The next time I write this weekly minister’s column will be the day after Election Day. I am reflecting now on how all-consuming this election can be, and on how to re-frame it in spiritual (not political) terms.
 
The news is the most obvious way to frame the election, but it is flawed in two important ways. I learned last week—ironically from an article in the news—that following the news closely is itself a partisan identity. I’m referring to an article called “The Real Divide in America is Between Political Junkies and Everyone Else.” (Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, New York Times, Oct. 10, 2020). Surprisingly, there is a big political difference between Democrats who follow the news all the time and those who follow the news casually or not at all. They care about different things. There is a big difference between Republicans who follow the news all the time and those who don’t follow the news. The article also said that people who follow the news all the time, political junkies, are only 15-20% of Americans. So if I want a frame of reference for what this election is all about and what it means for me, following the news isn’t going to give me a complete picture.
 
Another example illustrates the difference between politics and spirituality. Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 a few weeks ago; members of Mike Pence’s staff caught the disease this week. In popular culture, this news is political: what does this reported sickness mean for campaigning, for voting, for public opinion? However, I would argue that a religious or spiritual perspective on this news would be compassionate concern. People are getting sick—in this case famous people, and people who are icons of a political movement. But seeing them as people first, and as politicians second, is what compassion calls us to do. If we ever wish suffering and death on any human being, our morality and religious values are in peril.
 
Finally, I am mindful that this election is one event in human history. It is certainly important, and feels like a turning point for the nation. Still, the issues that I believe in and fight for transcend this election. Equal rights and dignity for those who identify as LGBTQ; eradicating systemic racism in this country; eliminating poverty and hunger world-wide; an end to war. This is what I believe in. I don’t hear that as any candidate’s platform. I will support candidates who more closely align with those goals, but any election is just one event in these larger struggles.
 
Prayer:
Spirit of life and love, hear my prayer.
 
May all be safe in the election coming up. May voters be safe, may poll workers and poll watchers and poll monitors be safe. May all politicians be safe and healthy.
 
May we see this election as moment to voice our opinions and to use our power for greater love and justice in the world. And may we continue that struggle, before and after election day, every day of our lives.
 
May it be so.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz

This week I had three encounters with nature that grounded and centered me. On Friday I walked in the woods at Chipp-a-Waters park. It was one of those October moments when the undergrowth was bright green and yellow, a blanket of color hovering above the forest floor; above the sunlight illuminated the many leaves remaining on the trees, green and yellow and some orange; and rustling underfoot the most gorgeous red and orange maple leaves. I stopped and took it in with gratitude.
 
On Monday morning I was out early. I got a cup of coffee at my favorite place on Broadway, then went to Island Park to enjoy it by the river. The wooden deck of the foot bridge was slick with frost. The air was so cold that I tried to keep my hands warm around my coffee cup, and wished for this first time this season that I had gloves. The Chippewa River was flowing fast and strong and clear.
 
And on Tuesday, back at the Chipp-a-Waters woods, I picked up two especially bright maple leaves, a larger red one and a smaller orange one. I love holding the prettiest leaves for a few moments and then letting them go. I have seen pictures of art work where an artist takes hundreds of colored leaves and creates patterns on rocks and tree trunks with them, wetting them with water to make them stick. The finished piece lasts only for a few hours. I took my two leaves to the bridge over the river and dropped them over the edge on the upstream side. I quickly walked across to the downstream side to wait for the leaves to float past. If you’ve read A. A. Milne, you’ll recognize that I was playing my own version of Pooh Sticks—Winnie the Pooh does this by himself or with a friend. You just need something that floats, a bridge, and a river. I waited a moment, wondering if my leaves would appear, and if I would I recognize them when they did. Then they did float by, the large one and the small one. Pooh Sticks is not a race, it’s a moment of awareness, of anticipation and trust. The river flows in its own time.
 
In this time that is filled with fear due to the pandemic, and filled with fear (and hope) due to the election, I am grateful to recall these moments of simple beauty that I was able to squeeze into my week. Autumn in the north is such a special time: the unexpected and unbelievable beauty of the trees changing color, and the cold reminding us that this beauty is fleeting. Bright fall colors don’t last very long. The autumn can bring a sadness for the summer that is fading, but sadness is not an evil emotion. Summer is beautiful and long, and has a stillness to it. Fall is beautiful and changing.
 
Prayer:
God of the river and the forest, Mother Earth and Father Sky; god of the Standing Nation of trees, blessed be the season with its change. Blessed be the children in school and the deer in the forest and the squirrels that hop and climb.
 
May we be in harmony with the rhythm of nature and of the seasons in the place where we live. May we learn wisdom and patience and awareness and hope from the lessons of the leaves and the flowing stream. May we be like clear water that flows, always changing and always the same.
 
Blessed be.
 
Rev. Andrew Frantz