Poem Prayer for a Privileged People

Blessings,
Today we pause from our 31 Short Spiritual Practices, to reflect on election day!
I do not presume to suggest to you what you should vote for; I am sure you have heard the phrase that "religion and politics should not mix".  But, I can't help remembering how political Jesus was - he literally stood up against the political force of his day, and was arrested and tried as a political prisoner.
And so, on this election day, I share with a poem from "Prayers for a Privileged People" by Walter Brueggemann.

The Noise of Politics
We watch as the jets fly in
     with the power people and the 
     the money people,
     the suits, the budgets, the billions.

We wonder about the monetary policy
     because we among the haves,
and about the generosity
     because we care about the have-nots.

By slower modes we notice
     Lazarus and the poor arriving from Africa,
     and the beggars of Central Europe, and
    the throng of environmentalists
          with their vision of butterflies and oil
                          of flowers and tanks
                          of growing things and 
                                      killing fields.

We wonder about the peace and war,
       about ecology and development,
       about hope and entitlement. 

We listen beyond jeering protesters and soaring jets and
       faintly we hear the mumbling of the crucified one,
       something about
                          feeding the hungry
                          and giving drink to the thirsty,
                          about clothing the naked,
                          and noticing the prisoners,
                          more about the least and about the holiness among them.

We are moved by the mumbles of the gospel,
       even while we are tenured in our privilege.

We are half ready to join the choir of hope,
       half afraid things might change,
               and in a third half of our faith
                       we turn to You,
               and your outpouring love
              that works justice and 
              binds us each and all to one another.

So we pray amid the jeering protesters and soaring jets,
      we pray amid the political noise.
Come by here and make new,
     even at some risk to our entitlements.

Peace, and thoughtful voting,
Rev. Gail