Beloved in Christ;

I am always suspicious of anyone who says that they know why things happen or what things mean immediately after a major event takes place. We are now only a few days past our most recent national and state election, an election that surprised and concerned some of us here in Rhode Island and which reassured others of us in this state. That dichotomy has been the case for many national elections in our history, and I think it will be true for many yet to come. Don’t think there’s something wrong with feeling the way you, as an individual, feel. There will be plenty of analysis in the coming months and years and I hope it will help us to see in retrospect how local, national and international trends all contributed to the results and contextualize their meaning.

What I do know right now is this: we are all neighbors, and we have been neighbors for years. We know each other well; we have cared for each other, and we have depended on each other. We have protected our neighbors, and they have protected us. And though we may disagree with our neighbor about how best to achieve the promise of mutual flourishing, ultimately that is what we, as Christians, want for all. That hasn’t changed and I don’t believe that it will.

One of the great gifts of being Episcopalian is that we are the inheritors of the Anglican ethos of the Via Media, the Middle Way. Following that path, we gather together in worship with our neighbors, representing all sorts of views and ways of thinking. We all eat the same bread and drink from the same cup. And in Christ Jesus we are being made into one body. That won’t change either.

Elections always represent a time of change; it is the peaceful method we have chosen to navigate our community’s course. But some things are not changed: our mutual affection and our Christian hope.

I will pray for our returning President, just as I joined you all in prayer for him before and just as we have prayed for our current President. I will give thanks for all those who have offered themselves by standing for election this year and all who were willing to work for the common good by volunteering and/or voting.

May God bless us, all of us, and continue to lead us together further down the path and into God’s dream for all of us.

+Nicholas