Musing on the Day After the Election

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate. - Matthew 23:37-38 (NRSV)

Alright, I am such a mixed bag of emotions that it might be hard to be coherent but I’m going to try because I want to share with you what is happening with me in hopes that it will somehow speak to you this strange and unsettling day.

As I walked this morning in the dripping fog and dark I was consumed by the results of the presidential election. I found myself focusing on three basic responses:

1. Violence – I heard echoing in my mind the call from Les Misérables “Man the barricades” or something to that affect anyway. I was focused on revolution – rising up in arms against the tyrant who will be president. I wanted to plot an overthrow, find likeminded people who were willing to die in the effort to wipe this evil from the face of the earth. I wanted to find a way to mobilize the militia and call all caring, compassionate, loving people to arms. (I know that sounds wrong but we’re talking about how I felt.) I knew that the one and only way to ensure the future of our nation was to eliminate this spawn of the devil.
2. Give up – I almost sat down in the middle of the path and gave up everything. I wanted to just drop there and let myself fade away. I could see no hope for our nation or our world. I felt wrung out and wasted, without an ounce of energy left to try and continue to love, be compassionate, work for justice, etc. “Why bother?” I asked myself. Over my lifetime I have been sorely disappointed too many times in elections and this blow just took the wind out of whatever sails I had left. I just couldn’t see how anything I could do would make a difference. Our great nation, this grand experiment had failed and the end of the world must surely be coming. So, I wanted to give up and just stop, just cease to be. I would not be a part of what is to come so why even try to live through it.
3. Get busy – Kübler-Ross and others talk about the stages of grief and I know these three echo some of those stages. But as I showered and dressed and thought about how to put one foot in front of the other today I realized that this election, this man becoming president was a call to action. As a partner of God and Christ working to transform lives and the world into the place of justice, righteousness and peace that God dreams for it I have work to do. Many of the leaders of my denomination that I respect (I will be honest there are many I do not) are calling for vigilance in living faithfully the call of God and Christ to love and service, work for peace and justice and to be the change our world needs. There is a lot of fear and anxiety out there and it may be very well founded but my task is to live hope, love others, work for peace, advocate for justice and do all I can to raise up those being beaten down by the oppression of others.

Now I know I will vacillate between these options in the hours and days ahead. But I will work hard to stay focused on the third option – getting busy being the light and love of God and Christ for the world. I’m not sure yet what forms and actions this “getting busy” will take. But I am sure that they will include love and compassion and empathy and justice and peace.

I am afraid that we have started down the road that leads to what happened in Germany in the 1930s. I want to work hard to keep us from getting to the end of that possible path. A man, Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps wrote this famous statement which I will and I think we all need to keep in mind:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

So, as you run through the vast spectrum of emotions that are coming your way in this post-election grief most of us are experiencing keep true to yourself. Live as the true Christians you are: loving others, working for justice and peace, treating others with compassion, advocating for those without a voice, serving those who are without enough, witnessing to the way of God and Christ that is the way of life, of enoughism (look it up here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=enoughism) , and of love. Remember, together we are stronger than going it alone and that in the end love will win and God’s dream for creation will come to pass.

I end with a tweet from this morning from Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton):

“Let us have faith in each other. Let us not grow weary. Let us not lose heart. For there are more seasons to come and... more work to do.”

Dear God, give me comfort. Give me peace. Give me the determination to keep going, to keep loving, to keep working for you and your dream for me and all creation. Help me to be gentle with myself and others. Help me to put one foot in front of the other and continue down the path that Jesus calls me to. Be with those most directly impacted by this election and provide comfort and assurance to those who are fearful for themselves and those they love that you are with them and that others are with them too. Help me to breathe, help me to love, help me to not give into despair and help me live as your beloved child now and always. Amen.