40 Days of Prayer and Reflection Ends with Time of Post-Election Prayer, Processing – and Planning

With election results still undecided, nearly 100 members of the Gamaliel community gathered on November 4 to close out 40 Days of Reflection on Our Journey to the Polls – and to look toward the future.

The event was more than 40 days in the making. On April 15, the Gamaliel National Religious Leaders Caucus(GNRLC)  drafted a theological statement and call to action in response to the rise of hate crimes and white nationalism across the United States. But as the GNRLC Steering Committee and Gamaliel National Staff discussed their concerns about the upcoming election and the hatred displayed therein, they wanted to find a way to continue the work of their public statement.

40 Days of Reflection took shape out of these conversations. Rev. Dennis Jacbosen, of MICAH (Milwaukee), wrote a Common Prayer that named the power white supremacy and hatred hold over American democracy and asked for the strength to “vote our conscience and encourage others to do the same.” 40 religious leaders, representing a variety of religious traditions and geographic locations, offered reflections on and posed questions inspired by the Common Prayer which were published on the Gamaliel website, posted to social media and sent to those who subscribed to a daily e-newsletter.

The reflections struck a chord with the public. Over the course of the 40 days, subscriptions to daily emails from the GNRLC increased significantly, and many of those who saw and engaged with the posts over social media were not otherwise affiliated with a Gamaliel account. The posts and emails also created an uptick in traffic to the Gamaliel website.

The  GNRLC partnered with WISDOM (Wisconsin) to end the 40 Days with a time of prayer and processing over Zoom, which brought together a group of religious leaders and Gamaliel members representing a variety of faith traditions, affiliate organizations, and states. Led by GNRLC Co-Chair Rev. Marion Boyle Rohloff (Wisconsin), the audience was addressed by Executive Director of the Menikanaehkem Community Guy Reiter, Gamaliel Executive Director Ana Garcia-Ashley,  Gamaliel Board of Directors Chairman Rev. Dr. John Welch, and GNRLC Co-Chair Rev. Charles Coleman.  

Each speaker offered a unique perspective on the election’s aftermath and encouraged their audience to find what grounds them in their work for the coming days.

For Reiter, the post-election anxiety and tension reminded him of the day following the 2016 Presidential Election. On that day, his thoughts turned not to himself, but what the election meant for the Earth. Reiter urged listeners not to forget the Earth that we share in the coming days.

“Look up at that beautiful sky and put yourself in Creation,” Reiter said.

Gamaliel Network Executive Director Ana Garcia-Ashley spoke of a need for spiritual grounding in a time of upheaval that goes beyond the polls. Garcia-Ashley said the pandemic presented a challenge: how would Gamaliel carry on its work if its members couldn’t gather in person?

The prayers and reflections offered over the course of the 40 Days showed that Gamaliel’s strength is in its grounding in faith, Garcia-Ashley said. Drawing on the question posed by Rabbi David Cohen on September 25, “Where do you find the strength to be a decent person when those around you are making different choices?”, Garcia-Ashley said, “I believe we find it in prayer.”

Gamaliel Board of Directors Chairman Rev. Dr. John Welch closed the time of prayer with a call to revisit the 40 reflections and share them with people outside the Gamaliel community. He called the reflections and prayers “a great tool to help us  recenter ourselves” in the effort to return the United States to “a place of moral normalcy” and empathy.

But as with the theological reflection that led to 40 days of active prayer and outreach, the reflections offered in this meeting led to a time of prayer and discussion, and a call from Rev. Coleman for religious leaders to join the GNRLC and for all those listening “to be willing to

act in whatever way is needed for the sake of God’s justice.” Then, participants broke into groups with others from their state to plan for the work that still lies ahead. 

Note: The GNRLC is co-chaired by Rev. Marian Boyle-Rohloff (Wisconsin) and Rev. Dr. Charles Coleman (Michigan).