By Kevin Coughlin
Many people anticipated the day after the tumultuous 2016 election would be consumed by recounts.
Instead, there will be prayers in Morristown.
The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer is holding a nondenominational service at 7 o’clock tonight, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2016. Modeled on a vigil for peace, the service will include Psalms, the Beatitudes and candle lightings, said Rector Cynthia Black.
“None of us anticipated this would be as profoundly difficult on the day after the election as it seems to be for so many people,” the minister said of Tuesday’s stunning victory by President-elect Donald Trump.
For six Tuesdays prior to the election, the church at 36 South St. opened its doors on for prayers “out of awareness that this is a really stressful time,” said Black, whose policy is to avoid partisanship in the pulpit.
On a personal level, however, as a gay woman, Black said Trump’s divisive campaign rhetoric has troubled her.
“I would like to believe that our country, in its 200-something year history, has enough checks and balances in it to withstand the most extreme things he will try to do over the next four years. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t fearful,” Black said.
‘TIME TO BIND THE WOUNDS’
In his victory speech, Trump said “it’s time to bind the wounds of division…To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
“It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me,” the billionaire said.
In her concession speech on Wednesday morning, Hillary Clinton acknowledged a deeply divided country and a “painful” defeat, but expressed hopes that Trump would be “a successful president for all Americans.”
“We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead,” Clinton said.
Americans “are all on the same team,” said President Obama, describing politics as an “intramural scrimmage.” He phoned Trump with congratulations and was encouraged by the winner’s tone, adding that he hoped that spirit will continue.
“Sometimes you lose an argument, sometimes you lose an election. But the path this country has taken has never been a straight line. We zig and zag,” said the President, promising a smooth transition.
Bishop Mark Beckwith of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark said he felt called to be “prophetic and pastoral” to people from all political camps, after a Trump campaign of “othering” that he said demeaned many groups.
“Over the past months during the presidential campaign, veiled threats have been made to African Americans, open threats to Muslims, sexist references to women, denial of civil rights to transgendered people, verbal eviction notices issued to Hispanics, gun access to almost anyone and on and on and on…. Jesus wouldn’t stand for it, and neither should we,” Beckwith said in a statement.
“It is said by some that the accusations and insinuations were just campaign hype, but the passion with which they were made – and the exhilaration with which they were often received, suggest otherwise.”
The Bishop also sympathized with those who flocked to Trump because they felt ignored and disenfranchised by the political system.
“In recent decades, a relatively new group of Americans have had the disorienting and disturbing experience of feeling pushed from the center of American life into the shadows. They have not been adequately heard, if they have been heard at all,” Beckwith said.
“The pastoral call is to listen. To listen – not with the intent of countering with an argument, but to hear the pain and confusion. Listening builds relationships. Listening is form of reconciliation.”
