Praying for pastors on Election Day

Over the next few weeks, as the country grapples with whatever happens on Election Day, religious leaders, like other community leaders, will do their best to keep the peace and help us all move forward together.

And also like other community leaders, religious leaders will make some mistakes. They'll tell jokes that fall flat, overshare about how they're feeling and rely too often on assumptions instead of listening to their flocks.

I feel confident about these predictions because I know that religious leaders are humans. They're often very thoughtful, kind humans, but even thoughtful, kind humans stumble over their words and say or do the wrong thing.

Edward Berger, the Academy Award-winning director of the new movie "Conclave," shared a similar observation when I spoke with him about how his film portrays Catholic priests.

I was worried that the movie made priests seem a bit too human and flawed; he said that was the point.

"When you're in Rome and you look out the window with your espresso in your hand and you see a priest walking down the street and a nun drinking coffee and a bishop smoking on the corner, you realize that they're just humans. They're like you and I," Berger said.

He continued, "They have a certain job that they're good at hopefully and they can give us advice in this job, but they still have their weaknesses. They still have their doubts. They're still afraid. They're still sad."

His words are bouncing around my head as I think of pastor friends who will have to help their congregations make sense of and recover from a stressful election season.

As they guide others through healing friendships or facing their political fears, they'll be wrestling with the same emotions themselves.

And so if you're planning to pray for the country this week, consider praying for religious leaders, too. Even after Election Day is over, they have much work left to do.

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