A Better Way: John Wesley's Advice for Navigating the Storm of an Election Season
Earlier this summer, I drove through the hardest downpour I've ever experienced. Living in the high desert of southern New Mexico, driving through a torrential summer storm is nothing new. Most summer rains here happen in fits and spurts, lasting 5-10 minutes at a time (if that). I drove through this downpour for an hour! Amid the constant worry of being unable to see more than 10-15 feet in front of me, the strong gusts of wind pushing me off the road, and my death grip on the steering wheel, I kept thinking, "This is all just too much!"
Today, we're living through one of the most tumultuous political storms in modern American history. Our anxieties are high. It feels like we could drive right off the road at any moment. This is all just too much!
As a Methodist pastor, my concern this election season is not who Christians vote for. My concern is helping them not careen off the road into destruction amid this storm. Consider Paul's warning in Galatians 5:19-21:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (NRSV)
In this season, I see the very things Paul warns about blowing all around us: I see enmity, strife, anger, and quarrels. I see dissensions, factions, and envy. And through it all, I fear that far too many don't know that they're about to careen into destruction. Or, as Paul warns in verse 21, "those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (emphasis added).
Wesleyans believe in the necessity and importance of good works as a means of living more fully into God's saving grace, so how we live and act should be the concern of every Methodist pastor. Christian behavior is a salvation issue. While our actions during an election season do not save us, such actions are intentional choices whether we step more into, or more out of, God's house of salvation. Paul's warning to the Galatian church proves just that. In choosing behaviors such as enmity and strife, quarreling and divisiveness, we decide to step outside of our inheritance of the kingdom of God.
John Wesley also lived through political storms and witnessed the very things Paul warned against. In the mid-1770s, Wesley noted that he had seen "in every county, city, town, men who were once of a calm, mild, friendly temper, [now] mad with party zeal, foaming with rage against their quiet neighbors, ready to tear out one another's throats and to plunge their swords into each other's bowels" ("National Sins and Miseries"). Other than the reference to plunging swords, Wesley could easily written this about 2024. Wesley observed political tumult and guided early Methodists through it, giving a road map of how to keep driving through a storm without speeding into destruction. His advice, given on October 6, 1774, was:
To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy;
To speak no evil of the person they voted against; and,
To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side. (Wesley's Journal)
Today, as I read these rules for voting, I see a biblical-shaped guide—a better way—for Christians to make it through the torrent and survive this election season.
1) Beware of Your Own Wisdom
In Wesley's first rule, he advises us to vote for the person we judge most worthy. How many of us actually give prayerful judgment to our vote instead of voting based on media influence or family tradition? I'm certain that I have allowed such worldly influences to sway the "wisdom of my own eyes" (Prov 3:7) regarding my political decisions rather than trusting God to shape my wisdom to his.
Relying on our own wisdom through this storm, instead of God's wisdom, is just one of the ways we risk careening off into the storm. For example, you may have Headline Stress Disorder (It's a real thing! Look it up). Here are the symptoms: increased anxiety/stress, mood changes, difficulty concentrating, headaches, fatigue, stomach issues, sleep disturbances, feelings of hopelessness, etc. With symptoms like that, it is no wonder we feel caught in a never-ending storm.
Headline Stress Disorder is just one issue we may face in leaning more into the world's wisdom instead of seeking God's wisdom amid the storm. But it doesn't have to be this way. There is a better way. We can take our political choices to the Lord and seek His wisdom. In doing so, we can expect far better than Headline Stress Disorder. In seeking God's guidance to help us vote for the person we judge most worthy, we can experience the "healing of [our] flesh" and the "refreshment for [our bodies]" (Prov 3:8).
Let's beware of our wisdom and put even more prayerful discernment into our vote this year. We may end up exactly where we were in the first place. We may change our minds. Both of those options are valid. However, in getting to that final judgment of who we vote for, we will have trusted God's wisdom, not our own, and experienced healing and refreshing in doing so. That's a better way.
2) Love The One You Hate
It's so very easy to hate. We hate to protect ourselves from that which we fear, and fear seems to rule the day in American politics. The call to hate is strong, and the willingness to give in to such hate is quick. As simple as it is, Wesley's second rule, "to speak no evil of the person they voted against," is perhaps the hardest.
Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:43 to love our enemies, a teaching I'm certain played a role in shaping Wesley's formulation of this second rule, is about as straightforward as it gets. For Jesus, the case is clear: if you have an enemy, you love them. And not with just any love, but with the agapē love. This love does not benefit the giver of the love. It's a love that only exists for the benefit of the love's object. Wesley is just scratching the surface of Christ's command to love with this second rule, so let's take it even further. What if we not only keep from speaking evil, but let's go all the way? Let us love Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, whichever one you consider your political enemy, with a love that only exists for their benefit.
Now, as much as I think both our candidates probably need a good Christian hug and a shoulder to cry on, I can't just go up to the VP's residence in Washington or the former President's Mar-a-Lago home and give them an agapē-filled hug. But what I can do is pray. I'm not talking about prayers like, "Dear God, please make him/her lose!" No, this is a love that prays for their marriages, their families, their health, etc. This is a love that prays they would come to know Jesus more and more.
But how does such love help us survive the political storm? Even though agapē love is a love that only exists for the object of love, God's incredible blessings in our lives are so great that even when we love without any expectation of return, God still blesses us anyway! Jesus promises in Matthew 5:45 that as we agapē our enemies, we become children of our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:45). Loving our enemies is how we know more about the peace of being part of God's family. So, take Wesley's advice: don't speak evil of your political enemies. Love them. Agapē them. And in doing so, amidst the storm of this season, be ready to experience more of what it means to be a child of God. That's a better way.
3) Love The Ones You Have
Wesley's third and final rule for voting was to ensure that "spirits were not sharpened against those that vote on the other side." Just as today, there were surely Methodist gatherings that contained all sorts of perspectives. Yes, our congregations may lean one way or another, but it's foolish for us to think local churches are monoliths of political preferences. There are people in worship, small groups, at the potluck, and Administrative Council meetings who will vote differently than you. The question is this: will we let the political vitriol and hatred that defines the world define our relationships within our church walls? This final rule warns against such things.
As I consider what it is like for people of potentially volatile political differences to follow Jesus together, I'm reminded of who Jesus chose as his apostles, two in particular: "These are the names of the twelve apostles… Matthew the tax collector… Simon the Zealot…" (Matt 10:2-4, emphasis added). There could not have been two more politically opposed men on this list than a tax collector and a Zealot. Matthew's very livelihood rested upon his efforts to prop up the oppressive Romans at the expense of his own people. Simon, who was part of an actual political party of the day called Zealots, wanted nothing more than the downfall of Rome and would be willing to take violent political action if necessary.
I can easily imagine many robust and heated exchanges around the campfire as these two traveled around Judea with Jesus for three years. However, neither of them left the other. Neither of them abandoned the body they had been called to. Both of them remained true to the call on their lives, and, as tradition goes, they both died as martyrs for the cause of Christ.
We are all in covenant relationships with other believers who do not vote the same way. Let us take Wesley's rule to heart and refuse to have our spirits hardened against others, especially brothers and sisters in the Lord, for different political preferences. Follow the example of the tax collector and the Zealot and stay faithful to each other as you stay true to the call of Jesus through this storm. Love your church. Love the ones you have. That's a better way.
No one knows when this political storm will end, but all indications point to a long road ahead. Despite what is to come, I believe there's a better way than anxiously wondering if we'll careen off the road at any moment. I know our shoulders are tense from our death grips on our steering wheels. But there's a better way! It's the better way of trusting our Lord's wisdom and not our own and, in doing so, having our flesh healed and our bodies refreshed. It's the better way of loving Donald Trump and Kamala Harris with the same love that we receive from God, and in doing so, we will know even more that we are children of our Father in heaven. It's loving the Christian brothers and sisters that God has placed us in relationships within our local congregations and loving them deeply no matter who they vote for—loving them and serving the same Lord Jesus together to the end of our days. There's a better way through this storm. We can make it through not only by keeping our souls intact but by actually becoming more like Jesus in the process.
Kelly McCuaig is an ordained elder in the Global Methodist Church and serves as the lead pastor of First Methodist Church in Carlsbad, New Mexico.