A colleague posed the question today, “What is spiritual community for?” She asked that not as a quiz with a right answer, but as a topic for reflection.

There are many possible answers to the question. One of my answers is that we exist both to nourish and comfort people, and to contribute in tangible ways to a better world for all, not just those of us in the congregation or the local community. This is sometimes abbreviated as “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

The complicated reality is that every human is sometimes afflicted and sometimes comfortable. That means that on any given Sunday morning—or in any other moment—you might be in need of comfort, or seeking a challenge to live more fully into your values, or perhaps some of both. I try to craft worship that takes those varying needs into account.

In this particular moment in our nation’s history, this balance is especially tricky. We must, collectively, both offer comfort to those experiencing harm—which is different from discomfort—and ask ourselves and each other to do more, if we are able, to move society in a direction of love, respect, compassion, and justice.

It’s a big job, and perhaps another crucial answer to my colleague’s question is that spiritual community exists so that none of us do the work alone.

Things are hard. Things are scary. They are likely to get more so in the coming months. Nonetheless, we are in this together, and that matters.

Thank you each for all the ways you show up. You matter.

In gratitude,

Rev. Diana