Torch Column: Reverendly Yours

18 August 2017

Reverendly Yours - Rev. Tom Goldsmith

The anticipation before the start of a new church year is consistently the same. Hundreds of religious progressives return with hugs for church friends they’ve missed, endless chatter about their respective summer ventures, and a display of eagerness to get back to the rigors of church life. At least that has always been the case before this year. Now the landscape of our lives has been gravely altered by a series of irrational tweets that have unraveled the tenuous threads of democracy. Momentum towards respecting the value and worth and dignity of ALL people has moved in reverse. Plundering the earth with fossil fuel greed has emerged as top priority. We have withdrawn from all aspects of global cooperation, and stand alone as singularly white, self-absorbed, and culturally impoverished. So yes - - I earnestly wonder how beginning this church year may be different from any other we’ve experienced. I believe we will take ourselves more seriously, because the freedoms we’ve taken for granted now hang in the balance. 
 
As I was so fortunate to take a few weeks visiting my beloved Bolinas in West Marin, right by the ocean, I became fascinated by the myriad approaches to how people enter the cool waters of the Pacific. Of course there are those who have a sudden impulse to reconsider the whole thing, finding the challenge a bit too daunting. They return to their blankets as though they had no other plans than merely checking out shoreline. 
 
But then there are those who do proceed into the water. They navigate the situation in their own idiosyncratic manner. I sometimes wonder about the difference in character between those who first dip their toe in the water as though it were a reliable thermostat, and those who heedlessly run full-throttle into the ocean - -the cold be damned, yelling all the way until the head is completely submerged by a wave running into their path. Eventually the exercise of caution is irrelevant because regardless of method, they all end up in the ocean inventing their own games of joy and delight. It’s all in the approach.
 
Typically we enter the church year as toe-dippers. Each Sunday we move in a little further until we’re swimming by mid-October. This year, however, I sense a restlessness that invites a full-on run into the chilly and turbulent waters of progressive religion. No time to get used to the temperature; there’s no time to waste at all. We must meet the needs of these precarious days with urgency. 
 
Our church is in the initial stages of forming a new partnership. We have been successful in working with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), settling refugees from all over the world. (About a 20-year partnership). We had a solid year working with Volunteers of America (VOA), cooking and providing meals for homeless teens in their new shelter. And now we are preparing to collaborate with Planned Parenthood in many of their volunteer opportunities. It’s really quite exciting to contemplate. 
 
So we will be running straight into social justice work as soon as the new church year begins. No hesitation, no dallying, no toe-dipping. We will have our first Social Justice Council meeting on September 10th from 12:30-1:30. All are invited. Room to be announced. We will share details on the Planned Parenthood partnership, receive a report on Sanctuary status, and begin the crucial process of organizing our social justice work to meet the huge challenges ahead. 
 
Welcome back! TRG