The idea of a dying church might be more aptly described as the realization that we who are a part of leading it are coming to terms with how little control we have over it; and the further learning that the degree to which we lean into one another, into the Spirit, into the rich and fertile soil of our personal and communal intersectional bonds, the more we will be paying attention to the new thing that emerges.

As we prepare ourselves to do the work, I pray that we lean into our mutual concern for one another, and away from the false comfort of our binaries; that when we are challenged by the work and one another, that we recommit ourselves to the values that unite our common humanity.