When I was a kid, one of my favorite authors was Ann Rinaldi.  I found her historical fiction books fascinating, particularly because they were the first time I encountered books where the author changed narrator perspective.  As I’ve gotten older, this remains one of my favorite styles: authors like Jodi Picoult and Ann Patchett amaze me as they take me through stories in ways that allow me to see and hear events through multiple perspectives.  For me, feeling immersed in another world is one of life’s most magical experiences.

This year, one of my seminary classes states that a goal for the class is for me to “use the congregation as text.” Each week, I have questions on which I’m supposed to reflect and then discuss on a class discussion board.  My classmates and I answer questions about our personal growth as we step into clergy leadership. We reflect on the anti-racist and anti-oppressive work being done in our congregations. We discuss current and past conflicts and change, and reflect on the unique histories of the congregations we serve.  At first, I was really kind of confused by this – what does it mean to “read the text of the congregation?” What is it, exactly, that I’m supposed to be learning and analyzing and synthesizing?

Being at WES for several months now, though, I kind of get it.  Each time I am with you, I learn something new: about you, personally, and about the congregation.  I learn about Ethical Culture. I get to experience something new – Remembrance Day, and Stone Soup, and Winter Festival.  I learn something about your history – where the congregation has come from, what matters to you now, and how you envision the future.  I learn about what brought you here personally, why you have stayed, and what this community means to you. I am getting a deeper sense of your individual and collective values and convictions.  The more time I spend with you, the more opportunities I have to learn about the conflicts and changes that have formed you into who and what you are now, and who and what you aspire to be. 

Spending time at WES is a little bit like reading a book with that multiple narrator perspective: I get to hear the stories and values and aspirations through many faces and in different words.  Each meeting I attend, each workshop I run, each time meet with you for pastoral care, each time I watch or lead a platform, I hear another piece of the story – your story, the story of WES, the story of life in DC in 2019, the story America in 2019, the story of who we are as a people right now.  Taken as a whole, I get to hear an unfolding story of a dedicated, compassionate, justice-seeking, community of people who work to demonstrate care to one another, to the community, and to the world. It’s a beautiful, powerful story, and I am so glad to be a part of it.

It is hard to imagine that just 4 months ago, I hadn’t even started The Book of WES.  I am so lucky that I get to be a character in this unfolding narrative. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

In awe of the awesomeness,

Laura