commandment
Dear reader,
A preacher often ends up preaching the sermon they most need to hear. The piece below is like that. I have spent many weeks writing, editing, and wrestling with these words because it’s the Truth I most need to trust this week. My prayer is that sharing it will help you trust it, too.
As always, thanks for reading, and may the Peace that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds (Phil 4:7).
Jenna
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He [Jesus] said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
I have vivid memories of the presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. Each of them had this aura of critical importance that infused every atom surrounding me. Most of us have good memories of one of them and painful memories of the other, which is probably why they have stayed in the recesses of our minds for so long. The emotions were overwhelming.
On paper, we Americans face a very similar ballot this week to that of 2016 and 2020, and the emotions feel just as strong, if not stronger. It’s as if eight years of fear and anxiety have culminated in this one week.
Though there are many similarities to that of the two previous elections, I don’t think we are filling out our ballots this week as the same people. These eight years have changed us. They’ve changed me and my family. They’ve changed our country.
They’ve also challenged, sharpened, and strengthened my faith, because I’ve been reminded time and time again that it’s all I have. It’s all I can count on in this world that often feels so out of control.
So this year, I’m walking into this election day differently, trying as best I can to live every moment in the paradox of what it means to be a Christian living in the United States, a paradox highlighted by Jesus’ greatest commandment given to us in the Gospels.1
Love God
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
There’s a reason this is the first commandment God gave Moses, and the most important commandment Jesus puts into his top hits list.
It is the Truth to which our entire lives hinge.
Yet we are so. dang. bad at it.
I am continually amazed by how quickly and eagerly we humans give our heart and soul and mind—foundational parts of our very beings—over to people, ideas, and things other than God. Even and most especially when these people, ideas, and things cause us pain, suffering, anxiety, and fear. It is truly astonishing, and yet we do it again and again and again.
In the past eight years, I have watched people and communities—on both sides of the political aisle—hand over the keys to their hearts, souls, and minds to people who have not earned their trust. To ideas that are dehumanizing and harmful to others. To violent rhetoric and an absence of morality our grandparents would be shocked by. To poll numbers and town halls and news outlets.
In short, to a lot of things that are not God.
I sense this more than ever this week, as everyone stands on eggshells, anxiety ramped up to the max. As my podcasts and notifications and messages all hint at this communal heightened heart rate.
To me, this is proof that we’ve let down the guard rails around our heart, soul, and mind. We’ve forgotten this first and most important commandment.
When we do this—consciously or not—we began to believe that the President of the United States can save us. We begin to believe that the leader of our country has as much power as God. We begin to believe that these politicians are our only hope.
No wonder we’re all on edge. No wonder the fear is through the roof.
We’ve made these leaders our gods.
We’ve given them our hearts and souls and minds.
But the Truth of the greatest commandment is this:
Whoever is elected this week is not our god.
No matter how much hope they give us, no matter how much we feel like we depend on them becoming President, no matter if it’s who we wanted to win or not—they are still just a human leader of one of the hundreds of nations in the world. They are flawed and part of an inherently broken institution run by imperfect humans. They are a human, created in the image of God, but not God.
Jesus is no idiot. He knew how easy it was for us to mix up these things and give away our very souls to people and ideas that don’t deserve them.
So he reminded us of this most important commandment.
A commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind. A reminder that our only hope, our only faith, our only trust, can be put in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God who came to be human with us as a vulnerable baby in Jesus.
Above all else, above all humans and rulers and CEOs and people who promise whatever we want them to say to make us happy, this commandment reminds me—and all of us Christians—that our allegiance is first and only to God alone.
A God who will not fail us.
A God who will not lie to us or promise us things God cannot fulfill.
A God who will not lead us into destruction.
A God who will not act in violence.
A God who will not betray our trust.
A God who will not abuse or manipulate our heart, soul, and mind.
This God in whom I put my trust—an exceptional more amount of trust this week than normal—is faithful and just. Filled with mercy, forgiveness, and grace. Abounding in love for all people. Promotes peace, unity, and wholeness. Shows up in the rubble and death and despair and redeems it.
Whether I am sighing in relief or shedding tears in the coming days, this commandment holds True.
God is my constant, the rock and foundation on which I can put my whole hope. The Loving Agent who will continue to act in the world, in surprising and divine ways, no matter what the outcome is. The only One who is worthy and deserving of my whole heart and soul and mind.
That’s what’s different about this year, the thing I didn’t have in 2016 and 2020.
Guard rails around my heart, soul, and mind,
and trust in a God who is bigger than American elections.
Love neighbor
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
When someone asked Jesus for the greatest commandment, they were probably expecting one answer. We like to do that with God: ask for the clear, direct, easy response.
