12 Mar Making Room For Joy Despite The State of Our Union

Dear Westwood Community,

Last week, President Trump gave what was, for all intents and purposes, a nearly one hundred-minute state of the union speech. The speech included his usual pomp, half truths, and outright lies. I didn’t watch the speech because I love myself too much to subject myself to such things, but I did read summaries, opinion pieces that analyzed it, and listen to podcasts that discussed it. To be sure, I am feeling stuck between trying to preserve my sanity while also staying informed enough to speak about the state of our politics from a progressive Christian perspective.

This week I realized that I need to be doing more than just trying to preserve my sanity if I want to be the best version of myself for my family. Now as much as ever, those of us who are working for love, mercy, and justice must set aside time for rest and renewal if we want to sustainably do the work our souls must have over these next few years.

What brings joy to your life? What would it look like for you to set aside time each week – each day – to do something that brings you joy?

Physical activities like playing sports have always brought me a great deal of joy, especially when I perform very well! In the past year or so I have started running, and I am grateful to Pastor Molly for filling in for me a couple of weeks ago when I ran the Ventura Half Marathon. While I didn’t run as fast as I would have liked, two hours and fifteen minutes, I did enjoy training for and the beautiful landscape of the race. I am also looking forward to our Westwood UMC softball team starting again in a few weeks and I am actively searching for a basketball league to join.

I am trying to be intentional about reading more than theology, science, and politics. I have loved the book groups we have started this year, and I am looking forward to starting our new book, The Book of Longings, in a few weeks. I recently read my friend and colleague Lydia Sohn’s new book, Here: A Spirituality of Staying in a Culture of Leaving and I can’t recommend it more highly!

There will be a lot of political turmoil over the coming years and our faith needs progressive Christian voices like ours to offer an alternative vision of what Christianity can look like. As I said a few weeks ago, I believe our culture wars are, in fact, a war over how we tell the story of Jesus. As we work to tell the story of Jesus in ways that move us towards love, justice, and compassion, may we remember that Jesus also took time to rest and fellowship among his friends and set aside time for spiritual renewal. May we follow in his footsteps.

In Love and Solidarity,
Rev. Dr. Carter