I spent Friday night of this long week singing, and the hope I gained from that music is worth sharing.
I am a member of the Gospel Choir here at St. Olaf College. It is a student-lead, non-audition group that comes together every week to sing songs of praise and share God’s love.
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Our concert this week, entitled Freedom, happened to fall on the Friday after the presidential election. And it couldn’t happen at a better time. People on my campus are scared. They are fearful and uncertain about their way of life, their beliefs, the future of their country. I witnessed the palpable shock and fear myself the morning after the results of the election were clear. The population of my campus includes many members of LGBTQ, racial minorities, international students, and victims of both sexual assault and mental illness. The fear and panic is very real for them.
I myself have felt fearful, uncertain, and disheartened throughout this week. But when I thought of the Gospel Choir concert coming up on Friday, I felt that the music would have the power to comfort those in fear and to give new strength to the bonds of our community, despite the political climate and the divisions it has created.
When we at last got up on stage and began our first song, entitled “Freedom", I felt a sense of hope and resolve coursing through me. The director of our choir is always saying that he believes music can leave you changed. Our music once gave a young man the strength he needed to stand up to adversity in his life. That is a beautiful and hopeful thing we can harness in this time.
Another song in our program entreated: “All good people won’t you come around…hold up each other.” These words remind us of our calling to stand up and defend our brothers and sisters. It calls on us to come together, to rely on each other for comfort, and to fight for justice. We as “good people” must love our neighbors, each and every one of them, and defend those who are in need.
In the context of this presidential election, these words are difficult. They remind us that we must stand for what is right, but that we must also be “good” people, who face the world with love, not with hate, even when that love is difficult to give.
We cannot give up on one another. We must work to stop acts of hate and violence. In the weeks and months after this event, we must defend and protect those who are wracked with fear from the hateful words that have circulated in the wake of Mr. Trump’s campaign, and have the hope that he will not do all that he has said he will.
Those of us who are not happy with the results of the election must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and ask questions. We must not give up on those who are now celebrating, because they are ultimately our fellow Americans. The divisions in our country can only be healed if somebody reaches a hand across the cracks. We must strive to be good people, to reach out to each other with grace, and to have faith in God, who in the words of the Gospel Choir “reigns forever.”
