The Rev Dr. Rick SchlosserSep 25, 2026 · The Rev Dr Rick Schlosser, Executive Director
Across every great spiritual tradition, one truth rings out again and again: to love the divine is to care for creation and for every living being within it. Whether we pray in a church, a mosque, a synagogue, a temple, a forest clearing, or the quiet of our own hearts, we are called to the same sacred work of tending one another and the world we share. Authentic connection with the holy has never been a private affair. It shows up in how we treat our neighbors, how we steward the earth, and how we use the power placed in our hands.
This season, one of the most important powers we hold is our vote.
The Old Wiring and the New Calling
Deep within our brains lies ancient survival wiring, centered in the amygdala, that once helped our ancestors stay alive. It taught them to be wary of the stranger, to guard the tribe, and to shut out anyone who seemed different. In a world of small bands competing for scarce resources, that instinct made a kind of sense.
But we no longer live in that world. Today, the belief that we must exclude others to protect ourselves is not only unhelpful, it actively works against the very thing we are called to build: a culture where all are included, all are fed, and all are healthy, happy, and cared for.
Of course, caring for ourselves matters. Our health, our happiness, and our well-being are sacred too. Yet living in community asks us to hold our own needs in balance with the needs of others. When we stay stuck in fear-based thinking, that balance collapses. Fear breeds greed. Greed breeds hoarding. And hoarding requires a story to justify it: that we are somehow better, more deserving, more worthy than the people we leave behind. That story lets us rationalize treating others in ways we would never accept for ourselves.
What the Wisdom Traditions Teach
The world’s spiritual traditions exist, in part, to lead us beyond that fearful story. They invite us to see what is actually true: that every person is a deserving, beloved child of God, of creation, of the great mystery that holds us all.
They teach that recognizing the divine in each person is not a weakness or a luxury. It is a spiritual necessity and a profound source of strength. And they teach something our fear works hard to hide from us: there is enough. There is enough for everyone to have what they need to thrive, if those with privilege and power will loosen their grip on the world’s resources and choose to share rather than hoard.
This is why acting only out of narrow self-interest puts us at odds with the heart of what Jesus taught, and with the wisdom of so many other spiritual teachers throughout history. The way of the spirit is the way of the open hand, not the clenched fist.
Our Faith Belongs in the Voting Booth
If this is true in our daily lives, it is true at the ballot box as well.
For too long, voting purely in our own narrow interest has helped lead us into a world marked by conflict, strife, suffering, and a manufactured sense of scarcity. Many political ads and campaigns know exactly which buttons to push. They speak directly to that ancient, fearful part of us, stirring up anxiety and greed so that we will vote against measures that respect, honor, and lift up all people.
An authentic spirituality calls us in exactly the opposite direction. It calls us to vote and work for the well-being of all. It calls us to vote for the common good.
That may cost us something. It may ask a little more of our effort, our money, or our convenience. It may mean supporting a measure that benefits a neighbor more than it benefits us. But isn’t that precisely what love looks like? If we want to be faithful, loving citizens of the world, and true to whatever spiritual path we walk, it is time to open our hearts, our minds, and our lives to the common good in every way we can.
The Way of Love
The way of love does not judge or discriminate, not even against those with whom we disagree. It does not demonize or dehumanize. And yet the way of love is not passive. It empowers us to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, against hatred, discrimination, and fascism in whatever forms they appear.
The way of love leads us into generous, all-encompassing stewardship of everything we have and everything we are, including our voice and our vote.
A Call to Action
So here is the invitation.
Before you cast your ballot, pause. Take a breath. Notice where fear is speaking, and ask what love would choose instead. Ask not only “What is best for me?” but “What is best for us, all of us?” Think of the child who needs food, the elder who needs care, the family seeking safety, the earth that sustains us all.
Then vote like your faith depends on it, because in a very real way, it does.
And don’t go alone. Bring a friend. Call a neighbor. Offer a ride. Have the brave, kind conversation. Remind the people you love that their vote is a prayer made visible, a way of saying with their whole lives that every person matters.
We were not made for scarcity and fear. We were made for community, for compassion, for a table with room for everyone. Let us build that world together, one open heart and one ballot at a time.
Vote for the common good. Vote with love. And let the world see what faith looks like in action.
===================== We Need Your Help! =====================
The California Council of Churches has been at the forefront of many, many social justice and civil rights movements for over 112 years. Like many justice-oriented nonprofits, we have lost most of our financial support since COVID and are working on ways to re-engage in the important work we have done so well for so long. We are currently seeking funding to create an online resource center to help congregations find the best resources to support the social justice ministries they feel their local communities need most from our member denominations, congregations, and partners. If you can help us, please contribute by using the donate button on our website, by PayPal here, or by sending your check to PO Box 980981, West Sacramento CA 95798-0981. If you can help us raise the funding we need from your congregation, judicatory, denomination, or other sources, please contact rick@calchurches.org. Thank you!
If you support our work to be a prophetic witness to the Gospel by educating faith communities to pursue justice, equity and fairness in the treatment of all people, in particular those most vulnerable in our society, please support us with your generous donation here on Givebutter or here on PayPal).