Becoming and Change

Lately, it feels like many of us are carrying a great deal. Some in our community are navigating uncertainty about the future. Some are exhausted by the constant noise of politics and the ways LGBTQ people, especially our transgender siblings, continue to be targeted. Some are trying to rebuild after heartbreak, loss, burnout, or disappointment. Others are simply trying to figure out what comes next in life and faith. Even when we gather for worship, service projects, or meals together, it is clear that many of us are in seasons of transition.

 And yet, one thing I continue to notice about our community is this: people keep showing up anyway.

 We show up for one another at Project Host. We show up around tables for conversation and laughter. We show up carrying questions, fears, hopes, and sometimes very fragile faith. Over time, those moments begin to shape us. Not instantly. Not dramatically. But slowly and steadily, we are becoming something together.

 I think many of us were taught to imagine spiritual growth as becoming more certain, more polished, or somehow “finished.” But real life rarely works that way. Most growth happens in the middle of uncertainty. We change through relationships. Through struggle. Through being challenged. Through learning to let go of old ways of seeing ourselves, God, and other people. Even healing is usually less like flipping a switch and more like learning how to breathe again little by little.

 That can be uncomfortable because change often asks something of us. It asks us to release old fears, old assumptions, and sometimes even old identities that no longer fit who we are becoming. But staying exactly the same is not the goal of spiritual life. Growth requires movement.

 As New Day Fellowship continues growing into a church beyond the walls, I believe we are being invited into that movement together. We are becoming a community rooted less in performance and appearances and more in authenticity, compassion, justice, and connection. We are learning that faith is not about having every answer. It is about remaining open to transformation and trusting that new life can still emerge, even in difficult seasons.

 So perhaps the question for us right now is not simply, “What do we believe?” but “Who are we becoming?”

 I believe the answer is still unfolding among us every time we choose love, honesty, courage, and community over fear and isolation.