Being What the Future Requires

Dear friends,

My family often takes a short trip in January when our kids have a few days off school; this year, we went to Los Angeles for Disneyland and the beach. While Pittsburgh froze in single-digit temperatures, we took off our sweatshirts to feel the sunshine (remember sunshine?) on our skin.

Pittsburghers gather outside the Immigration & Customs Enforcement office on the South Side for a weekly vigil.

The same weekend that we spent dipping our toes in the Pacific Ocean, clergy from across

the country heeded the call to come to Minneapolis. Singing and marching, listening to experiences of immigrants and their neighbors, praying with their feet, my colleagues stood for justice while I was standing in line for Dumbo the Flying Elephant. When Alex Pretti, ICU nurse and American citizen, was shot in the back, I was at the Happiest Place on Earth.

The juxtaposition made me feel flat-footed, off-key, and inadequate. To be caught in frivolity at such a time made me wonder: do I have the commitment, the energy, the focus that this hour demands?

Then I remembered the afternoon I spent at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in the days that followed the shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018. I was among a group of faith leaders called in to debrief and console the medical residents who had experienced the trauma of that day in the emergency room.

One of the lead residents told us that he worked an overnight shift on October 26. On the morning of October 27, he clocked out at 8 a.m. and went home. He was fast asleep when the shooting happened, and woke up in late afternoon. He felt ashamed: he feared he had abandoned his colleagues when they needed him most.

But no, the experienced doctors in the room said. His work in the hours prior to the shooting had allowed his colleagues to come in that morning well rested and prepared to serve. It takes everyone, each taking their own turn and doing their own work, to meet the challenge of hard times.

In the emergency room, in all the emergencies our nation and our neighborhoods face today: we need each other. This moment is too big for any one of us to face on their own. We have to take this one in shifts. We have to recognize that no single person brings all the gifts necessary to make the whole world turn toward wholeness, justice, and peace. We have to honor rhythms of work and rest. We have to extend grace to one another, and to ourselves.

At the burning bush, God shared the divine name with Moses: “I AM WHO I AM.” Or, alternatively, “I AM WHO I WILL BE.” Or, as I’ve heard it interpreted, “I will be what the future requires.” It is not up to any human creature to be everything that the coming days demand. Instead, we entrust the future to God’s hands, and take our own small parts in the work God gives us each to do.

Alone, none of us can meet the moment. Together, in coordination, one picking up the song as another takes a breath, we can do more. And when we all join in God’s work, we can walk boldly into the unknown future, trusting beyond our present sight that the victory is already won.

Your sister in Christ,

Liddy.