“The Radical Nature of Embracing Possibility”
Dear Ones,
Some of you have been speaking to me recently about feeling more radicalized than you ever have and wanting to be more active politically in opposition to injustice than you ever have. Many of these conversations include naming the realization that, as “Vanessa Machado de Oliveira says in her book Hospicing Modernity, “injustice is the natural byproduct of modernity’s inherent structures of domination, power, violence, and colonialism.” Many of you are talking to me about looking for hope and wondering if it’s possible to build a better world.
I believe a better world is indeed possible on the other side of this horrible point in history, but that possibility doesn’t come wrapped up in a gift box. You can’t just tear off the wrapping paper and find what you’ve hoped for inside – and there it is – Everything’s Great! Possibility requires courage. We must be brave enough to consider different possibilities. We must be brave enough to give up certainty and assume an emotional as well as an intellectual posture of curiosity. We must be brave enough to give up some of our personal preferences and privileges for the good of the community and the good of the world, trusting that others will too. Possibility requires trusting that there are enough resources within us and within our community and our congregation and the world around us to “justify ultimate if not immediate optimism” – a cornerstone of our liberal faith according to James Luther Adams.
Considering possibilities doesn’t have to be fearful – it can be hopeful. The way it’s always been is safe, but limiting – we may need ideas, practices, customs, programs, and laws that are brand new to all of us. But instead of thinking of this as too risky to chance, how does our attitude change if we think of this as too risky NOT to chance?
Possibility unleashes creativity. Possibility unleashes energy. Possibility and creative energy are attractive. Possibility unshackles us from the way we’ve always done it so we can create together the way we need to do it from now on. Possibility enables us to not only move forward but create a future even more glorious and storied than our past.
Hopefully,
Rev. Tony
Daily Practice for April 2026 on Embracing Possiblities
Chalice Lighting
May this flame cast its light toward the coming days, reminding us that “the future is not simply a place we are going, but a place we are creating. – Scott Taylor and John Schaar
Reflection
“We are attendants at the wake of the old way, and each of us—through our actions, our thoughts, our work and relationships—is midwifing a new world into existence… and when we come to our days with this awareness, when we fully wake up to this tremendous privilege, when we sense the oak in the acorn of our beings, then we will have the energy to move mountains and shift the tides.” – Jan Phillips
Chalice Extinguishing
There is so much work to do. We have only begun to imagine justice and mercy. Help us hold fast to our vision of what can be. – Rev. Bill Sinkford