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Beloved in Christ,
 
First, let me say thank you to everyone who filled in on so may projects while I was away last week visiting family. I’ll be taking another few days away from the office next week for my anniversary, and I know you all are well equipped to keep things running while I’m away.
 
Upon returning, there are all the usual things you’d expect that were waiting for me, including following up on Building and Grounds projects like trees that need work, stairs that are showing their age, continuing to improve the way that the church phone interfaces with other phones, and the process of reimagining the library space in the Friendship Room, planning for the Leadership Board mini-retreat next week, and beginning the Microaggressions small groups this week.
 
In addition to the expected projects, I was able to schedule a meeting with Jessica Vazquez Torres, Transitional Executive Director of Crossroads Antiracism. Jessica was in town for a couple of days to meet with leaders at the Church Council of Greater Seattle and had a morning where their meetings didn’t start til later so I was able to squeeze into her calendar. Crossroads Antiracism began in the church and now works with churches and other institutions to dismantle systemic racism. They have two primary strategies they use for their work, organizing and training. I first became aware of Crossroads when some of their training materials were introduced in the Faithland Cohort process. I was impressed especially by the way they talked about critically examning traditional values and noting when they are not consistent with the values that we are taught by our faith. For example, when we are operating from a place of competitiveness, we can examine whether that is a value we hold or if there is a way to move toward collaboration. Similarly, when we fall into the habit of assuming that scarcity should determine our actions, we can explore whether abundance might be a more helpful mindset for the situation. The same is true for values like secrecy, disposability, a drive to dominate, and dualistic thinking. All these patterns and values are often traps and noting when we fall into them can provide the opportunity to instead access values we are taught through our faith and open possibilities that didn’t at first seem likely. More about Crossroads can be found at their website, https://crossroadsantiracism.org/.
 
In our meeting, Jessica told me about several resources that might be helpful to us, given where we are in our congregation. We talked about the process of planning for new neighbors, welcoming Camp United We Stand this summer, several of the initiatives of Leadership Board, and our upcoming worship series. She suggested to me about some practical tools and also some more intangible strategies. Among the tangible tools she told me about a translation service that is available by subscription that allows for full document translation, which we could use for bulletins, newsletters, and other documents. I am now wondering if we would want to invest in such a subscription to help us communicate better with newcomers who speak multiple languages.
 
One of the strategies that Jessica highlighted for me was storytelling. She said that for congregations who are experiencing change, being able to tell the story of where we’ve been and where we are going can be really powerful. I described the story that I told in the sermon last Sunday about the beginning and end of the Central Jurisdiction and we wondered together if there are some in our congregation who would want to learn to tell that story or other stories about the church in more detail. Some chapters of our church’s history aren’t told often and we don’t know the characters involved or the courageous moments they had to face along the way. I’m curious who else might be curious. It could be fruitful to uncover some almost-forgotten chapters and tell more stories together.
 
May the Holy Spirit surprise us this Pentecost with energy and joy,
Pastor Laura