As we move into 2021, clear that we cannot return to “normal,” how will we actively “choose change,” re-imagine our lives, our purpose, the structure of our society, and the things we focus on?

The answer to these questions rests in choices both small and large. Change sometimes feels impossible, but we forget that change is dynamic, alive, lurking in every corner, and is happening all around us, all the time. Change can begin when we speak the truth, when we turn toward the feeling rising in us, rather than push it away, when we name what is real for us, and listen to what is real for others, and when we stop, and take a breath, before we respond.

In her book, Parable of the Sower, science fiction writer Octavia Butler writes, “All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. The only lasting truth is change. God is change.” These words invite us to consider: What does it mean to choose change? To step fully into the “God flow,” the river of change, wide awake, and let it work on us, and us on it, as it shapes our relationships, spirit, and the course of our lives?

When it comes to choosing change, the poet John O’Donahue offers these questions to reflect on: “Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different? Where did I allow myself to receive love? What reached me today? How deep did it imprint? What did I avoid today?” 

This month, through message, song, prayer, and video, we will explore what it means to “choose change” and to embrace the lasting truth that is change.

This month, please join us for these Sunday services:

• Sunday, Jan. 3 with Rev. Justin Schroeder
• Sunday, Jan. 10, Remembrance Sunday, with Rev. Justin Schroeder and Rev. Arif Mamdani
• Sunday, Jan. 17, MLK Sunday, with Rev. Justin Schroeder
• Sunday, Jan. 24 with Rev. Jen Crow
• Sunday, Jan. 31 with Rev. Justin Schroeder

And these Wednesday services:

• Wednesday, Jan. 6 with Rev. Justin Schroeder
• Wednesday, Jan. 13 with Julica Hermann de la Fuente: Change, Part 1
• Wednesday, Jan. 20 with Julica Hermann de la Fuente: Change, Part 2
• Wednesday, Jan. 27 with Julica Hermann de la Fuente: Change, Part 3