After the Election: Grief and Grace

Beyond self-care.

Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.

Psalm 146:3–4

In the wake of the election outcome, I’ve seen a lot of notes from more mainline/progressive churches offering space for people to grieve the results.

Being that I live in a political “blue” area, it isn’t surprising to see this. But on a deeper level, it does bother me because in offering comfort and care to people who are dealing with the fact that their candidate lost, I know that if Kamala Harris won the presidency, these same churches would not be offering space to Trump supporters to grieve their loss.

That says something. It tells me that those churches support one candidate and ideology over another. It shows they are tipping their hand.

Now, I say this as someone who voted, albeit reluctantly, for Harris. I didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm for her or the Democrats, but I couldn’t in good conscience vote for Donald Trump for all the reasons most Democrats and non-Trump Republicans did. I don’t think he is fit for the presidency. I think he could harm (but not kill) American democracy. But Harris lost. While I am sad about that, I am not bereft…