BRUNSWICK

In 18th and 19th century New England, preachers gave election sermons — long screeds intended to restore the moral rectitude of the voters and to make the victorious fit to govern. Nodding to that history, I offer an election sermon each Presidential election year. This was the hardest I’ve ever written.

Today I speak for the children, delineating my concerns for their future — concerns I want our next President to address.

First, our planet. We’ve concluded the hottest summer on record. Brunswick reached mid-October without a frost. Super storms are the new normal. Species increasingly go extinct. Even pollinators are in trouble. If they tank, so do we.

But climate change never came up in a single Presidential debate!

I want our children to have clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, crops grown in good soil from seeds that haven’t been genetically engineered. I want children to have forests to explore, mountains to climb, rivers to swim in, animals, birds, and reptiles to befriend – the vast mystery of life to probe.

When I imagine a drastically depleted natural world of tomorrow, I yearn for a President who will heal America’s relationship to the earth – we the biggest squanderers of natural resources on the planet.

Second, peace. The debates mentioned ISIS and terrorism, which certainly need addressing. But I hunger for a bigger vision of a world that resolves problems diplomatically; a world where all people respect others, no matter how different they may seem; a world where no child fears bombs, guns, chemical warfare, torture, and disappearing family members. I ache for a world of peace.

Yet peace is impossible when injustice flourishes. Our world sows the seeds of discord wherever the disparity between rich and poor widens, women’s rights are circumscribed, and people are marginalized and victimized.

I want our next President to mitigate inequalities in America and to advocate for people at the margins all over the world. I want our President to address the causes of terrorism and to pave the way for human connection, communication, and understanding. I want our President to envision a world that welcomes all genders, all ethnicities, all ages, all classes, all colors, all religions — ALL.

Third, democracy. We who “export” democracy elsewhere are in danger of losing it at home. Ever since the Supreme Court eviscerated the Voting Rights Act three years ago, many states have gutted voting rights, making it harder for minorities to vote. If that isn’t concerning enough, we now have the specter of foreign interference in our elections.

Those worries have received wide coverage, but I have additional concerns. I question the wisdom of perpetuating a two-party system. Anger is on the rise. Even though I don’t always share the views of those who are angry, I understand the anger, because I have rarely had the experience of voting for a candidate I really liked. My politics don’t usually align with the platforms of either party.

Of course, America has other parties. But our system is really set up for just two parties. That leads to growing polarization, and it means alternative viewpoints and new ideas have a hard time making their way into an entrenched system. No wonder people are angry and frustrated. People need to be heard.

There are many ways of not hearing and not being heard. When what passes for political discussion really amounts to threats, accusations, and innuendo, I stop listening. The nastiness of the discourse in this election, which revolves around ad hominem attacks, is matched only by its shallow, idea free content. But what I witness the candidates doing hardly differs from cultural tendencies I frequently observe, especially in electronic communication. Consider the ways people write about each other in online comments to newspaper articles — calling names, making accusations, resorting to insult and slur.

Democracy requires sharing ideas. That means listening, using the principles of nonviolent communication. Democracy depends on forbearance, especially as we listen to viewpoints we may not like.

I want our new President to restore and protect voting rights. I want our new President to take democracy seriously enough to include voices from the margins and seriously enough to begin, right now, to model a return to civil discourse. The children of tomorrow, who are learning from the examples their elders set, deserve nothing less.

There is so much at stake for our children. So much needs healing and love. What is broken in our country mutes the great possibilities of our land.

Democracy is at stake. Peace, too, and our very planet.

Excerpts from a sermon given on October 16, 2016.