Dear Beloved Community,

If you were to imagine one central location – one control room or operating center for all of creation – what would it be like?  What if there were controls and switches operated by unseen forces controlling everything?  I imagine that humans – though we have the most impact – would still look like a minority from this vantage point, if a noisy, clumsy, and reckless minority.  Now imagine if the power went out or a switch was flipped and suddenly distinct languages, beliefs, and means of communicating – from bird song to the speech between nations and faith communities – suddenly became fully understood by everyone all at once, across nations and species, for a short space of time?

When we consider this scenario, ultimately, we are considering more than just language – we are considering the value of pluralism, the idea that more than one reality can exist simultaneously.  If we draw back from this idea of planetary communication and confine ourselves just to human endeavors, we might be tempted to focus first on puzzling about religious pluralism.  But this pluralism around unanswerable questions of atheism, agnosticism, and religious experience should never be the end point. Our endeavor should be fixed on honoring multiculturalism and wondering about times we are centering the experiences and practices of one group or race over another.  We recognize that our differing political beliefs may put us into tension with one another, but at the same time, our other values of justice, equity, interdependence, and generosity and transformation, temper our pluralistic beliefs and make sure that when we are in community, our community strives to avoid toxicity.

This month, I invite you to consider the ways in which you live out the value of pluralism and seek to be comfortable with multitudes.  What news source might you read that you never would read normally?  What idea or community would you like to learn more about?  Or even, what are you prepared to do to make sure that fundamentalism does not have a place to thrive?

We have so much to celebrate as we come to the end of the congregational year – not just the building, but also the wonderful events you have worked tirelessly to support, which have drawn many to our community and show what kind of values you possess – from the chance to unwind and hear some great music, to the opportunity to learn about the history of slavery on the North Fork – the first step in dismantling racism.

I look forward to greeting you at a service or an event soon.

Blessed Be,

Rev. Valerie.