By Rev. Mark Seifried

On the day after the election,  after waking up to see that there was a blue tsunami that washed over the nation as a result of the midterm elections, I saw that Bette Midler shared on her Twitter feed as she was waiting Tuesday for results to be announced: “Today feels like the whole country is waiting for an STD result.”

It felt good to laugh … and then to cry tears of joy. It’s so good to know that that the people have spoken through their votes. Across the nation, people of goodwill expressed a desire to have an economy that works for all; that the tech billionaires are going to have to work cooperatively with the communities in which they site data centers and have a plan to regulate AI; that Christian Nationalism will not dictate the social order of our nation; that women, people of color and queer people are worthy of trust and leadership positions, and that we must protect our fragile and badly damaged democracy.

Sadly, there was very little discussion in most races about reversing the trends that are exacerbating climate change or protection of the environment. There were measures across the nation that expanded transphobic policies. And there are places in the nation where other forms of hateful rhetoric were rewarded as politicians spewing it were elected.

I mention these latter things not to diminish the feelings of ecstasy many of us are feeling, but rather to temper our exuberance with a reality check. We remain a divided nation. We have a lot of work to do before January when the newly elected officials will be installed. And there is so much more work to do before the next Presidential election and beyond.

It seems appropriate that in our Bible lesson for Sunday after the election, Jesus implores us to remain spiritually alert. To me this is a warning not to think all the challenges have diminished. We can be sure that the powers and principalities will change tactics. And we must remain spiritually awake to the ongoing call of God to be healers, lovers, and peacemakers to counter those tactics.

Let us take a few days to celebrate. And then, let us recommit to work toward a just and peaceful world for all.