Laughter and prayer together may be the most fitting response to the presidential election. Both are characteristic of the prophetic vocation.
Humor is a sharp sword against the pretense and absurdity of so-called political leaders who would have us take their behavior seriously. Laughing at rulers calls their game, and reveals the sham, hoax, hype, and irrelevance of it all. When someone in the crowd begins to grin and chuckle, we see that the emperor has no clothes. Not to join in the laughter is to preserve the illusion. One can only hope that the election campaign might be as entertaining as the World Series. So far the prospects aren't good.
Laughter unmasks and undermines illegitimate authority. The myths exposed, we can move to a deeper response. Laughter isn't enough, but it is the right beginning.
The stakes for human life are high at a time when the level of political discourse has descended so low. The banality of what now passes for politics has become accepted and even expected.
The truth is that in America politics is dead. The style of political discernment which now directs the nation has been emptied of vitality and meaning, especially at the presidential level.
In such a situation, we are best called to prayer. Unable to vote for peace and justice, we can intercede for the nation. We should remember that prayer is scripturally understood as a potent weapon against the demonic in our political principalities.
By radically asserting the authority of God, prayer debunks the political idolatries which strive to assert themselves more boldly than ever in their quadrennial secular ritual. The prayers of confession and repentance have supreme political relevance as a holy affront to the blind self-righteousness of the contending parties, platforms, and candidates. In the face of national politics become so debased, we pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
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