I’m grateful for the U.S. midterm results. But I’m not dancing in the streets.

On Nov. 3, American voters delivered a broad rebuke of Donald Trump’s policies by delivering both the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Democrats.

But as an Episcopal (Anglican) bishop in America, my focus following the midterm elections is not so much about the results we now know, but on a way to be. I believe Christians are called to model love and unity without uniformity, even amid intense political division, moral atrocities and great human suffering.

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Notably, election day fell on the feast day of Richard Hooker (1554-1600), the priest and theologian who helped establish the theological foundations of Anglicanism. Commemorated as a saint in the Episcopal Church, Hooker lived during a period of intense religious conflict following the Protestant Reformation. Hooker articulated the need for the church to chart a via media, or “middle way” between the extremes of an autocratic Roman Catholic Church and one’s individual interpretation of the Bible. Hooker imagined and spoke of an authentic church that would embody truth by charting a path between extremes, not as a means of an uneasy compromise for the sake of a flimsy peace. He saw this as a path toward comprehension: an embrace of truth found across conflicting positions.

Episcopal Bishop Rob Hirschfeld calls on Christians to practise compassion and remain open to dialogue across political divides following the U.S. midterm elections. (Photo courtesy of Robert Hirschfeld)

Unless my church aspires to be either the Democratic or Republican Party-at-prayer, we have to get over the fantasy that either a uniformly conservative or liberal church membership will lead us to the heavenly kingdom. As our Book of Common Prayer says, “Jesus stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the Cross so that all might come within the reach of his saving embrace.” Obviously, such love is not easy or comfortable. It means we need to talk with the neighbour who counts last night’s Republican rout as a victory over their enemy. It means staying in communion with those whose grievances and fears led them to vote MAGA over the past decade and who remain angry.

It dismays me how some of my clergy colleagues have expressed contempt for members of their churches whose political stances differ from their own. As I recall, our vows as bishops committed us to care and keep our doors and hearts open to all, strong or weak, rich or poor…even racist and anti-racist. Jesus hung out with them all. I’ve been told that such a position is a pathetic weakening of the Gospel. And yet, when I go into my MAGA neighbour’s garage and ask him to pray with me, my knees are knocking. It requires every ounce of love and trust in God that God would give me. As baffled and disheartened as I may be, I come out knowing his name, and him knowing mine. Democratic senator-elect James Talarico’s expressed love for Republican opponent Ken Paxton in Texas is a witness to us all. When this national fever someday breaks—maybe sooner rather than later—we are all going to have to care for each other.

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I am grateful for the clarity of Tuesday’s rebuke of the war in Iran, of the contempt aimed at immigrants and brown persons, of the deliberate callousness toward the poor and the working class. I have been sickened by the way the Bible has been so distorted to virtually deny, if not omit, the Sermon on the Mount, or even accounts of the Crucifixion. The election of some mainline Christian pastors into Congress is hopeful.

At the same time, I am not dancing in the streets. I am very concerned that this wide rebuke of the failed policies of the present administration and its beholden Congress becomes a reason for more retribution and contempt, just from another side of the aisle. I pray that the Democrats don’t waste time trying to impeach Trump. Let the voters do that. We need well-reasoned, soundly deliberated economic, foreign and immigration policy. To paraphrase Psalm 123: “We have had more than enough of the contempt.” While I am thankful for the peacefulness and the clarity of Tuesday’s election, I also fervently pray that the recently elected, and the church, will practice the things we have always cherished but that have been sadly erased from our civil vocabulary: mercy, justice, prudence, patience, forbearance, compassion and love.

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Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld is the bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.