Dear Ones, 

I read a lot of speculative fiction – that genre of science fiction that envisions worlds and futures that might be, by exploring human behavior in various possible settings.  I think there’s a lot to learn from how fiction writers imagine that we might deal with the impacts of realities like systemic oppression and climate chaos and authoritarianism, especially in the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic settings that are common in this genre.  They offer a wide range of possibilities, from the hardest-to-admit visions of how we might turn on each other as we strive for our own individual survivals, to the most hopeful visions of how we might emerge having finally learned that we can only really thrive if we’re looking after each other.  We need all of our imaginations, as Octavia Butler, a Black author of speculative fiction, said: “…there’s no single answer that will solve all of our future problems.  There’s no magic bullet.  Instead there are thousands of answers – at least.  You can be one of them if you choose to be.”

This offers me hope as our world becomes increasingly like the settings of these novels.  I often reflect on how vital it is to build community and systems of mutual aid in the cruelty and chaos that is now our present time – if the systems aren’t going to take care of us, we need to take care of each other.  I’m realizing as I write this, that mutual aid and community are also important to building a future in which we can all thrive – that gathering and manifesting many possible outcomes works best when we do it together.  All of us need all of us to make it.  The practice of imagination is communal.

And so I ask us to share with each other – what vision, what hope, what possibilities do each of us bring to this congregation?  And in what ways are we willing to participate in our communal imagination?

In faith and love, Karen

[May 1, 2025]