Chances are your nervous system is fried. The last several years (if not longer) in this world have been trying, to say the least. Our lives and our communities have been stretched, broken, and rearranged sometimes beyond recognition. It’s been dizzying to try to live, let alone lead well amidst the intensity of our collective experience as a world, as a country, and as a faith movement.

 

When we’ve been through so much intensity, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and reactive in our relationships with one another. It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, or the trees for the forest. It’s easy to talk past one another, to dig into positions we might otherwise not hold so tightly. It’s easy to let our desire for normalcy, certainty, or our desire to feel a sense of control take the lead in our interactions and decision making. We can get mean when we’re like this, focused on winning over understanding. When we’re emotionally exposed bundles of nerves, it can be really hard for us to focus on our values – on our desire to elicit the best. This is not a good position from which to make important decisions.

 

It’s no surprise that I’m writing this in relation to the ongoing public and private conversations on the upcoming AEU Assembly. There are very serious choices again, and it is both right and heartening to see so much passion on display. However, it is also clear to me as someone tasked with care for both our clergy members (in my capacity as NLC Dean) and for one of our largest societies (as Senior Leader of the Washington Ethical Society) that the conflict around this is creating a lot of pain.

 

I am not here to tell you how I think you should vote, but to strongly recommend your reflection on the following questions as you make your choices and continue to interact with one another:

 

Why does Ethical Culture exist?

Why should Ethical Culture exist?

Who have we been? Who could we be?

What values inform our institutional structures?

What values should inform our institutional structures?

How do we approach moving from what has been? What do we bring with us into the future?