Jesus begins his answer by commanding us to love God with our entire beings, trusting God above all else (see above). But in true Jesus fashion, he didn’t stop there. He continued by offering a second commandment that was just as important:
Love your neighbor.
Which, for us Christians in the United States, feels like a particularly daunting task this week. We are surrounded by neighbors on all sides who Jesus calls us to love, but some of them are easier to love than others. We might be able to ignore the neighbors in another state, or even those who we don’t see everyday. But what about the neighbors on social media, or the ones within our own family? That’s much harder.
But there are still a multitude of ways we can love our neighbors this week. First and most importantly, we can pray for them. We can also be a kind and safe driver around them, even when they have a bumper sticker on their car of the candidate we don’t like. If we’re feeling really bold, we can eighth commandment them by assuming the best possible intent of them and their actions.2 And, I believe, we can love our neighbors by voting.
Now, we often think about voting in relation to ourselves. It is my vote, after all. We vote for the people we want to be elected so that we can have lower taxes or certain laws passed that will benefit us most. We vote for someone because we connect with their personality or we like what they say about people like us.
But did you notice that the only time you and I are mentioned in either of Jesus’ greatest commandments is in relation to our neighbor? It’s as if Jesus says that our very lives are wrapped up—completely intertwined—in the lives of our neighbors. We cannot be separated from them.
In lieu of this second commandment, it’s hard to think about voting solely for our own gain. As a Christian, our vote becomes a way to love our neighbors in the way we hope to be loved. Our vote becomes a way to bear their burdens as we hope they bear our own.
This is especially true for people like me (and probably many of you) who have all the wealth and privilege in the world and don’t really need to vote for myself. To be completely honest, my vote will change and alter very little of my own life.3
As an American Christian—an identity that holds enormous power and responsibility in this world—I am called by the God in whom I put my trust, not simply to vote for myself, but also on behalf of my neighbor. In love for them.
Here’s the paradox of Jesus’ greatest commandments: though the human leaders we elect this week are not our god, their actions still have major consequences for our neighbors, and Jesus wants us to take that seriously.
And we don’t just take it seriously for the neighbors in our midst or the neighbors who are easiest to love, but every neighbor. Our American neighbor.
Our homeless neighbor.
Our imprisoned neighbor.
Our rural neighbor.
Our single mother neighbor.
Our Muslim neighbor.
Our conservative neighbor.
Our liberal neighbor.
Even our enemy neighbors (who shall remain nameless).
Jesus could’ve left us with one great commandment: Love God. End of story.
But he didn’t. He kept talking. He wanted our love of God to continue flowing out into the world. And he wanted that to happen through us, by loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Voting happens to be a particularly unique and profound way of doing that.
So, fellow neighbor—
follower of Christ and United States citizen, in that order—
May you join me in guarding your heart and soul and mind this week.
May you take heart that Jesus never ruled from Rome. He was always found on the outskirts, in the despairing places, among the hurting people, not in the places of power.
May your soul be comforted by Jesus saying, over and over and over again, “do not be afraid, do not be afraid.”
May you attune your mind to the promises God makes to us in scripture and spend less time listening to the false promises made to you on social media and in the news.4
May all this free you to extend God’s unconditional and abundant love to your neighbor, at the polls on Tuesday, on social media on Wednesday, at the grocery store on Thursday, and everyday thereafter.
May you vote, not putting your trust in human leaders, but as an extension of God’s love to your neighbor.
May you vote, knowing that whoever wins—your candidate or the other one—will inevitably fail us and our neighbors, but trusting that God will continue to act and show up in the midst of it all.
And friends, that is a God who is worthy of our heart and soul and mind.
🗳️
Blessings to you, child of God, as you love God and love your neighbor. This week and every week.
Also found in Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:27.
The 8th Commandment is this: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” I think it is the hardest commandment, and because of this, I often make the eighth commandment into a verb. If you would like to read about Luther’s understanding of the eighth commandment, here’s the Small Catechism and the Large Catechism.
There are exceptions to this, but in general, I have the wealth, education, and status in the world that allows me to not be as deeply impacted from policy or laws. I am able to weather the whims and woes of our democracy much easier than many others.
If you want to join me, I have chosen to not read any news this week and have asked friends, family, and colleagues to avoid talking about the election with me until the final results are in.
Thank you so much for this amazing and oh so very helpful message, dear Jenna. I was hanging onto every word. It’s so easy and so enjoyable to read what you write. You’re definitely doing what God has called you to do. I’m grateful. Susan
Joining you for no news (and no social media) this week!! 💪💪