The Day After the Election

a few thoughts to share to hold space with those who are hurting... 

💙💗 "Blessed are the communities that surround us when we fall apart.

Knowing we can’t do this alone, and trusting that even if we don’t have the answers or the right words to say or know exactly what to do, we will continue to show up. Again and again and again. Because that’s what love demands:  to let our hearts break, together." - Kate Bowler 

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Article from the National Catholic Reporter

Hope in a Time of Darkness

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Article I shared in my classroom management class yesterday: 

Post-Election Advice for the Classroom From a Teacher (Opinion)

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"Body weary.

Mind numb.

Heart troubled.

Soul disquieted.

And yet...

Still, always beloved of God.

So, I will do justice (even more passionately), love mercy (even more faithfully), and walk humbly (even more authentically). I will also pray for those who cannot pray, hope for the those who can't hope, and believe for those who cannot believe.

Weary, numb, troubled, disquieted ... shaped by Love."

-Amy Figg (Knoxville pastor at St. John's Lutheran)

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Words by Jan Richardson:

"So may we know

the hope

that is not just

for someday

but for this day—

here, now,

in this moment

that opens to us:

hope not made

of wishes

but of substance,

hope made of sinew

and muscle

and bone,

hope that has breath

and a beating heart,

hope that will not

keep quiet

and be polite,

hope that knows

how to holler

when it is called for,

hope that knows

how to sing

when there seems

little cause,

hope that raises us

from the dead—

not someday

but this day,

every day,

again and

again and

again."

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from Winn Collier: "Jesus says some wild, wild things. The challenge for those who win is how they can also seek the good of those who lose, those who've been cast as enemies. I used to think the "enemy" language was hyperbole we use in our national experiment, but I don't think that any more. So:

'But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you...Do to others as you would have them do to you...But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."'

"Champion the Enemy’s Need"

Ask about your enemy's wounds and scars.

Seek his hidden cause of trouble.

Feed your enemy's children.

Learn their word for home.

Repair their well.

Learn their sorrow's history.

Trace their lineage of the good.

Ask them for a song.

Make tea. Break bread.

- Kim Stafford

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Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on.

-from Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese”

💙💗 from Scott the Painter:

💙💗These are grounding words from the wonderful Becca Stevens (founder of Thistle Farms and priest at St. Augustine's in Nashville)

Credit: Marty Carmichael An Election Message November 4, 2024 After the election, I will get up and go to work. I will work to help women who are incarcerated, on the streets, trafficked, addicted, and searching for hope. I have done this work under the leadership of Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden. No matter who wins, this work will continue November 6th. I will still work with people who desire to build a global movement for women's freedom. I will work with anyone I can to build communities honoring​ the heroic work of survivors and lifting the worth of artisan producers in the market chain. I will continue to preach that love without judgment is the most radical force for change in the world. No matter what, I will still. I will still believe in the justice communities that I work with and the hundreds of thousands of people who have helped build them. I celebrate all of you who will still let justice be your way of life amidst the changes in this world.  PEACE AND LOVE,