In recent weeks, I have asked friends and colleagues how they are feeling — probing beyond the perfunctory “fine” that people say when you connect momentarily in the grocery store. The list of feelings people have shared often include “angry.” Other emotions people commonly report are: scared, anxious, discouraged, motivated, stunned, and restless.

But “angry” is what I hear most from friends, family, and colleagues who are shocked by the rapidity with which Trump has managed to dismantle institutions that safeguard our well-being, undermine democracy, alienate allies, break the law, and threaten, punish, and deport those he considers “enemies.” Angry is the word I heard repeatedly when I have inquired about people’s emotional state.

I too have spent Trump’s first 100-plus days feeling angry — and I also share the other emotions that folks report to me when I probe. Anger at the cruelty, viciousness, prejudice, and pain that one person has inflicted on this nation and the world. I have described this administration as brutal, merciless, chaotic, impulsive, and dangerous. And I have carried posters to numerous marches, rallies, and vigils with some of those very words screaming out from the placards.

That is why it was so surprising that recently, when preparing to vigil (yet again) in downtown Northampton, I took out poster board to make a new sign and had an impulse to write a very different message. All my feelings of anger, fear, and outrage still intact, I decided to create a (too wordy) poster about who and what I love, and who I stood with in this struggle.

With my marker in hand, I wrote this on poster board:

Trump loves power.

We love Children. Women. Trans people. Democracy. Immigrants. People of Color. Refugees. Palestinians. The Constitution. Poor People. Elders. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs. Jews. Ukrainians. LGBTQ+ Folks. Canadians. Librarians. Greenlanders. Unhoused People. Working People.

I took my poster and stood with people of faith vigiling in front of First Churches in Northampton. Some passers-by stopped to photograph the poster. Some folks gave me two thumbs up. Then, spontaneously, to my surprise, Rev. Anna Woofenden began to use the words on the poster to create a song for those vigiling to sing together.

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Borrowing the tune from the hymn “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” Rev. Anna paired words from the poster in couplets to sing the entire poster — verse after verse. Somehow it worked. And we sang and sang.

Skipping over the truth of the first line of my poster (“Trump Loves Power”), we sang about what we love. And it felt good.

If we had not run out of time, we could have added to more verses to the impromptu singing about who and what we love: Mother Earth, people with disabilities, artists, federal workers, scientists, activists, truth-tellers, teachers, and more.

For a few moments, as we sang about what we love, I felt less angry and also less afraid.

I also felt true to my calling as a person of faith. The best definition I have ever heard of what it means to be a Christian is this simple description, “Love God. And love what God loves.” Christians know well from the life of Jesus that God loves poor people, sick people, children, sinners, women, prostitutes, lepers, outcasts, those who are “demon-possessed,” and those who are powerless, marginalized, and disenfranchised. This is the essence of Jesus’ teachings.

Soon after the singing vigil, I read this quote by storyteller and poet Kaitlin Curtice, “For us to be fully alive, we must be present, and when we are, we resist hate in ourselves and in the world around us.”

Resisting hate in the world around us is a tall order. Despite my love-filled poster, I still feel revulsion for all that Trump stands for, says, and is doing. That is just the truth of it. However, I am now trying to focus, during even a small part of each day, on the people, values, principles, and vision that motivate my activism — and it feels like a relief.

Anger is real, useful, justified, and motivating. Yet, as I am finding, tapping into the people and institutions dear to me has given me a respite from my rage, and, for a moment at least, feels liberating.

I know that hostility, hatred, distrust, and chaos are strong.

I also know that goodness, justice, compassion, and inclusion are stronger.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

So, let’s overwhelm the world — with all our feelings and all our little bits of good. Let’s usher in a new world order with our presence and perseverance, our faith and our fortitude, our values and our vision.

And yes, let’s be outraged. We should be outraged. And let’s also remember who and what we love and why we work for justice, fairness, equity, inclusion, and compassion. Let’s overwhelm the world one rally, one march, one postcard, one vigil, one too-wordy poster, and one song at a time. I am with you in the struggle.

The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian, Ministerial Team, Alden Baptist Church, Springfield, is also founder and director of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.