“It can be different. We know that it can.
You know that it can.
But the only way out is through.
And on that way through, you know—you have seen, here—profound healing can happen. Individual lives and relationships can be transformed. Communities and cultures can move toward care, accountability, restoration. Institutions can do the work needed to protect the people they serve. Nations can face the truth of what they have done—even if the work is imperfect, messy, or haphazard—and can make the choice to write a new story for tomorrow. Repair is possible. Atonement is not out of reach. What is needed—and this is, of course, a great deal—is the willingness to do the work. What is needed is the bravery to begin.” Excerpt from On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
It can be different! Do you need to hear that sometimes, too? This note of hope about our world and the work we do in it. The racial justice team and I are inviting Pacific Unitarian members and friends to participate in the UUA Common Read with us. On Repentance and Repair is a book that many other churches are reading. It is, in a way, a national book club. I love being connected to the national UU conversation and sharing something in common across churches.
I spent time this past week in the last of my required interim ministry training. It reminded me how much we have done at Pacific Unitarian and still have left to do. We have learned much about the church, the transition team and board have heard my feedback and suggestions, and we are still asking essential questions. We also still have work to do. For example, I’m interested in spending some time in my last months with you on reinvigorating the pastoral care team and helping us imagine what lay leadership may look like at Pacific Unitarian in the future. Some work will wait until a new minister comes—for example, a renewed look at Pacific Unitarian’s mission and vision. From afar, I am excited to see how Pacific Unitarian might lean into a new vision with its new leader.
Like Pacific Unitarian, I am personally in a time of discernment. I am interviewing for minister positions with churches, and I am discerning where I might serve next. Life is exciting and uncertain. Beloveds, blessings as we all navigate this exciting and uncertain time. We are in it together.
Sending love,
Rev. Chloë
