Written by Kristina Frugé
At the end of October, the Riverside Innovation Hub gathered our congregations (in person and online) for our Discernment Gathering. Since we first began to gather with this community in July 2023, each congregation and individual participant has covered a lot of ground. The journey has not always been smooth and has presented folks with several surprises along the way – some welcomed and some very challenging. Leadership transition, the loss of a building, the coming and going of neighborhood relationships, coping with the ongoing changes of congregational life and the exciting (albeit sometimes uncomfortable) questions that come from learning new things.
Each congregation has been navigating its own path in the places and neighborhoods unique to each church. These contexts span the US – literally! From our folks at Wesley United Methodist in Eugene, Oregon to our friends at Amherst Lutheran Church in Amherst, Massachusetts and a good number folks in our Twin Cities plus region. Our Midwest crew ranges from city contexts – like those at Christ on Capitol Hill, Diamond Lake Lutheran and Awaken Church – to rural contexts like Moscow Lutheran in Austin, MN. And several folks in suburban communities of Plymouth (St. Barnabas Lutheran), Eagan (Easter Lutheran), Bloomington (Christ the King Lutheran), and Roseville (Roseville Lutheran).
From all these distinct places, we have joined our paths periodically to gather, share wisdom and challenges from the road, find some renewed energy or clarity on next steps together, and to learn together along the way, practicing the artforms of the public church framework.
This most recent gathering brought all of our paths together to focus on the artform of discernment. The beginning of 2024 started with a focus on accompanying the neighbor and listening to stories from our places. Then this spring we shifted our focus to interpretation where we examined the values and beliefs that shape the lens we use to understand the world around us. This next season of discernment is one of wondering what all these things mean? What is God’s call to our congregation, given what we’ve seen, heard and experienced this past year?
Looking ahead to the future can be overwhelming. The unanswered questions typically outnumber the things we know we can count on. Not only is it a path we have not yet traveled down, but part of the discernment in our present moment includes choosing which path to pursue. There is usually more than one option so how do we choose wisely, and faithfully?
In a world that often prioritizes urgency and productivity, we are tempted to rush ahead down the most obvious (and easiest) path to action. But discernment is an invitation to slow down, pause and get our bearings. It is permission to breathe deeply, put both feet on the ground, and take stock of God’s activity within and around us on the journey so far. Rather than forecasting the unknown future, discernment gifts us with the question: “Lord, what have you been preparing us for?”
As we gathered together this fall, the RIH community showed up as both the guest and host of this precious question. Folks shared stories from their own lives and from their congregation of how God has been active and faithful in times of discernment. The community held space for one another, listening with curiosity and compassion. The reality of grief and change was present as those in the room reflected on the transitions underway in several of our congregations. People named the many distinct ways that they experience the holy and God’s leading in their lives. And even in the midst of people’s grief, challenges, and uncertainties about the future, hope rose to the surface in our gathered space in recognition of the fact that none of us are facing whatever is next, alone. God will be faithful. And this community of fellow travelers is in our corner.
Some of the ways we will continue to engage in spiritual discernment together in the coming months includes: meeting with each congregation for deeper discernment together on God’s invitation to be vital neighbors, a webinar on Nov. 14 hearing from alumni RIH pastors sharing their insights on discernment in uncertain times, and cohort gatherings in the new year to share what is emerging in each congregation’s ongoing discernment.
On behalf of this lovely RIH community, we invite you too to hold on to the question, “Lord, what have you been preparing me/us for?” From the national to local to personal level, it is clear that we live in a time with many challenges and concerns about our individual and shared futures. The highly anticipated 2024 election and its impact looms large in our lives, as do likely many personal realities that don’t make the headlines. As we move into whatever emerges in this season, we hope this question can be a trustworthy companion. We have clues, qualities, insights, skills and stories to lean into that God can use to guide our next steps. And, we have each other.