Regardless of the outcome you wanted, the outcome you expected, let love be our solace. Our comfort. Our response.
For those who are pleased with the outcome. May you advance the good work of love, grace, and kindness that burns in your heart. May you stand for truth even when it feels like you have nothing to explain. May you extend a hand of love as you are loved. Because you are so dearly loved.
For those who are hurting. You are allowed to hurt. To lament. To mourn. No one needs to tell you to snap out of it. You are aching and that is allowed. This is not what you were expecting and that is hard. In your lament, I pray the Father speaks to your heart as he is to so many. May he speak of grace and peace that surpasses all understanding.
For those in fear, I see you. I understand. As an East Indian American immigrant, I have felt the pangs of racism and sexism and its prompted fear. Deep fear. May we find our strength and life hidden in Christ as we stand up for equality, dignity, and the respect of all persons regardless of status, race, or religion. No person will protect and heal our wounds like the Good Father. I understand this is not a three step process that we can pass out on a tract with a Bible verse slapped on the bottom. This is walking in the fullness of Christ despite these troubled times. We are children of God. May we never be slaves to fear.
We do not have to agree with one another but may we respect one another. Unity, not conformity, is the goal. May we respect one another’s lives and flee from hate. Hate will ruin all of us. Not just those we oppose. Hate divides, isolates, and promotes fear of one another. Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. We must learn to hate, and if we can learn to hate, then we can be taught to love, because love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
With hate and fear growing at a rapid rate, I plead with you to consider love. Love listens. Love acknowledges pain. Love does not retaliate. Love does not demand its way. Love cares for others more than itself. Love does not rejoice in evil. As Dr. King said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” Let love be evident in your conversations about life with your family, friends and neighbors in your community, in your city, in your state, and in this nation.
Let us not get defensive, but loving. May we never place our hope in a government, a person, or a plan. Only Jesus. He is our Hope.
My dear friend Ashley, who works to advance justice in New York City, wrote this on her blog,
We need you to show up, and keep being you. You are a healer. You can be a peacemaker. You have a unique voice – use it to lift the heads and hearts of others. We have a lot of work to do. It’s time to rise, time to love like we’ve never loved, time to understand and see each other, time to get to work in our homes, communities, cities and nation. We are lovers of humanity, and though we may feel despair, we are carriers of hope.
The government can’t legislate the attitude or state of your heart. That’s your choice. Your attitude, you private and public response has the potential to be a haven and outpouring of good for all people. May it be so.