10/28/2026
🌅 Before the Sun Comes Up
Seven Mornings of Grace Before Election Day
Day One: Grace Comes First
📖 Ephesians 2:8–10
Good morning!
For the next seven mornings, as we approach Election Day, I want to invite you to begin each day with something a little different.
Not another political argument. Not another prediction about who will win or lose. Not another reminder of everything that divides us.
Instead, let’s begin each morning with a reminder of what holds us together.
Grace. Peace. Kindness. Acceptance. Hope. Love.
We live in a world where it sometimes seems we’re expected to choose sides before we’ve even had our morning coffee. We’re encouraged to decide who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s with us, and who’s against us.
But our faith invites us to begin somewhere else.
Before the arguments begin, before the headlines arrive, before the world tells us what to fear—there is grace.
As United Methodists, we believe in something called prevenient grace. Simply put, God’s grace is already at work in our lives before we even recognize it.
Before we get everything right. Before we have all the answers. Before we agree on anything.
God loves us.
And here’s the part we sometimes struggle to remember: God also loves the person who disagrees with us.
That doesn’t mean our differences aren’t important. It doesn’t mean every opinion is right or that our choices don’t have consequences.
It means that no disagreement can erase the image of God in another person.
So today, as we begin this little journey toward Election Day, I offer one simple invitation:
Let grace have the first word.
Before responding to something that makes you angry, pause. Before judging someone by their politics, remember their humanity. Before speaking, ask whether your words reflect the love you’ve received.
Because grace isn’t just something we believe in.
It’s something we’re called to live.
🙏 A Morning Prayer
Gracious God, before the noise of this day begins, quiet our hearts. Remind us that your love is greater than our differences and your grace reaches farther than our understanding. Help us see others as you see them, speak with kindness, and live as people shaped by your love. Amen.
May your day begin with grace, and may that grace find its way to someone else.
Grace comes first.
— Pastor Brant Graham
Winterfield United Methodist Church
Longview, Texas
