Putting Ritual Into Voting
by Jim Burklo
“Voting is a ceremony,” writes the philosopher, Paul Woodruff: “... it is an expression of reverence – not for our government or our laws, not for anything man-made, but for the very idea that ordinary people are more important than the juggernauts that seem to rule them.” The likelihood that any one person’s vote would decide an election is miniscule. People don’t vote because they think their ballot will decide the outcome. They do so because it is a ritual that is meaningful for them.
So let's put ritual back into voting, so that our hearts will move our hands to mark our ballots for the common good.
As you put your absentee ballot in the mail, or turn in your ballot at the polling place, salute it and say: "I salute all those Americans who risked their lives for my right to vote!"
Ask your friends and family members, or in a ritual in worship, asking parishioners: "With which hand will you be voting on November 8?" Take that hand and hold it with yours, and say: "May love (or God) guide your hand to vote for the common good!"
Here's a song for worship on November 6, celebrating our commitment to work, and vote, for the common good:
DEEPER LOVE: a hymn
Use freely, with attribution
(words: Jim Burklo, tune: O Waly Waly - The Water is Wide)
-- sung by Lucia Marco, Argentinian singer-songwriter based in LA. She's the soloist at Woodland Hills Community United Church of Christ.
For deeper love we share the bread
I won’t be full till all are fed
Till every soul has home and bed
The rest of us can’t move ahead
For deeper love we share the wine
I cannot taste the love divine
Till every soul has walked the line
And you’ve had yours like I’ve had mine
Now Mary sings her birthing song
Till every voice can sing along
And voices weak will rise up strong
Her choir is one where all belong
No one’s saved till all are healed
As Jesus on the Mount revealed
Your life and mine forever sealed
Just like the lilies of the field
We follow where the Christ has led
To table that for all is spread
And no one’s sitting at the head
But deeper love in wine and bread
JIM BURKLO
Website: JIMBURKLO.COM Weblog: MUSINGS Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See a video interview about my new novel, SOULJOURN
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California