WHAT HAPPENED ON ELECTION DAY

Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck, reporting

Some people are still in a daze about what happened yesterday. Here it is in brief:

Barack Obama took just over 63 million votes for president over John McCain’s 56 million, or roughly 52% to 46%. However, in our Electoral College system, which requires a candidate to achieve 270 electoral college votes to win, that equates to Obama, 349 and McCain, 162, as the count stands now. A few states remain undetermined because the votes were so close. (To find out more about how the Electoral College system works, visit http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepoliticalsystem/a/electcollege.htm.)

Meanwhile, in the Congress, nine Republican senators lost their seats and five new Democrats were elected. That means that the Democrat majority is stronger than it used to be, but isn’t strong enough to ward off certain blocking techniques used by minority parties.

In the House of Representatives, the Republican membership went down from199 to 172, and the Democrat count, of course, went up from 236 to 252. Again, the Democrat majority was strengthened.

On the state level, several governors were elected, but only Missouri switched parties from Republican to Democrat. There were changes in majority in some state legislatures as well.

A lot of people have called me to ask what this means fro Faith and Action. I declared today a day of personal prayer and fasting to help answer that, but my quick response is, “nothing.” In other words, our mission remains consistent. We are not lobbyists; we are evangelists. We are called to proclaim God’s truth to everyone who serves in government here, regardless of political ideology or party affiliation.

And just as the people of God have learned over and over again throughout history, human power structures are bound to disappoint and become corrupt. It happens with every party and every political system, and it will keep happening. In fact, it will happen to any human institution, including churches and religious organizations.

This has been my prayer focus today, and it really helps to recalibrate the compass after such a disorienting campaign season:

Psalm 121, verse 2, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”