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Presiding Bishop Curry offers video election message, encourages voting as “a Christian obligation”

Presiding Bishop Curry offers video election message, encourages voting as “a Christian obligation”

Election Toolkit provides resources for congregations, individuals

Presiding Bishop’s message text in English, Spanish with video subtitled

[August 22, 2016] “Voting and participation in our government is a way of participating in our common life,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry said in a video election message. “And that is a Christian obligation. Indeed, we who follow in the Way of Jesus of Nazareth are summoned to participate actively as reflections of our faith in the civil process.”

The Presiding Bishop’s video election message is here. The video is closed-captioned and is subtitled in Spanish. The text of the Presiding Bishop’s message in English and Spanish is located at the end of this note.

The video is ideal for conversation, adult forums and group gatherings, Sunday School, youth groups, conventions, and meetings, etc.

Election Toolkit and resources
The Episcopal Church online toolkit with webpage outlines how individual Episcopalians and congregations can participate in the electoral process through nonpartisan activities. Among the possible non-partisan activities offered are: engaging young adults who are eligible to vote for the first time; hosting a candidate forum; advocating for voting rights legislation; and hosting Get Out The Vote campaigns. Through the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN), information is also available on an important initiative, the Episcopal Pledge to Vote

â€¢ Election engagement resources, including the downloadable Episcopal Election Engagement Toolkit, are available here.

â€¢ Bulletin inserts are available here.

â€¢ A Facebook/Twitter social media campaign highlighting: state-by-state registration deadlines; information on voting rights; ways to support civil discourse; and historical fun facts of Episcopal political engagement through the centuries of our country. Facebook here and Twitter
here.

â€¢ Hashtag #EpiscopaliansVote

The Presiding Bishop’s message in English follows:

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Election Message

This November we will gather together as a nation to vote not only to elect a new president but to elect governmental leaders on a variety of levels.

We are blessed. We are blessed as a nation to be able to do so as citizens of this country. This is a right, an obligation, and a duty. And indeed the right and the privilege to be able to vote is something that was won through an American revolution. Something that was won even more through civil rights and women’s suffrage. A right and a privilege that was won for all. So I encourage you to please go and vote. Vote your conscience. Vote your perspective. But vote.

But it’s not just simply a civil obligation and duty. Voting and participation in our government is a way of participating in our common life. And that is a Christian obligation. Indeed, we who follow in the Way of Jesus of Nazareth are summoned to participate actively as reflections of our faith in the civil process.

In the thirteenth chapter of Romans, sometimes a chapter that is debated among scholars and among Christians, St. Paul reminds us that we have a duty and an obligation to participate in the process of government, “For that is how our common life is ordered and structured.” And at one point he actually says, “For the same reason,” going on, he’s expanding, he says, “For the same reason you also pay taxes for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with everything.” That’s probably very true. “Pay to all them that is due them. Taxes to whom taxes are due. Revenue to whom revenue is due. Respect to whom respect is due. Honor to whom honor is due.” Now he’s talking about the role of government as helping to order our common life. But here’s what I want you to
really hear. He continues and says:

“So owe no-one anything except to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments ‘You shall not commit adultery’, ‘You shall not murder’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not covet’, any other commandment, they are all summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

For St. Paul, the way of love, the love of neighbor, is the fulfilling not only of the moral law of God, but the way to fulfill the civil law.

Go and vote. Vote your conscience. Your conscience informed by what it means to love your neighbor. To participate in the process of seeking the common good. To participate in the process of making this a better world. However you vote, go and vote. And do that as a follower of Jesus.

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

The Presiding Bishop’s message in Spanish follows:

Obispo Presidente Michael Curry
Mensaje sobre las elecciones

Este mes de noviembre nos reuniremos como naciÃ³n para votar, no solo para elegir un nuevo presidente, sino para elegir a lÃderes gubernamentales en una variedad de niveles.

Somos bendecidos. Somos bendecidos como naciÃ³n por ser capaces de hacerlo como ciudadanos de este paÃs. Esto es un derecho, una obligaciÃ³n y un deber. Y en verdad el derecho y el privilegio de poder votar es algo que se obtuvo mediante una revoluciÃ³n americana. Algo que fue logrado, aÃºn mÃ¡s, a travÃ©s de los derechos civiles y el sufragio femenino. Un derecho y un privilegio que fue conseguido por todos. AsÃ que les animo a que, por favor, vayan y voten. Voten su conciencia. Voten su perspectiva. Pero voten.

Pero no es simplemente una obligaciÃ³n civil y un deber. El votar y participar en nuestro gobierno es una forma de colaborar en la vida comÃºn. Y eso es una obligaciÃ³n cristiana. Verdaderamente, a los que seguimos en el Camino de JesÃºs de Nazaret se nos pide que participemos activamente como reflejo de nuestra fe en el proceso civil.

En el capÃtulo trece de la Carta a los Romanos, -un capÃtulo que a veces se debate entre los acadÃ©micos y entre los cristianos-, san Pablo nos recuerda que tenemos el deber y la obligaciÃ³n de participar en el proceso del gobierno, “pues asÃ es cÃ³mo nuestra vida en comÃºn estÃ¡ ordenada y estructurada”. Y en realidad llega a decir: “Por la misma razÃ³n”, continÃºa, lo amplÃa, y dice: “por la misma razÃ³n ustedes tambiÃ©n pagan los tributos pues las autoridades son funcionarios al servicio de Dios, encargados de cumplir este oficio”. Eso es probablemente muy cierto. “Pagar a cada uno lo que le es debido. Al que se le deben impuestos, impuestos. Al que se le debe contribuciÃ³n, contribuciÃ³n. Al que se le debe respecto, respeto. Al que honor, honor”. Ahora estÃ¡ hablando de la funciÃ³n del gobierno en cuanto ayuda a ordenar nuestra vida en comÃºn. Pero aquÃ estÃ¡ lo que de verdad quiero que
oigan. ContinÃºa y dice:

“AsÃ que la Ãºnica deuda que tengan con los demÃ¡s sea la del amor mutuo. Porque el que ama al prÃ³jimo ya cumpliÃ³ toda la ley. Los mandamientos: ‘No cometerÃ¡s adulterio’, ‘No matarÃ¡s’, ‘No robarÃ¡s’, ‘No codiciarÃ¡s’, y cualquier otro mandamiento, todos estÃ¡n resumidos en esta palabra: ‘AmarÃ¡s al prÃ³jimo como a ti mismo’. El amor no hace mal al prÃ³jimo, por eso, el amor es el cumplimiento de la ley”.

Para san Pablo, el camino del amor, del amor al prÃ³jimo, es el cumplimiento no sÃ³lo de la ley moral de Dios, sino la manera de cumplir la ley civil.

Vayan y voten. Voten su conciencia. Su conciencia informada por lo que significa amar al vecino. Participen en el proceso de la bÃºsqueda del bien comÃºn. Participen en el proceso de hacer de este un mundo mejor. Comoquiera que voten, vayan y voten. Y hagan eso como seguidores de JesÃºs.

El ReverendÃsimo Michael B. Curry
Obispo Presidente y Primado
Iglesia Episcopal

On the web:

Presiding Bishop Curry offers video election message, encourages voting as “a Christian obligation”