“An Ideal and an Imperative” by Rev. Erika Marksbury

Rev. Erika Marksbury

A small round table stands in the center of the sanctuary where I worship. Dressed in colorful fabric and adorned with photos of members of our sister community in El Salvador, offering itself as a resting place for plates of bread and cups of wine, the table serves as a sign for us that hope wins out over fear, that life has the last say, not death. After having gathered as a congregation around the table, together we recite a liturgy: Goodness is stronger than evil. Peace is stronger than war. Love is stronger than hate.

I am careful, each week, to sound out each word, to really feel it on my tongue as I speak it. Some weeks I say it assuredly; others, I hear a note of defiance in my own voice. But regardless of what situation in my community or world I speak those words to on any particular Sunday, with each translation of them into sound, I believe them more and more. I believe them with a kind of urgency. I hope you won’t think me too dramatic if I say I think all of our futures depend on believing those words. I don’t speak the words liturgically because they’re pretty, or because they’re powerful. I speak them because I don’t really believe there’s another way to be in the world. To me, the words are hope, they are promise; they give voice to my conviction that a better world is possible, and it is up to us, together, to create it for all of the planet’s life.

And it’s that desperate conviction that ensures Barack Obama my vote in November. He speaks of the work “we” will do together, as Americans, to restore our nation. He speaks of us all participating in a larger story, of our fates being wrapped tightly together, of the dangers of holding simplistic worldviews. He dares to make Hope a central theme of his campaign, carefully articulating that to envision a future of clean energy, quality education, a sound eceonomy, and healthy foreign relationships is not just to dream of an ideal, it is to offer an imperative. He has not promised to deliver us from our current woes single-handedly. He has, instead, challenged us to participate in an unofficial movement to make our ideal America – the one where all people are fed, clothed, sheltered, heard, and respected – a reality. I hear this invitation and I hear echoes of that table liturgy: Goodness. Stronger. Peace. Stronger. Love. Stronger.

And I’m in. You?

Rev. Erika Marksbury
Ottawa, KS