I’ve been both deeply disturbed and profoundly inspired by what we have been continually witnessing here in our state. How timely it seems that our monthly theme of January has been Practicing Resistance when that currently is being called forth in a significant way, and in February we are reminded that we are invited to also consider what Embodying Resilience means to us. I’ve both read and typed it several times in digital space over the past months, but the coming month’s theme makes it top of mind again: These are long-haul efforts, and we must treat them as such to create and sustain lasting change. The message is common in my circles: we still need rest and joy as much as we need action and grief to make it possible for us to care for ourselves and one another with much work still ahead.

I have been doing much listening and reading in recent days in preparation for the coming Sunday service, where the theme will be “Imbolc and Grief Rituals as a Path to Embodying Resilience.” The resources I have felt most called to are books from author, psychotherapist, and soul activist, Francis Weller, who refers to this time we are in as “the long dark,” (I also appreciate the language the late Joanna Macy named in her work that reconnects: “the great turning”) forecasts we will continue to move through deep change, challenge, mystery, and grief for a prolonged period – as in there is no easy end in sight and this will last for generations. It’s devastating to try to grasp that concept when we isolate, but it’s possible for us to connect more deeply, to stay committed to what is right, and to allow our wishes for what lies beyond our own time to motivate and inspire us.