Preaching about voting

How can a church encourage people to vote while staying kosher with the IRS? I saw a great example of it Sunday. 

My church has a lot of young progressives and a young progressive pastor. So, it was a nice change of pace for us to hear testimony yesterday from a new member of our church who has worked for a United Methodist service organization for more than 20 years. The speaker, a lifelong Methodist and spouse of a retired UMC pastor, told us about her work with children and hit home her message:

Your vote matters.

If for no other reason, your vote, as an adult, matters to children in your house, in your family, in your community, and around the world, because children depend on adults for safety and survival. Children have no legal voice in our society, and it only makes sense that we take care of them.

The reason this approach resonated so well with me was that it avoided most of the cliched partisan jargon that I usually hear (and say myself, to be honest.) And since the speech wasn't partisan, it was perfectly legal (as far as I can tell, given IANAL.)

So, with four weeks left to election day, who can you get in the pulpit for Sunday? It matters.