Life's paradox and promise:
continuity across time,
minute modifications day by day,
as living things reinvent themselves
in a flow
that shifts caterpillars into butterflies
tadpoles into leaping frogs...

​... and monarchies into democracies.

We come together to reinvent ourselves
​through debate, deliberation
a welter of personalities and issues,
of interests and values.

The promise of elections is precious yet fragile:
The capactiy to shape our future
to redefine ourselves and expand our capactiy
as a people,
​this is the miracle of the vote.

But only if we show up.
Only if we rise on the shoulders
of the suffragettes who marched for this right,
of African Americans who were beaten and burned,
of immigrants who lined up for hours to leave their mark.

We owe it to those who came before us,
and to our children's children.

Casting a vote is a sacred deed:
an expression of faith in tomorrow,
in our neighbors' humanity,
​God's image in us all.