Nancy Sylvester

Contemplate This - There has to be a national effort to begin to repair the great divide among us. That effort has to seep down into each of our families and local communities. And it has to start with each one of us.

Contemplate This - We are being asked to imagine ourselves joining hands and becoming a circle around our planet and through space and time. Conscious of who we are at our best, we take part in a mutual exchange of wisdom and protection.

Contemplate this - Reflecting on 2020, I found myself flooded with thoughts and images. A patchwork quilt emerged as a way to reflect on this time. Here are some of the patches that make up my quilt.

Contemplate This: With the breakdown of trust in our democratic processes, it is not clear to me whether there will be enough confidence and willingness to risk that a pluralistic democracy can bring us together.

Contemplate This - Our future does not need leaders who contribute to increasing breakdown by pretending we can go back. Our future needs transformational leadership that calls forth a renewed sense of altruism.

Contemplate This - We don't often talk about worldviews. Like the air we breathe, we aren't aware of them until something happens to make us stop and examine what we took for granted. All of us view the world with blinders on.

Contemplate This - I sense this is a rare opportunity to awaken, to transform our collective consciousness in ways that are more anti-racist. And this means each of us must do our own individual work.

Contemplate This - Our country is riddled with holes, silos that go deeply into the ground of our collective psyche. For example, there are holes hiding belief in law and order; survival and fear of the other.

Contemplate This - The grief of lost lives and lost opportunity can be numbing. One can feel helpless. But we cannot let the grief become toxic and disempowering. We need to continue our work with compassionate eyes.

Contemplate This - This pandemic is a moment when the "I" is becoming a "we." It is going to be painful and we will suffer. But how we understand and experience that suffering is critical to how we emerge from this.

Contemplate This - It is hard to gain a perspective when you are in the middle of uncertainty like the coronavirus pandemic, to make sense of what is going on and how the future will emerge.

Contemplate This - The range of justice issues the church embraces challenges us to exercise our prudential judgement, honed within a well-formed conscience.

Contemplate This - So much is happening that points to humanity circling backward with no movement forward. But I have to have faith and hope in who we are becoming. Change is happening.

Contemplate This - At this time of increasing polarization and hatred, we need to take seriously the gift of Incarnation. Christmas is a reminder than we are children of God, and we are to live out of that reality.

Contemplate This - I invite you to use this reflection for yourself and perhaps with those with whom you celebrate.

Contemplate This: Like nature, I need to find a way to survive the winter, to "let go" so as to renew and imagine life reawakening come spring. Like nature, it isn't a cop-out, but a way of nurturing one's own life.

Contemplate This - Describing a program I co-lead called Enter the Chaos: Engage the Differences to Make a Difference is a bit of a challenge. It brings people together to address the importance today of understanding the development of the various stages of consciousness through which people view the world. Recently I have found a more down to earth way to explain it.