On a day when many are praying — some for a Harris victory, some for Trump — Rev. Wendy Abrahamson is praying for something else. She’s praying for comfort.
Each Sunday, Abrahamson leads her congregation at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in worship. For the past month, that worship has looked a bit different.
“I’ve been aware of the heightened anxiety that people have had,” Abrahamson said. “I’ve been really focusing on offering sermons that will give comfort.”
The anxiety among the congregation led Abrahamson to open her sanctuary doors on Election Day, inviting members of the Grinnell community to join her in prayer. A slow trickle of people passed in and out of the open doors, seeking a brief refuge from the chaos of the election.
At noon, Abrahamson led a handful of people in prayer, asking God to “guide the people of the United States, Iowa and our own community of Grinnell in the election of officials and representatives” and ensure “the rights of all may be protected.” Apart from the brief spoken prayer, people sat in silence.
“It’s a noisy environment now,” Abrahamson said of the current political and news atmosphere. “Silence has been meaningful for people in this time.”
Between 2013, when she arrived in Grinnell, and today, Abrahamson said she has seen divisions grow. She said members of her congregation have told her they no longer speak to family members because of disagreement over politics or values.
“The divisions in this country are profound, and those divisions exist quite apart from a presidential election,” she said. “I believe in the long term, things will turn out well, but that doesn’t remove us from immediate stresses and fears.”
As long as the stress and fear exists, Abrahamson is prepared to help people navigate it. In recent weeks, she has taught breathing exercises, chants and prayers as strategies for finding comfort. Abrahamson said she teaches these methods when someone is going through a hard time or preparing for a surgery, for example, and she thought they would help with election anxiety, too.
But Abrahamson is also thinking beyond short term solutions. She said there is real healing that needs to be done. “I think there’s a remarkable lack of trust now in people,” she said. “I believe it will get repaired.”
As a registered lobbyist for the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, Abrahamson finds herself doing more than just believing — she is actively working to restore trust, or at least prevent further distrust. Just this past January, Abrahamson spoke against a bill to reinstate the death penalty in Iowa. This coming Legislative session, she and nine colleagues have received permission to host a weekly Holy Communion in the Capitol.
“I hope that many faith communities are actively working to be a place of connection and peace,” Abrahamson said. “I know that plenty of them aren’t. I’m sorry to say Christian nationalism, for example — as a Christian, I’m horrified, and I don’t see it following the same message as the Christianity I understand.”
Amidst the fear and uncertainty of the election, Abrahamson thinks community, religious or otherwise, is the answer. And as stressful as the coming days may be, Abrahamson said she reminds herself to breathe deeply and trust that everything will be okay.
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well,” Abrahamson said, reciting the writings of Julian of Norwich. “We’ll have something happen here, and then who knows what will happen in the years after that. But if you think of any disruptions you’ve had personally, sometimes those just need time to heal.”
