Happy Thursday everyone! We are in a moment of transition — well, more than a moment — but specifically Ordinary Life has a few shifts going on right now. Wayne Herbert will be a big part of the next two Sundays, one engaging with a leader of BLM - Houston, Brandon Mack. We have a lot to reflect on, so for sure when Bill and Holly are back together, we will reflect on the last year just before we open to a hybrid of virtual and in person classes. Please note: our livestream will remain regardless of what the future holds.

So here we are. Part of our hope moving forward is that we will not get lulled into what Joanna Macy calls “business as usual.” This time in history, this time in cosmology and theology, kind of demands that we lean into doing things differently. This is what Joanna Macy called the Great Turning. In many ways theology needs us to become more holistic, to lean on the wisdom of many traditions—science, history, philosophy, cosmology, art—to imagine a way forward so that we may become contributing, compassionate beings rather than destructive, divisive beings.

We hope to contribute to our ability to live more loving lives, to recognize real despair and fear where it exists, but move impossibly, inevitably, maybe even foolishly at times toward hope. It’s amazing that hope and love are not the norm and even ridiculed at times. I’m willing to be a fool for love, and I am grateful we have community in that. An Instagram account I love is one called Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley, which speaks directly to holding grief, despair, hope, fear, and joy for what Black Americans have gone through and are going through. The prayers and meditations have broad appeal, too, to those interested in justice, in the space in between, to holding grief and hope at once. To that end I offer this prayer:

“If you wait to be unafraid you will die waiting.
The terrors of this world do not sleep.
Liberation is for those who tremble.”

Let us tremble together. Thanks for listening!