I know the feeling. All that energy focused on the big event. Working, planning, praying for it to work. And the day comes and before we know it, we’re done; it’s over. And we realize there’s a tomorrow to worry about. We were so busy thinking about the day, we didn’t focus on the day after.

Regardless of who you vote for, here are 8 things people of faith can do in addition to praying.

1) listen

Listen past disagreement. Before striving for unity. Hear concerns and don’t fear difference. One of the character flaws of the last 30 years has been to fight for compromise before we’ve heard each other out. Another has been to abandon dialogue when we don’t get our way. The solution to both is to focus on listening.

2) love

We give a lot of lip service to love, but not a lot of willpower. It often means listening to voices we don’t trust in language which disgusts us amid circumstances which frighten us. But we embody the God of love. And do those things Jesus encourages us to do.

3) support the weak

Make a personal commitment to support those on the margins or those who are hurting. Give to ministries offering Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets. Clean out your closet of extra coats, boots, and gloves and take them to your local homeless ministry.

4) give to an organization doing work you like

It’s one thing to pin most of our hope on an election or on our churches, but we need all people engaged. And we need ways to make good happen which involve everyone.

Many people argue that churches do things better than the government. I’m not taking that bait. But numbers are instructive of the scale of our need.

A budget proposal to cut government assistance to food programs from our last election cycle proves the problem in so simple an argument. The cuts were so significant that to balance them, every church, mosque, synagogue, and faith community in the country would have to find an additional $50,000 per year. Just to pay for the cuts to food programs. To feed the people tomorrow that have some food today. And the budget cut aid to other programs, too.

As people of faith, any night one person goes to bed hungry is proof the Kin-dom isn’t here.

5) pledge

Give to your church. I get you’re pissed off that the church doesn’t do everything you want. Or you live on a fixed income. Maybe you hate the church’s obsession with money. But many of the people who argue that churches pick up the slack are ones who don’t put much in the plate. Or give only to that ministry.

But in most cases, we don’t have ministries if we don’t have communities. We need some organizational structure to do the work. And more than that, we need communities of prayer and formation, to build up and ground our action.

6) go to city council meetings

People like to complain about the connection between politics and the church. But most of our platitudes are malformed conclusions to a serious problem. We don’t need less politics mixing with faith. We need more discernment in our participation and fewer platitudes. So less bombast and more creative solutions.

For many of us, matters at the city council have a direct impact on our work. Like the removal of park benches where our homeless sleep.  Of closing off access to transportation and lighting to parts of our communities.

For instance, without advocates for the homeless and destitute, the city will treat them like a nuisance to the community rather than as members of the community.

7) build up coalitions

During a season of tearing each other down, we are in deep need for building each other up. And I don’t just mean saying nice things to each other (but that’s bound to help).

Work past differences and work on a common cause. End homelessness in our communities. End poverty. Or food insecurity. Build job-creating services which don’t simply lock people into low-wage work, but prepare workers and employers for a more sustainable community. Reach out and build something. There might be a coalition in your community already.

And don’t forget to partner with other faith communities. Often the work is harder, the differences many, and at times excruciatingly slow going. But there is nothing more exciting than to work together to build something when it brings us into common cause.

8) offer hope

Over and over Jesus tells his followers to not be afraid. Don’t fear Jesus. Our neighbors. Even the ones who persecute us. Don’t be afraid. The Holy Spirit’s got this.

We aren’t only a people of love. We’re a people of hope. There’s a light which shines in the darkness.

Christian hope isn’t naive or stupid; weak or ridiculous. We aren’t people of ignorance or indifference. In fact, we’re people of reason and calmness; people of the third way. A way between fight and flight. A people of standing up to the evil in the world and daring it to hit the other cheek. Take our clothes. Walk another mile, putting them in danger with authorities.

We expose the evil in the world for what it is. Small, petty, and not the way of those strong in faith.

And the best part is that these are things we can do. Not just in an election year, but every day of our lives.