By Rev. Janet Onnie
May 18, 2025
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” If you’re a subscriber to process theology, all seasons are seasons for change. As we heard in the reading, “We must choose every moment how we will relate to the new world aborning in our midst.”
The events of these past few months have given us a glimpse of one possible ‘new world’ aborning. And it’s not one designed to soothe anxiety. The specter of a lawless, incompetent dictatorship reigning over a disintegrating physical and social environment leaves many of us mightily anxious about the future. Even those who don’t pay much attention to current events seem to be on edge. There are all sorts of mini outbursts about things that really aren’t the things the outbursts seem to be about. (pause) We are all exhibiting the signs of being an anxious people, even before unusual weather patterns, technological breakdowns, a convicted felon winning a free and fair election for highest office in the land, and an unelected billionaire given free reign to rid the government of inefficiency. And people.
Anxious people fight about stupid things. To quote the religious consultant Sarai Rice, “It’s always easier, although rarely helpful, to fight about personal behavior rather than address larger realities, especially if the larger realities have to do with decline or loss. When we don’t know what to do about the big important things, we fight about what somebody said.” Or, I might add, the color of the paint, the volume of the choir, or the placement of a comma.
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