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What Will You Preach on November 10?
Finding Hope on Post-Election Sunday
If you’re a pastor, what are you going to say on November 10, 2024?
November 10, 2024, will be the first Sunday after the presidential election. By then, we might know who won the race for the presidency, or we might still be waiting for the final results. The nation could be preparing for a second term for President Biden or gearing up for a return of President Trump. There might be political unrest or a semblance of calm. Regardless of the outcome, pastors across the country will face the critical question: What will you say to your congregation that Sunday?
A few weeks ago, I posed this question to Joshua Gritter, a Presbyterian pastor in North Carolina, on my podcast. Reflecting on his own experience, Gritter recounted how he and his wife wondered how their pastor would address the congregation after Donald Trump’s election in 2016. This year, as co-pastors, they have decided to avoid political discourse entirely. Instead, they plan to begin a series on the Lord’s Prayer. “What we’re going to preach on that Sunday is Jesus told us how to pray this way, and God is the one to whom the power and the glory belong,” Gritter shared. “God is sovereign. Jesus is Lord. And no matter who sits in that office, the church has a job to do, and that is participating in the life of this, of this God, this good God.”
I can imagine that some pastors might think such an approach is madness. What if Donald Trump wins? Don’t we care about democracy? Gritter responded with a real hypothetical: “Suppose a woman enters your sanctuary the Sunday after the election visiting your congregation for the first time. She is knee-deep in grief over the loss of someone close in her life. What does she need to hear on that Sunday? What she doesn’t need to hear on that Sunday is politics. This woman is looking for something bigger than her pain,” Gritter says. But, if he preaches against a certain candidate he does this woman no favors. “So that person leaves, not only with no comfort or hope about the grief they’ve experienced but feeling shame for the fact that they voted for someone in a free election. In my mind, that’s irresponsible pastoral leadership.”
