After an election season fraught with assassination attempts, last-minute candidate swaps and divisive policy disagreements, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is once again opening its doors to offer the community a place for reflection, prayer and healing.
Historically, it’s common for churches to be open for anyone to come and pray, Rev. Andrew McLarty told The Dispatch on Wednesday.
“This is an extension of that tradition in a way, but it’s also knowing that, especially after a long and divisive election, people are probably finding that they need a place where they know they can be quiet with their thoughts and be quiet with God and to either express their joy or vent their anger,” McLarty said.
The church was open to the public Wednesday for prayer, a decision McLarty said was made to give folks a space to process their feelings about the election – whatever those may be.
“We wanted to make sure that people knew that if they just needed a place to come and sit, that we are here,” he said. “It is a solemn and safe place where they can bring what they want to before God.”
That’s the impetus for Thursday’s Service of Public Healing at 11:30 a.m. as well, McLarty said. In the Episcopal Church it is a worship service focused on prayers for physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Thursday’s service, McLarty said, will follow that general theme.
“However, knowing that people might be saying prayers for the nation, prayers for our human leadership, prayers for whatever they’re carrying with them … we’re offering that space where they can come and receive a blessing and a mark of holy oil on their forehead if they wish,” he said.
The efforts also aim to bring people together during a time of division. Lindsay Clemons, who is a lifelong parishioner at St. Paul’s, said the church hosts this service after each election cycle. To her, it serves as an opportunity for the community to come together despite their political differences.
It’s easy to lose sight of who your neighbor is during such an ideologically-driven election cycle, she said.
“When you are facing an election that is so contested … it is very easy to lose sight of your neighbor, who is someone you know, that you see in the grocery, whose kids you may have coached,” Clemons said. “Your day-to-day interactions with your neighbors and the people that live around you in your community are what matter anyway. When people are dying, they’re not making declarations about politics or ideology. They’re talking about relationships.”
Thursday’s service is not a partisan event, McLarty said, but rather a time for community members to come together, process their feelings and pray for the country’s leadership, or whatever else they may be carrying.
“The purpose … is not to exalt a political victory or to decry why a political candidate didn’t win,” he said. “It’s to say that, regardless (of the outcome), we are praying for both people.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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