Emily Provance has done it again: stretched, challenged and rewarded me. If you haven’t met her yet, she is a Quaker thinker, blogger and teacher who is currently hosting a series of structured on-line conversations (read about them here). In them, she identifies pre-conditions observed globally that warn of likely election violence, documents that they are all currently present in the U.S. and identifies concrete steps that can be taken to minimize the likelihood it will occur here this fall. I highly recommend that you register for a complete set of these compelling introductions to the topic.
But what I want to speak about here is an upwelling lightening of the heart that occurred for me when I heard one of her remedies. We must, she says “expand our definition of WE.” Researchers report that an extremely high percentage of people across the political spectrum do not want election violence; however, a high percentage of the same responders believe that their political opponents DO want violence. That struck home; they’re describing me and my friends… maybe you too? So what happens if we shift our focus from the smaller “we” that fears and distrusts those others to the “we” we’re also a part of: we who reject violence as a way forward? What might this we do together about our common concern if we didn’t require our partners to share all our views?
I’m startled at how much deliberate focus and intention it takes to make that shift – to think of myself as part of a large group of people who disagree on how to vote but who AGREE IT’S WORTH WORKING FOR TO ENSURE THE VOTING HAPPENS NON-VIOLENTLY. My “we” suddenly includes many of my northern Michigan neighbors whose yard signs I find offensive. It might include the guy in the MAGA hat who volunteered to help Carolyn and me fix the taillight in our van in an Oklahoma campsite … it might not, but how would I know if I don’t engage in some conversation to find out? And I’m also startled at the difference this shift makes in my overall sense of spaciousness and possibility: less hopelessness, more curiosity. It feels like the sun came out and I can take a deeper breath of fresh air. My stance widens; my shoulders relax; I feel more flexible.
We went on during the Election Violence Prevention work to identify steps that match our gifts and inclinations that could move the public mood away from violence. But as I explore this new expansive sense that I might have more in common with others than I’ve been assuming, I’m also struck that it is larger than that specific topic. It echoes a hopefulness that Adria Gulizia and I have been nurturing as we’ve developed the new School of the Spirit program, “God’s Promise Fulfilled.” The two of us treasure that we come to our co-teaching partnership through different spiritual paths, and we fervently hope that we’ve laid out the work we envision in ways that will call to (and welcome) participants from all over the theological spectrum so that we can stretch our sense of the “we” that God loves, speaks to, and promises Life to.
Traditionally, the Spiritual Nurturer program (which is the spiritual ancestor of this offering) has asked participants to “listen in tongues.” By this SotS means that we encourage everyone to speak of their inexpressible experience of the Divine in their own heart language, leaving hearers to listen for the truth underneath words that might be off-putting and to “do the translation” into the listener’s own vocabulary. We aspire for God’s Promise Fulfilled to stretch that a bit further – to actively welcome differing faith journeys while engaging in respectful exploration of each other’s assumptions, experiences and ideas of what faithfulness requires of us. We also hope that the program’s ground-breaking commitment to hybrid community will allow people from wide-spread geographies to consider the invitation seriously, and that our expanded “we” will include people who come from all across the theological spectrum — from unaffiliated spiritual seekers to liberal Quakers to Bible-believing Evangelicals to recovering or practicing Catholics – who share a hunger for more of the power and grace and courage that are our legacy as part of God’s Promise. Do give it a read and consider whether you feel led to join us.
And look for ways to stretch your “we.”
