Over the past several weeks, our congregation has been navigating a difficult situation. You can read the SSUC Board’s update in case you missed it being read on Sunday, September 20th. To quote, “in the summer, a conflict arose that strained relationships between staff, committees, and the Board and, in turn, affected the broader SSUC community…a conflict that involves communication, relationships, and administrative processes.” The Board has also shared that the “Northern Spirit Regional Council has been engaged to help us review the situation, support mediation, and identify a constructive path forward.”
Let’s be honest: we know that some people within our community have been deeply hurt by this conflict and some have re-evaluated the roles they’ve filled. We wonder what’s happened, why, how it was handled, and what’s being done about it.
As a congregation, we find ourselves in a place that most of us don’t particularly enjoy: the middle of the story. The middle of a story is rarely tidy. It’s the place where questions outnumber answers, where understanding is still developing, and where outcomes aren’t yet clear. It’s also the place where patience is often most difficult. We want resolution. We want clarity. We want to know how things will be made right. Yet growth, healing, and learning rarely happen on demand.
One of the realities of any community is that we are normal human beings gathering together. We bring wisdom and generosity, dedication and good intentions. And we also bring limitations, misunderstandings, mistakes, differing perspectives, and moments when we fall short of the values we aspire to embody. This is true of families, workplaces, volunteer organizations, and congregations alike.
I know that we want to understand what’s happened honestly, learn from it, and respond in ways that strengthen rather than diminish our relationships. That is the work before all of us now.
The process currently underway in partnership with the regional council is intended to help us better understand what has happened, where relationships and processes may have broken down, what wisdom can be learned, and what steps might help us move forward in a healthier way. Such work takes time. It requires listening. It requires careful attention. It requires space for reflection and for people to speak honestly about their experiences.
It also requires grace – the practice of remembering that every person involved is a human being doing their best within imperfect circumstances. Grace allows us to remain curious rather than rushing to judgment. Grace invites us to listen before concluding, to learn before reacting, and to remain connected to one another even when we don’t yet have all the answers.
At SSUC, we often speak about our commitments to belonging, compassion, connection, wisdom, and resilience. The true importance of these values becomes evident when things are difficult; it’s during challenging seasons that we’re invited to practice patience, deepen our understanding, and strengthen our commitment to one another. Those values remain steady even when circumstances feel uncertain. None of us is perfect at this, but resilience means we’ll keep trying. This is what I ask of all of us.
In time, we hope to emerge from this time with learning and wisdom. We hope to strengthen relationships where possible, improve our processes where needed, and deepen our capacity to be the kind of community we aspire to be. I trust that when the board is freer to share that learning and wisdom, we will all be open to its potential to help us grow through reflection, honesty, accountability, and applying what’s most important to us.
Until then, I invite us all to hold this season with patience and care, to extend compassion to those carrying the weight of this work, and to trust the process underway in partnership with the Northern Spirit Regional Council.
Community is larger than any single moment of difficulty. We’ve all had a hand in building this congregation through decades/years/months of friendship, service, generosity, justice, learning, and shared purpose. Those gifts have not disappeared! They remain available to us now.
May we continue to support one another with kindness. May we remain committed to understanding, to learning, to grace, and to connection. And may we trust that, together, we can move through this unfinished chapter with wisdom, compassion, and hope.
With heart,
Christopher New