
This week has been heavy with new information for us to process and adapt to. And while we may all know intellectually that adaptation and adjustment are required aspects of adulthood, the arrival of said requirements can often feel like a task we’d really rather not participate in- especially after 22 months of enduring a pandemic. And yet… here we are.
When news first surfaced of a new variant (due to the diligence of the epidemiologists in South Africa) my initial response was quite anxious. I read and reviewed all the emerging news in hopes of quelling this anxiety. After several days I began to realize (yet again) that this strategy never works because the news cycles actually depend on our anxiety remaining high. And anxiety does no one any good because anxiety (worry about the future) nullifies our personal power by captivating our attention on the what ifs, the could be’s and the worst case scenarios. The truth is, we know more now than we did 22 months ago and we have much better tools for responding to this expected shift in the pandemic. As Dr. Faucci has said, our best tools are already known. Vaccination, masking in indoor congregant spaces, testing and self-quarantining if we become symptomatic are tools we are using as a community to keep each other healthy in body and in soul. We can add to this by practicing good emotional and spiritual self care so that when our anxiety rises (which is normal and expected!) we can reach and practice better and more productive responses.
Anxiety, (once acknowledged and named) is not just a gateway to understanding where and how our sense of self is feeling pressured and compromised- serving to remind us where we need to practice more self care. It can also be a powerful reminder that where we put our attention matters. Our world has changed rapidly in the last decade and the pace of change is not diminishing. If we wish to remain relevant and life-giving as a faith community, that translates into working hard to wrest our attention from the immediate, anxiety-promoting news cycles towards the truly important and life saving work of building the beloved community and service to the world. The world needs us to wrest our attention away from anxiety and towards attention and advocacy. As Unitarian Universalists, we are already committed to these principles. We just need to remind each other to practice them each and every day, without fail and especially in the midst of a pandemic.
Friends, there is so much advocacy needed to ensure justice for all, I hope that as you move through this week, you’ll remember (and practice) letting go of the tumult in order to settle in and on the important call to love and justice we have at the heart of our faith. Remember that joy, as an orientation and practice are key to finding and building our courage and commitment for our work in the wider world. For more on this check out this interview with Willie James Jennings: https://youtu.be/1fKD4Msh3rE