At the Ministers Professional Days I attended this last week, our conversations and our worship were filled with exclamations of exhaustion and the wish for words of hope and reassurance for us to offer to the folks in our congregations. To be honest, most of us wanted those words for ourselves, for our broken hearts and despairing souls. There were a few glimmers that came through. Again and again, we reminded ourselves that we could lean back into the hands of those who had come before, and lean into the web of connection that we share with each other. We all know people who are out there doing the work that is needed. We carried away little cards that to help us remember who they are and to remind us that they’re with us.

It’s all of us working together who can create what comes next.

The poet Marge Piercy at the end of her poem “The Low Road” suggests that change and possibility begins to emerge as people gather together in a common cause.  She writes:

It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again after they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know who you mean, and each
day you mean one more.

As Election Day approaches, I trust that you’ve all filled out your ballots or have your plans to do so. You’ve dropped or mailed your ballots, and maybe (like me) have even ensured that they arrived safely and are ready to be tabulated. It’s an act of patriotism, an act of hope and faith, an act of promise and possibility, an act that can make all the difference  It takes all of us to make it happen.

So in these last few days, be sure to vote. Be sure to breathe  Be sure to lean into that network of good of which you are a part. Help others vote. Do everything you can.

It goes one by one, my friends.

 

(A little inspiring music to urge you along. Fight the power, y’all.)