Election Time

It is election time.  No, I do not mean our secular election activities here in the States.  It is election time for the Coptic Church (often with the redundant modifier "of Egypt", as Coptic means Egyptian).  On Sunday the Church will elect its new Pope. Yes, there is a Pope not in Rome.  He will be the successor to such giants as Mark the Evangelist and Athanasius in the Apostolic See of Alexandria.  It will be quite an event for this minority population that has often been persecuted by the majority, and has especially suffered in the last several years.

The election process itself is of interest to me.  Last week over 2200 people (laity & religious), voted on a list of candidates for the position. The top three vote getters, all celibate monks as required by canon law, moved to the next phase of election.  On Sunday, November 4, the three names will be placed in a box on the altar of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria.  Following the liturgy, a blindfolded child will be led to the box and will select one name from within it.  That name will be read, and the individual acclaimed as Pope (Patriarch of Alexandria).  To dispel any thoughts that the election is rigged, the other names in the box will then be drawn and read.  This doesn’t sound like too bad a way to choose a leader to me, democratic with a Divine finish.

Please pray for the Coptic Church and its election, especially as the Pope has a significant task ahead of him in shepherding his flock through the complexity that is modern Egypt.

Now, as to our own elections, maybe the Copts are on to something?

Seriously, though, here are my musings for the month of November.

November 2012

“Memento mori (remember your mortality),” a servant would voice this phrase over a Roman general as he made his triumphal entry into the Eternal City.  It is a stark reminder of the impermanence of purely human endeavor and achievement.

As November opens, we will participate in a celebration of civic values by electing our national leaders.  On election day, I urge you to follow your conscience as you exercise your right to vote.  Vote for the person you think is the best candidate.  Vote with humility, recognizing that good Christian people who struggle with the call of the Gospel can, and will, disagree on the political solutions to our nation’s problems.   Vote remembering that sin compromises human political systems, solutions, and endeavors. Vote remembering that each of the candidates is mortal.  Vote remembering that we are not electing a savior from any party. 

It is not coincidental that the month of November ends with the Feast of Christ the King.  As we elect our national leaders, the Church reminds us that we serve a Risen King.   Remember that we have a Savior who was sent for us.  Remember that our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God.  “Christ is Lord”, is the radical political and social claim that we make each time we celebrate the Eucharist.  It is the confession that recognizes the true triumphal entry of the One who through his Crucifixion and Resurrection can claim Lordship over all creation.  It is a confession that recognizes the victory of our God, and prays for the final transformation of all to Christ’s rule.

Remember that those who have put on Christ, who confess that he is Lord, “shall not die for ever”, and that his Kingdom endures unto the ages of ages.