What Guides Your Vote?

Our scriptures in church this morning centered on the great commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. That command shows up first in Leviticus 19:18: "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." It was repeated by Jesus in three of the Gospel accounts (Matthew 22: 37-39; Mark 12: 29-31; Luke 10:27). James refered to the command as "the royal law," (James 2:8). Paul wrote "the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal 5:14).

I've always believed that love for my neighbor, as described by scripture, must shape my words, my actions, my work, my choices. I fall short, often, even daily, but that's the standard I refer to. 

Who is my neighbor? 

If you're a member of the Church of the Good Samaritan, as I am, you know how unmoved Jesus was by the smarmy attempt to find a narrow legal answer. Jesus is not amused. When asked "Who is my neighbor?" he contrasts the self-protective actions of priest and Levite with the courageous compassion of the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan, an outsider, risked his own safety, his own comfort, and his own finances, to care for a man injured by robbers and left on the road to die.

When Jesus asked the expert in the law "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” the obvious answer: “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus said "Go and do likewise." 

The Good Samaritan is the standard Jesus offers for living out the great commandment. 

I've been thinking about that as I pray about our current election. 

On social media this morning I saw a story I had missed. 

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was on his way to a construction site in Houston with crew members when ICE agents stopped him, then shot him in the stomach. He died within minutes. It took days for his family to retrieve his body from the morgue, months before the shooter was identified. 

There has been no trial, no discipline of the agent who shot him without warning. No further information from ICE or the Department of Justice. 

This week near the corner where the incident took place, Texas early-voters have been stopping at a painted plywood memorial to leave I Voted stickers. Some say they have never voted before. Some grieve their past votes and say every vote going forward will be in memory of this illegal death. Some kneel, pray, then add a message before attaching their I voted stickers.

Social media is full of videos, messages, prayers, and promises to pursue justice, for Lorenzo and for the others who have died in confrontations with ICE or in ICE detention centers. 

But his story is one of too many. Just a few days later, on July 13, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed on his way to work in Biddeford, Maine, the first of 3 who died in ICE incidents in just 24 hours.

The National Immigration Project,  Mourning Those Who Have Died in ICE Custody,laments that "as of October 19, 2026, at least 29 people have reportedly died in ICE custody this year."

As of October 12, according to the CBS News ICE Shooting Tracker, "federal immigration agents have killed nine and injured 13 others in at least 30 shootings during the second Trump administration."
Four of those killed were US citizens.

What guides your vote?

Stats say many will be voting on affordability issues, angry at rising gas prices, alarmed at soaring grocery prices. 

Some will be voting in protest of a an ill-considered war that has plunged our country deeper into debt and disrupted the global economy. 

Some will be voting in the wild hope that it's not too late to salvage environmental and regulatory protections we've taken for granted, or to keep national treasures from further harm. 

This week, Neil Bush, George W. Bush's brother, posted his reasons for his vote in a Facebook post that has caught national attention.

I've not blogged much in the past few years, in part because I've been busy with other things, in part because I don't want to be divisive. But I was struck this morning by another verse in that passage of Leviticus 19. Verse 17 says "Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt." 

I don't read Hebrew, and I'm not a theologian, but as I heard and read that verse today, I felt sharply the weight of guilt I share with my Christian neighbors. White Evangelical Christians were the largest voting block to put Donald Trump in power and are still the largest voting block to endorse his harmful policies. That means too many have ignored or excused his verbal attacks on women, immigrants, the poor. And too many still shrug or look away as our country breaks treaties, flaunts international laws and cozies up to tyrants and despots. 

As a Christian, I grieve the harm done to our Christian witness. People I know and love, people I've worshipped with, prayed with, read scripture with, brought us to this historical moment, when the warning signs were clear and the lack of love was obvious, even central, in previous elections. 

That reality has led others I know and love, friends, family, colleagues, to leave churches in disgust, appalled that loyalty to a party and person has so far outweighed love for our neighbors.

Do I share in that guilt? Did I not do speak frankly enough?

Did I look the other way to keep the peace and avoid divisive confrontations?

I wish I lived near Houston. I'd vote, then take my "I voted" sticker and put it on that plywood memorial. And kneel and pray  - for our nation, our leaders, the outcome of the election. 

Here, in Pennsylvania, I'll vote for those on my ballot willing to stand for the rule of law, hold lawless leaders accountable, and do all they can to protect the weak, the poor, the stranger. 

That's what it means to love my neighbor. 

Not sure who is on your ballot?

Check Vote411.org for a sample ballot, non-partisan voters' guide, links to candidates' campaign pages and information on drop box and poll locations.