As countless Christians have expressed their disappointment with the results of the presidential election, many have heard in response platitudes such as “God is still on the throne” or “God is not Republican or Democrat.” Zach Lambert has heard those messages before. But as lead pastor of Restore Austin, he and his Texas team took a different approach. Instead of trying to “turn eyes heavenward,” his team worked to remind their church that God was with them in their grief and struggle.
Restore Austin has a diverse in-person and online community with various age groups, races, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses. The week following the election results, Lambert and his leadership team worked to avoid “spiritual bypassing,” and instead responded to people’s grief and anxiety directly.
“We’re in Texas, so we’ve been dealing with this for a long time,” Lambert said. “The number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in our state legislature is massive and has been for many years now. We’ve been pushing back against this, providing safe spaces for people for many years. But I think that there was some hope that was dashed with the election results a few weeks ago.”
Lambert said he believes that pastors and Christian leaders who respond with cliches like “God is still on the throne” are often well-meaning but those responses are theologically unsound. Mainly, Lambert said the response is inconsistent with how God responds to others’ pain in both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, as well as Jesus’ character throughout the gospels.
What is spiritual bypassing?
The term spiritual bypassing was coined by Buddhist teacher and psychotherapist John Welwood in 1984 to describe using one’s spiritual or religious beliefs to suppress mental or emotional pain. For Christians, that often looks like shaming other Christians for lamenting material circumstances.
All throughout scripture God’s sovereignty is often a source of comfort for those oppressed and marginalized. Across both sides of the aisle many may respond to others’ frustrations by saying “God is still on the throne” as a reminder that God has more power than our governments.
In a theological sense, Lambert and others agreed that election results don’t change that God is still God. But Christians may still find themselves disappointed with world systems and governments and the impact policies will have directly on them and their communities. To point out that God is still God can undercut that God is Emmanuel — with us, even in our pain.
Lambert compares those who make these responses with good intentions to a person hugging someone with a sunburn. He said though they may think they’re helping, they’re actually causing more pain. Instead, he encourages pastors and Christians to lean into the numerous examples of lament throughout scripture.
How spiritual bypassing affects us
For those afraid of how President-elect Donald Trump’s policies and character will affect their lives, the weeks leading to his inauguration may be a time of fluctuating emotions from anger to sadness to worry. Sheila Wise Rowe, pastoral counselor and author of Healing Leadership Trauma, encourages people to lean into their emotions rather than run from them.
“The reality with anger and with these emotions that arise is that it’s cyclical,” Wise Rowe said. “I can guarantee you these next four years, we will go through cycles of feeling depressed, despondent, furious, and angry. It’s so essential that, in light of that, we have space to be with God, to be with others, to rest, to refuel, and not to get rushed in this herd mentality.”
She said that not tending to emotions and ignoring grief impacts the body on multiple levels as evidenced by the numerous diseases that are associated with not releasing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. While external stressors impact individuals differently and might not affect some at all, Wise Rowe said that those who would be harmed by potential policies may have more visceral responses. For example, immigrants and their communities fearing mass deportations, federal workers worried about job cuts, and transgender people seeing anti-trans bills may feel the effects of the election more than others.
Lambert has sometimes seen spiritual language used to intentionally cut down, rather than a misguided attempt to comfort.
“There is a second group of people who do it much more nefariously, who are purposely gaslighting,” he said. “That’s very frustrating because that group of people are usually the ones that if the election had gone the other way, would have been very angry and not saying God is on the throne.”
How spiritual bypassing affects the soul
Anger in particular is plenty appropriate as a response to injustice, said Christina Edmondson, a psychologist and co-host of Truth’s Table podcast.
“Anger about the things that offend a holy and just God is a good thing,” Edmondson said. “It is not a sign of weakness that we have an emotional response, especially when it’s in alignment with God’s character.”
She compared God’s character to that of a parent who learns that their child is being abused. A loving parent would feel angry at that, not indifferent because of their authority.
“A part of God’s goodness and grace is that God responds with a purely righteous anger towards our mistreatment,” she said. “It’s a really good thing to be angry about horrible and wicked or painful things.”
Both Edmondson and Wise Rowe agree releasing anger is important but understand and empathize with Black women who have expressed their post-election grief by checking out from electoral politics. Exit polls found that Black women had one of the highest margins of support for Harris, roughly 9-to-1, similar to Black women’s support for Democrats in other recent elections.
Edmondson said while she doesn’t believe that Black women will be politically inactive for the next four years, she understands the need to rest. She referenced Psalm 46:10 which says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” as she believes this downtime for Black women is actually confidence that God will vindicate them in due time.
Wise Rowe said that a pause from political action can be a necessary part of grieving before assessing through prayer how to move forward. She gave the example of Jesus lamenting with Mary and Martha that Lazarus had died, even though he knew he would resurrect him. She said the point was Jesus meeting people in their pain and how this models how we should show up for those who are grieving.
“Out of that place of being brutally honest is a place where God can meet us, in a place where we can actually experience that comfort that we really need.”
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