By james art St. Joseph’s African Methodist Episcopal Church welcomes surrogates for the Harris-Waltz campaign on Sunday. Pastors and ministers said Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump offered two very different visions of the future.
On the final Sunday of North Carolina’s early voting period, Justice Hill, a young adult priest at the African Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Joseph’ in Durham, told the congregation the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who cried out for help as Jesus passed by him outside of Jericho.
The crowd that gathered around Jesus, Hill said, shouted at Bartimaeus to be silent, showing him such mockery because his blindness blinded them to his suffering. But Jesus, the biblical story says, called Bartimaeus.
Your faith, Jesus told him, has made you see again.
The moral here, Hill said, is to never let someone else silence you. Especially in the voting booth.
St. Joseph’s pastors and elected officials, who spoke as guests at this Sunday’s service, called for spiritual and civic action in the 2024 election, describing the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as a fork in the road with two very different paths forward — one full of light, the other darkness.
Like Bartimaeus, voters had to find their voice, Hill said.
“How can I be silent when I long to see in faith but am blinded by fear?” Hill said, his power and intensity growing with each sentence.
“How can I remain silent when racism and discrimination are normalized?
How can I remain silent when people seeking political office spew words of hate and offices that seek to destroy our hope for the future?”
How can I remain silent when women’s rights are threatened?
How to be silent when people don’t think [Harris] does he deserve to be president?
How can I be silent when God has given me something to say?”
“That’s the contrast.”
The service doubled as one of the church’s Souls to the Polls events this election season, also featuring three surrogates from the Harris-Waltz campaign, including NC Sen. Natalie Murdoch, who represents the district in which St. Joseph’s.
They identified Harris as the only candidate who reflected the principles and priorities of a church that has fought for social justice and civil rights since its founding 155 years ago.
“[The Kamala Harris] the campaign will involve everyone so that we move together as a state,” said Tennessee Rep. Karen Kemper, Democrat. “Find yourself in her policies, in her platform. You are there.
No one mentioned Donald Trump by name, but the differences between the candidates could not be clearer, speakers said.
“When we think about our future, can it be one we can be proud of? Can we speak confidently about our leaders and their reflection on who we are as individuals?” asked U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo of Rhode Island.
“That’s the contrast,” he said.
“It’s going to come down to our state”
Early voting runs through Saturday, November 2. But it was the last chance to vote on Sunday after church. Souls to the Polls is a loose but large coalition of Democratic groups and congregations that help voters get to the polls. The official St. Joseph event was last Sunday. This Sunday served as a reminder of the stakes.
Murdoch preached the urgency of voting in a close election, saying North Carolina could be the deciding factor.
“North Carolina, it’s going to come down to our state,” Murdoch said. “We can determine the outcome of this election right here.”
The close race meant North Carolinians had an obligation to get others to the polls, Amo said.
“We have some agency here. We have a sacred right, a sacred privilege to vote,” Amo said. “Urge those in your life to vote, and when I say urge them, I don’t mean just post on Facebook, I mean pick up your phone and call them,” he said.
“Call them because our lives depend on it. And that’s not hyperbole. This is the reality.”
Amo added: “It’s a serious time, but I’m hopeful.”
“We cannot be silent”
After the service, Hill told Cardinal & Pine that the connection between the story of Bartimaeus and the story of this election is as clear as it seems.
These are not stories about religion and history, he said. They are stories about the present, stories about the future.
“We cannot be silent,” he said.
“If you’re asking ‘how will this election help me’, think about your future, think about 10 years from now, think about your children’s generation, how do you want them to live? We cannot just focus on today, we must be focused on tomorrow and the years to come,” he said.
“Your vote matters, your votes matter,” he said.
“And God is good.”
