Dear Beloveds,

It’s been a rough week since the presidential election. Many of us are dealing with broken hearts and are somewhere on the journey through the stages of grief. At this point, it’s hard to deny the outcome, but there’s still a lingering disbelief at family, friends, and neighbors who don’t see or don’t care that their political choices sow division, hatred, and violence. Angry over the result and at the rise of intolerance, scapegoating, bigotry, and ignorance that powered it, we must find healthy outlets for our indignation. Afraid for our safety, security, our human rights, our lives. Some of us are afraid for our safety and our lives or those of people we love.

The president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, sent a message to religious professionals last week, and I pass on part of her message to you - to be mindful that the results of last night’s elections land more catastrophically for some of us than others, and we are called to hold one another and keep one another safer than we would otherwise be in these times.

Some of us are resolute in defiance. Some of us are fragile. I invite you to treat each other with extra care in the coming weeks as we all continue to process the emotions of the election and begin making plans for what comes next, strategizing how to respond, and what each of us discerns is our call to action.

It’s disorienting, having put in so much effort, so much work, doing so much to create a better world and feeling that so many of our fellow citizens, our siblings, our friends, family, and neighbors were all along playing for the other team, working against us.

It’s tempting to give in to the worst of our anger, the most unmitigated of our emotions, the scorn and contempt of those who oppose us. But this is something we must avoid at all costs. We must not become the monster we seek to defeat. The greatest risk right now is falling prey to the age-old strategy of evil that tries to convince the noble and good-hearted the only way to survive is to fight back, to give way completely to anger and revenge, to close off our hearts, wall off our best selves, and lash out in hatred at the enemy. Do not do this. Though it may seem counterintuitive and even ridiculous in the light of the election results, don’t harden your heart, soften it. Don’t demonize the other. That’s evil’s playbook and hatred’s game plan and evil can’t defeat evil and hate can’t defeat hate, only love can do that. It’s possible to resist evil fiercely with a soft heart. It’s possible to stand strong against ill will and injustice without dehumanizing the opponent.

Each Sunday we light a chalice to begin our service. This symbolizes many things, among them the light of truth, the light of reason, the light of compassion, and the light of love. It may seem that the world got a little darker last week, but remember there is a light that the darkness cannot overcome. That light lives in you. Do not assist darkness in its effort to extinguish it.

In solidarity,

Rev. Tony