On social media, laments and hope following Donald Trump election

God surely got an earful Wednesday from Americans emotional about the results of the 2016 presidential election.

But God wasn’t alone. Social media heard plenty, too. First thing in the morning, Americans began posting about hopes dashed, dreams fulfilled and predictions of the future.

Even the more spiritually minded segments of the population got into it online. Pastors, authors, scholars and divinity school students took to the keyboard to express grief, compassion, hope and calls to action.

Here are 10 samples from Facebook, in some cases edited for length.

Amy Butler, senior minister at The Riverside Church, New York City

I want to say something to the Church this morning — churches, pastors, people of faith.

The time for toeing a politically correct line is long, long past. We’ve heard more than enough from politicians; our country needs voices of moral courage to speak up and out and on behalf of those among us who are vulnerable, excluded, and filled with pain — today and in the days ahead.

Now is the time for us to speak.

To be bold.

To name sin and injustice and to say we won’t stand by and watch it happen.

We cannot be silent.

We should not pretend that this will not cost us considerably. It will. But if we cannot find the courage to tell the truth, what does the Church have to offer the world? And what do our lives and our witness mean when it’s all said and done?

Be brave, Church. Be brave. Be brave.

Megan Currie, student at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology.

This summer as I stood alongside a hurting and grieving community in Orlando, Fla., my life changed forever. The events that took place (at the Pulse night club) there shook me to my core. I was hopeful that the results of this election would be different — for this very community, for people who deserve equal rights, for those who are continually marginalized and oppressed within their own country, and for those who are treated as if their lives don’t matter. And yet this morning with tears rolling down my face, I am reminded of a lesson I learned in Orlando that some of the best people I know taught me: even when hate tries, love wins. Hate tried again last night, but I’m still convinced that love really does win. Still. Even now.

Steve Harmon, visiting associate professor of historical theology, Gardner-Webb University

I could express many concerns right now, but I’ll voice only this one: if this goes the way it looks like it’s going to go, we parents — regardless of how we have voted — will have the responsibility of teaching our children that we do not treat people the way the person we have elected our president has treated people. My first thoughts have been about my son, his peers, and their future.

Pat Wilson, Baylor University law professor, member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship governing board

I fully expected to be celebrating the first woman president of the U.S., but the American people have spoken, and it appears that Donald Trump will lead our country.

My prayer is that this the immensity of the job will humble him and that God will grant him the wisdom to lead well. For the sake of us all, I hope he will begin to heal the divide in our country and remember that he is the president of these United States, which includes us all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or anything else that can be used to arbitrarily divide us.

As President Obama, the classiest president of my lifetime, said, “The sun will rise in the morning.”

Tripp Hudgins, Bogard teaching fellow at Church Divinity School of the Pacific.

Read the speech.

[Trump] congratulated Clinton on her campaign and thanked her for her service. No “crooked Hillary” rhetoric to be found.

Not a single mention of God.

He promised public works projects.

Not a single mention of building a wall or securing our borders. This is not to say that he won’t. This is not to say that he will prohibit the social conservatives in national office to run roughshod over LBGTQ rights or immigrant rights. David Duke is still happy. Very.

But he promised bridges and roads.

Greg Jarrell, community organizer, Charlotte, N.C.

Two knocks on the door before the sun was all the way up this morning. The first was a woman who looked to be hitting rock bottom. She wanted a place to sit and something warm to eat. Her short-term and long-term prospects look pretty dim, honestly, and would be roughly the same whether the donkeys or the elephants won.

The second was a man who wanted to think creatively about how to build a new place premised on love and mutual care …. The work he wants to do is just as daunting, and just as hopeful, today as it was before the reds and blues got re-sorted.

We have what we need, y’all, to build a more beautiful world. We have — we are — communities of abundance that can build alternatives to the politics of fear and scarcity.

Kyndall Rae Rothaus, pastor, Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco, Texas

The grief, shock, fear, and betrayal I feel are all very real. Far too many women, people of color, LGBTQ, Muslims, etc. are hearing the message loud and clear that this country does not care about their safety or well being. It is absolutely devastating to see hate receive such overwhelming support. So to those who are frightened or hurting, I care. … To those of you who don’t get what the problem is, I truly don’t understand you at all right now. But I hope that we will find a way to love each other too, even though right now I just feel betrayed and bewildered ….

Michael Usey, pastor of College Park Baptist Church, Greensboro, N.C.

… Today we grieve. Tomorrow we turn back to fighting for justice, truth, and love, in God’s good name.

To all who are Muslim, who are LGBTQ, who may be undocumented, who are unsheltered, who may be Jewish or atheist, to those who are not wealthy, to those on death row, to those who are vulnerable and all others who aren’t white, straight, and Christian: I and the rest of the radical Baptists at College Park will continue to stand with you, come what may.… Meanwhile, I am numb with despair.

Steve Wells, pastor of South Main Baptist Church in Houston

Perfect fear casts out love. It is not in the Bible, and it is true. When I am afraid that my best days are behind me, when I am afraid that my position is eroding, when I am afraid I cannot provide for those I love, my fear takes me to places I would otherwise never go.

Perfect loves casts out fear. That is in the Bible and so it is even more true. Each of us will choose to live our lives out of a base of love or of fear. … I resolve today to live out of love. To love those near to me.

Angela Yarber, author and activist

What makes me most sad is that Trump is a mirror reflecting the bigotry of much of America. Also in this mirror are the reflections of queers worried that, as he has promised, some of the few rights we have recently obtained will be stripped away and our families will be torn apart. Reflected are Latinx and Muslim friends worried that, as promised, they will be forced to leave. Reflected are Black friends whose very beings will continue to be, as promised, criminalized without reason. Reflected are women whose bodies, in word and deed, are not their own. It is a sad day for my little queer family. It is a sad day for countless minorities in America. It is a sad day.