Dear Ones,

Though it is true that we all live in uncertainty these days have too many names.  These day, we can too easily and too often put a precise name to the feelings of uncertainty shaping our lives.  How much risk should we take entering a store or dwelling without a mask?  How much trust ought we place in our neighbors that they, too, are managing the spread of Covid-19?  What will happen if Roe v. Wade is overturned?  How can I help to ensure that policies to ameliorate and defeat oppression with the day?  How will my family be provided for if I become ill?  When will this pain end?  Will we ever be able to afford to buy a house?  Will the Fellowship accept me as I am?

Part of the mystery of living is that we never know when our lives will change or end, no matter how many names we can pin on “uncertainty.”  Even when going about our daily living is a struggle, we also go about setting intentions and making plans.  How could we do otherwise!  And why should we?  All those savings accounts and medical appointments, trips to the store as times when they are most empty, reaching out for companionship and solace.  Intentions and plans give our lives shape and meaning. Living each day fully is the ultimate means of accepting what we do not know, and living in joy in spite of it all. Uncertainty is the norm, and yet we act. And when we act together—for justice, for kindness, for companionship—we reveal what is also always true. We reveal that we are interconnected and interdependent. That our universe is knit together in beauty, and we are knit to each other.

Let us rejoice in our connections, as you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.