(RNS) — As they mount their pulpits this weekend (Nov. 8-10), clergy of several faiths said that they expect emotions to be swirling still from President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Often facing a constellation of feelings in the pews, many are working on strategies if not for healing, then at least not ignoring the subject.
“The big ‘do’ is talk about it: Find some way to talk about it,” said the Rev. Leah Schade, president of the Academy of Homiletics, a 200-member organization of teachers and graduate students of preaching. “The big ‘don’t’ is don’t just pretend like it didn’t happen.”
Schade, who also teaches at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky, said she has been recommending the same do’s and don’ts for sermons during “very fraught, very fractious” election seasons since 2016.
Preachers are turning to webinars, directories of appropriate liturgies and moral support from each other as they determine how to address their congregants. Schade said focusing on the message that “all people are created in God’s image,” no matter who they vote for, will do, as will recalling the need to keep everyone safe or being careful with our words. But it is important for clergy to speak up.
“If we don’t s …