Dear St. Stephen’s Family---
In the wake of last night’s election results, I have already heard from several people who are devastated and numb with shock. Some of us feel helpless today. Some of us simply feel numb.
Once these initial emotions start to fade, please remember that now is not the time for hand wringing. It is a time to do what we always do when difficulties befall us: we square our shoulders. We recommit ourselves to doing what we feel is right. And we move forward.
Having said that, it is important to remember (this being a paraphrase of something I found this morning on social media):
We are awakening to the same country we fell asleep to. The very same country.
Let us pull ourselves together.
How do we get through the next four years?
Continue to do the good work.
Continue to build bridges not walls.
Continue to lead with compassion.
Continue the demanding work of liberation for all.
Continue to dismantle the broken systems, large and small.
Continue to set the best example for the children and others.
Continue to be a vessel of nourishing joy.
Continue to support your gay and lesbian sisters and brothers.
Continue to hold up your transgender companions.
Continue to support educators.
Continue, right where you are.
Continue to stand up and speak out.
Right where you live into your days.
Do so in the name of our God who expects nothing less form each of us. And if we are "continuing" ALL of the above, in community, partnership, collaboration?
What is it we have been doing?
What is it we are waiting for?
Please also be assured: St. Stephen’s will remain a place of inclusion and safety. It will be a place in which the love of God and of one another is upheld.
We must continue to strive to uphold this radical inclusiveness. We must strive to be living, breathing presences of God’s love and acceptance of all. We must strive to be the hands, feet, face and heart of Christ in a world that truly needs Christ’s all-accepting love.
Please pray for our nation.
Please pray for our leadership.
Please pray for our future.
And let us not let our fears and anxieties defeat us.
O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
--peace,
Jamie+
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