Wesley's instruction to vote "without fee or reward" directly rejects taking payment for a vote. This week develops a further question prompted by his call to choose the person judged most worthy: Whose welfare enters our judgment? Philippians asks Christians to attend to others' interests, while Jeremiah suggests that our own welfare is bound up with the welfare of the wider community. The sermon can ask whether we have lost some habit of thinking about the common good, and what setting aside an advantage for a neighbor might look like. It should also acknowledge that faithful people can disagree about which policies will help and that appeals to sacrifice require particular care when some neighbors are already carrying far more than their share.
