What they said was the most important election of our lifetime really was. While the anti-incumbent factor was huge, we’re not going to figure it all out right away. If we’re people of faith, we’re going to begin by doing what we always do. We’re going to pray for our enemies, for those in any kind of grief or trouble, for our country and the world, and for ourselves.
Our prayers for our enemies of course recall Jesus Christ’s commandment to love them. By enemies, I mean those we may feel tempted to cut off as a result of the election. For some, this will be a daily struggle. More than half the country made a choice that most of the other half cannot stomach. In the dawn’s early light, many could not recognize their country. Some reading this will say they have no more love to squander in the public square.
Yet if it had gone the other way, millions would’ve felt the same. They are members of our families and our churches. We work and go to school with them. They are our friends and neighbors. Each encloses a universe of hopes, dreams, fears, and grievances. When I got up this morning, praying for those who disagreed was not the first thing on my mind. But Jesus didn’t say it would be easy. Jesus assured us that it would be hard. Jesus didn’t give us an option. Jesus gave us a commandment and his example. “Take up your cross,” he said, “and follow me,” including in the direction of a better understanding of those who believe differently.
Our prayers for those in trouble help us turn to the work ahead. Immigrant workers and people seeking asylum. Members of the queer community. People who fear losing their health care and reproductive choices. People of color already traumatized by being scapegoats for society’s problems. Journalists and government and political leaders threatened with political retribution and violence.
We already know what kind of government we’re going to get, because we’ve had it. We know what they say they will do. We can hope it will not be as bad as they promise, that wiser, decent voices will be raised. Such hopes feel puny this morning. Should power turn unjustly against any of our siblings, by God’s grace may we receive the strength to stand at their side, no matter what.
In our country, we pray that the Constitution, severely tested by lawlessness four years ago, will be resilient and that all in power will take to heart their promise to uphold it. We pray that checks will check, balance will balance, and free and fair elections will come at their appointed times. In the world, we pray for those who have depended on the United States to keep its promises and represent our best principles, including those most at risk from oppression, aggression, and climate change.
And for ourselves, perhaps we will pray this:
Almighty God, you sent Jesus not when things were going well but to light your people through impossibly difficult times. You gave me the gifts of being and of your constant love and ask only that I do my best to offer the same to others. You also gave me my own precious and unique gifts, my passion, and my sense of purpose. My faith is my fuel for being ablaze in the shadowed wilderness, a light for others to follow. You knew that sometimes I’d feel hopeless and powerless, and that when I did, I would not be able to serve you and your people as well. Holy one, help me through these days. Show me the way forward that I might do the same for those I love, who, by your hardest commandment, I understand to be everyone. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.