I just came from a prayer meeting of interfaith clergy: rabbis, imams, pastors, black, white, Asian, queer, hetero. Beautiful, thoughtful, engaged people of faith. This group offers one of the things I love best about our country: diversity of experience and background. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one! One of the rabbis grew up in Chile under the dictatorship of General Pinochet, who came to power by killing his predecessor in the presidential palace. Her mother died in an anti-Semitic bombing in Buenos Aires. An imam recalled when he was five years old and his family fled Somalia, walking two months through the jungle to find refuge in Kenya. One pastor just came back from a get-out-the-vote campaign in Ohio and is currently offering refuge to Brazilian and Haitian immigrants in their church basement, while the families await long-term homes.
These are colleagues of integrity who have walked the walk and walk it still.
All of us are dismayed by what happened with Tuesday’s election. None of us wanted this outcome. All of us are bracing ourselves for what comes next. None of us feel like it represents our values. Some of us feel betrayed by the American electorate. Most of us are exhausted by all the divisive noise, as are our congregations, and exhausted by the wariness we constantly feel as minority constituencies. Some of us are catching our breath. Some of us are ready to start strategizing.
My guess is that we feel similarly in our parish.
I don’t yet know fully what I’m going to say to you on Sunday. I don’t know what scripture I’m going to use to ground us. What I do know is that I will be less likely to mince words about our national politics. I will call us back to the core values of our faith. I will try to conjure up some ideas about how to take the next steps. I welcome your prayers that worship offers what we all need.
And I know that, as always, we will base our worship in prayer, song, community and love — with Christ’s example at the center and the wide world awaiting us outside our doors.
In faith,
Kent
