BBC Radio 4 2016-11-08

Good morning! It’s finally here—Election Day in the United States. I left the U.S. four months ago to move to London, and I was already weary of the election bombast back in July. As I talk with friends and family back home, everyone wants the same thing—for all of this to finally be over. Not just the relentless advertising, phone calls, mailers, and hyperactive news alerts, but the tension, the anxiety, and the divisiveness that have come to dominate every social interaction. Thank goodness the day is here at last and we will be able to move on! I suspect the rest of the world is eager for the same.

However, the depth of anxiety and division exposed in this election make me question how we move forward as a nation. As we know, the campaign’s rhetoric has led each candidate to paint the other as an illegitimate heir to the Oval Office, which means either winner tonight will be certain to face distrust and even rancor from a large section of the country. Ugly prejudices have erupted with a resurgent and threatening public presence. Given the United States’ global military and financial influence, these factors reach beyond the citizens of our nation to impact people around the world.

Where do we go from here?

I am reminded of a verse from the New Testament book of 2 Timothy. “Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable,” or, as some translations read, “in season or out of season.” As a person of faith, my response to the election is the same, no matter the result—to persist in the work of love, compassion, justice and peace. Each of us may find our version of what that looks like either in season or out of season come tomorrow morning, but that changes only the urgency of our task, not its nature. My faith still summons me to work toward reconciliation, to welcome the refugee and the outcast, to feed the hungry, to heal division, to love my enemies, to speak truth to power and to build peace with justice. As a pastor, my responsibility remains to proclaim hope and grace to all people, those who vote like me and those who don’t.

I pray, come tomorrow, that we find ourselves in a season more favourable toward unity. And I know that no matter the election’s outcome, this work will not be finished. To borrow a phrase from my new home in the U.K., I take hope knowing, with so much yet to be done, all people of goodwill will “keep calm and carry on.”