Don't Mourn. Don't Cheer. Mobilize.

The total expenditure of words in the past 24 hours has been "yuge." Everyone has an explanation for what just happened and suggestions for what comes next.

An editorialist in the Chicago Tribune wrote, Use this gift from voters well, Republicans, advising the winners to take constructive advantage of what will likely be a very short window of opportunity, if history is any indicator.

Just as surely as they've [the Republicans] have raised this red sea, they can sink back to minority status in a couple of election cycles. Solutions or self-destruction, GOP. What'll it be?

A writer on the other side of the divide said on The American Prospect website, Mourn. Then Organize.

At a time like this, many liberals and progressive will recall the words of labor activist Joe Hill: “Don't mourn, organize.” But let's be honest. We're in shock. We need time to mourn. To recover from the trauma of this election. ...

The truth is, this is probably not the great sea change most people seem to think it is. Nate Silver of fivethirthyeight.com points out in What a Difference 2 Percentage Points Makes that the difference in popular vote was minuscule statistically. If only 1 voter out of 100 had voted differently, the entire narrative of the post-election onslaught of verbiage would have been totally different. The conventional wisdom would have been completely reversed.

The arc of the pendulum, it seems, is not that large.

So what should a Christian do, now that the election is over?

I'd paraphrase Joe Hill: Don't Mourn or Cheer. Mobilize.

That same Chicago Tribune editorial opens with this quote:

"How could Nixon have won? Nobody I know voted for him." — New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael, expressing disbelief (and myopia) in 1972 after Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat George McGovern by an Electoral College vote of 520-17. Four years later, Democrats won back the presidency.

Kael's comment illustrates a sad truth, that we all tend to congregate with people much like ourselves. We don't take time to get to know the people whose lives and experiences have led them to a very different political perspective than ours. We look at politics as being about the big issues, rather than seeing the people entangled in the daily impact of those issues.

The next step, for missional believers, should be to examine what we can learn about the people of our community, based on the election cycle we've just endured and the results of this vote. Can we see beyond the rhetoric and the slogans to understand the hearts and minds of people who would inexplicably vote for four years of Donald Trump? Can we push past the accusations and labels to learn about the daily struggles and fears of a person who would dare vote for Hillary Clinton?

Our God has what each of those people needs. The only way they'll discover God's gift is if we'll stop being a voting bloc called "Evangelicals."

Instead, let's mobilize to reach out to our neighbors and share with them our hearts and our good news..