As voters in the Mid-Atlantic head to the polls today, some Baptists in the region will make an additional stop — to participate in communion as a reminder that their commitment to Jesus Christ trumps political identity.
In scattered locations across North Carolina and Virginia — two of the most hotly contested states in the presidential campaign — Baptists will gather “not as Republicans or Democrats, but as followers of Jesus,” said David Turner, pastor of Central Baptist Church in suburban Richmond. “Our focus will be on the fact that in Jesus we are one, regardless of how we vote.”
They’ll be joining about 850 congregations across the country inspired by an Election Day Communion initiative launched by an Episcopalian and two Mennonite pastors, including one in Staunton, Va.
“I saw the link on my Facebook stream and it clicked with me,” said Kenny Park, pastor of Jerusalem Baptist Church in Warsaw, Va. “I wanted a simple, graphic reminder to people of differing political stripes of the fact that our ultimate allegiance is to Christ, pure and simple.”
Communion at All Souls, a Baptist congregation in Charlottesville, Va. (Photo courtesy of Winn Collier)
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The Mid-Atlantic organizers agree the communion service is a response to what they view as an especially vitriolic political campaign. Spending on television ads in Virginia was the second highest among states at $131 million and fourth highest in North Carolina at $89 million, according to the Washington Post. Both candidates visited the two states incessantly.
“I've been disturbed with how easily Christians abandon our identity as people of God as the political temperature (and temptation) rises,” said Winn Collier, pastor of All Souls, a Baptist congregation in Charlottesville, Va. “The vitriol, slander and abusive language has genuinely grieved my soul. We are desperate, I believe, for a distinct Christian witness that will inevitably put us at odds with the ways of the powers of this world.”
Turner said he was “tired of the division created in the church by partisan politics and by this election in particular. I became tired of hearing the message that ‘real’ Christians will vote only for a particular candidate, or for a particular political party. While I have a very specific preference, I know professing Christians who are voting for Barack Obama, and I know professing Christians who are voting for Mitt Romney. Interestingly, they all use their faith to justify their choice.”
“As divisive as this conversation been among Christians there needs to be some kind of unification,” said Rick Bennett, pastor of First Baptist Church in Elkin, N.C. “I’m not even sure I can call it a conversation, we’re so afraid to talk about the issues. I see how how tense and anxious everyone is. The reality is that whoever is elected, that person is our president and as hard as it might be to make the transition, the Christ-like thing to do is respect the person. And the corollary is not to talk in a derogatory way about that person.”
In Roanoke, associate pastor Melissa Scott of Colonial Avenue Baptist Church said her city has been “inundated by political messages.”
“Along with the angry language of [television] ads, we noticed an increase in the passion and anger of messages on Facebook and conversations in person, even among Christians (maybe especially among Christians),” said Scott, whose church will host a joint service with nearby Colonial Presbyterian Church.
At HopeTree Family Services , Christian education director and chaplain Adele Henderson said the “divisiveness that permeates the campaigns has deeply troubled me spiritually,” prompting her to offer employees at the Baptist-affiliated agency in Salem, Va., “a place to worship and partake of the bread and cup” on election day.
Jeffrey Walton, a student at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond who initiated a 7 p.m. service on campus, said communion is an antidote to the “ ’dis-ease’ created by divisive politics.”
“What better place is there for us to turn other than the table where we meet God’s self-giving act, through Jesus, whereby Christian brothers and sisters are reconciled into the family of God?” Walton asked.
Distinctive practice
Collier said communion is a uniquely Christian witness to ultimate loyalty.
“Thankfully, we have a distinctive practice, central to our story and identity, that nurtures precisely this posture of allegiance to the Kingdom of God and a shared life, hope and narrative,” he said. “That practice is the table of Jesus. I wanted to share it with our brothers and sisters who may have varying political ideologies but who, like us, want to say first and foremost that Jesus is Lord.”
All Souls will co-host a service with Charlottesville Mennonite Church at noon, “intentionally in the middle of the day, in the middle of the election action and chaos,” he said.
“Jesus is Lord,” said Collier. “And anytime the Christian faith is co-opted by a narrow political ideology, that’s not true Christian witness. That’s something the Church would call heresy.”
Bennett said communion’s “call to lay down your agenda and take up your cross, and the imagery of the one cup and the one loaf are powerful.”
First Baptist, Elkin has scheduled its service at 8 p.m., shortly after the polls have closed.
“I know the law requires that campaigning can’t occur within a certain number of feet of the polling station, but when I walk in those stations I feel the angst and anxiety and chaos of the place," said Bennett. “You carry that with you the rest of the day. This communion service is an opportunity for healing. I hope what happens there will bring that healing.”
Morningside Baptist Church in Asheville also plans an evening service. The congregation will join Sojourner Christian Church, which meets in its facility, for a 7:30 p.m. service.
Community despite differences
Lacy Kendrick, moderator of BTSR’s Student Government Association, which is sponsoring the seminary’s communion service, said the key question is how Christians can remain in community despite significant differences — an issue ministers must grapple with early in their ministries.
“If we cannot be examples of unity, love and acceptance with our peers in ministry and academia, how can we take that into the larger context of our congregations and ministries?” she asked. “It is our hope to be an example of how Christians from all over the spectrum of politics, theology and doctrine can come together and worship, regardless of who they voted for earlier in the day.”
At Colonial Avenue, where the service will be centered on Psalm 146, “We want the [Roanoke] community to see and hear Christians working, serving and loving together, rather than spewing divisive words,” said Scott.
HopeTree’s Henderson hopes “the message that this sends is that regardless of your denomination or political affiliation, people can come together around what unites them. When unity occurs healing does as well.”
For Park, the service will “remind folks that, regardless of what our politics are, we are called to still be in community with each other, and that Christ is still Lord of all those who claim him.
“The message to the community (outside the church) will hopefully be that it is possible to remain in fellowship with people with whom you disagree,” he said.
Collier isn’t convinced that message is more critical in the current political season than it was in the past.
“I’m tempted to say [it is], but I’m aware of a long, sordid history of political vitriol and the seditious ways that political powers have tempted the Church to fall in lock-step. I don’t know if we need it more or not, but we most definitely need it. “
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.