May 2016
Transition and Change

A Bridge to Change

This article is also available in Spanish here. Este artículo es disponible en español aquí.

There are times when I have a sense of my whole life being one of transition and change. Sometimes the changes are my choice; others are due external circumstances. I accept that transitions are simply a part of being on this earth. Whether we read, listen, or watch the news, this information presents us with a picture of the world in which we live that can sometimes be overwhelming. How are we to respond to what we hear, what we see, and what we experience in a world that seems to be changing faster than we can absorb?

As persons of faith, coming face to face with these realities ought to let us know that what we have before us is quite a challenge for the church and our understanding of who God is in this world as well as what and how God is at work in the midst of these realities. 

I believe our response to transition and change is intrinsically connected to who we are. I have discovered that we all have what I call a “pre-understanding” of any change with which we are presented. Sometimes this is called the “baggage” we bring into any situation; I prefer to call it “pre-understanding.

Recognizing Our Own “Pre-Understandings”

Our “pre-understanding” is shaped by the effects of our personal history, our biases, our culture, all the social systems in which we function, and especially by the language we speak, because language is the chief carrier of the effects of history and culture into our present moment of experiencing life.

However, we are seldom aware of these “pre-understandings” until we get caught short trying to understand something very “other” that challenges our sense of reality such as any unexpected transition or change. For me an early example of this came while serving as a missionary in Honduras in the 1980s, a time when Central America was in turmoil politically. I assumed that because I am Latina, there would be no change in Latin America I could not handle. WRONG. As an American I grew up believing that I have rights and they are not to be violated. In Honduras, I found myself standing up for my rights with a rifle pointed at me.

In my seminary education, I learned proper liturgical practices using the Book of Common Prayer. I never imagined the transition I would have to make when working with people who could not read or write. Courses in Spiritual Theology can teach us so much about the patriarchs and matriarchs of our faith, but how does one explain a faith found in illiterate people who describe their faith in the terms used by John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila when they have never heard of them? 

All these “pre-understandings” contributed to a deep sense of humility that was sometimes hard to accept, but was needed in the role of priest in those circumstances. I learned to be led by the people as well as being a leader for them. I also became aware of my spiritual arrogance.

Self Learning Never Stops

I returned to the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas thinking I was now home and all would be as I had imagined ministry in the Episcopal Church in the United States. WRONG. The little mission church I would serve had been described as a “dusty abandoned church located in the heroin center of the city.” The roof leaked; the Sunday school rooms were filled to the ceiling with old and dusty desks and chairs; and on my first Sunday as rector, six people came.

One morning I arrived at the church and saw nearly 200 people lined up. I arrogantly assumed it was because they had heard I was the new priest. WRONG. They were waiting for Mr. Hernandez, who had a ministry of distributing a box of Ruby-Red grapefruit to each person every Wednesday morning.

This was one of those times we experience a sense of distance or remoteness from our own reality. I am convinced this is what makes understanding both possible and necessary. It calls for us to lay our world aside, as best we can, and let the otherness come through all on its own. This can be difficult, especially when associated with change.

The following Wednesday I made coffee and invited everyone to come in to wait for the grapefruit truck. I asked how they knew about this church, how long they had lived in the neighborhood, and their experience of participating at this church. I learned that this little church had played a very important role in their lives – their children had been baptized here, they had buried people through this church, gotten married, etc. This time of coffee and conversation, of waiting together, turned out to be an opportunity for people to share their connection to this little neighborhood church. I experienced the beginning of a resurrection.

The key for bringing this little church back to life was my being open to change and willing to adjust to what the community was expressing as a need for a place of worship in a challenging and changing neighborhood.

Moving Out of Our Comfort Zones

Four years later, another change was on the horizon. I was offered a job in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as diocesan coordinator of multicultural ministry. The role involved working with urban churches such as historically Black congregations, Asian congregations (Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean) and Latino congregations. After turning it down, the offer was later extended again; I began to wonder if perhaps this could be a call from God and I was refusing to listen. I took the position, once again on a path of “transition and change.”

When I moved to Los Angeles, I quickly discovered the need to rid myself of the idea that other voices speak with the same set of meanings as I do. (An important learning for all of us.) I needed to become “suspicious,” and recognize I didn’t really know what a specific reality might mean for everyone.” Perhaps said another way – “once again, I had to give up my arrogance!”

This story of my early work with the Asian clergy in the diocese serves as an example. We had a meeting, we were in agreement (or so it seemed to me), and then they asked for a break and all went to the bathroom. Because they were all men I was excluded. After about a half hour they came back and presented me with a plan from their perspective for moving forward.

Working with this group of Asian clergy changed my life. I am convinced that without “listening from the horizon of the other” there can be no conversation. I have always suspected that true conversation occurs when I will never be the same because I have been in your presence and you will never be the same because you have been in my presence. It is at this moment that we can begin to entertain the thought that perhaps “something else might be the case.” Perhaps the meaning we give to life is not the same everywhere in the world. Perhaps there is another way of experiencing God and God’s hand at work in the world of which we are not yet aware.

The Transitions Continue…

From Los Angeles I moved to a position at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, followed by retirement and a move to the Diocese of Arizona. After a few months, I began working at the Diocese. As Canon for Multicultural Ministry, I worked with the Sudanese community, using all I had learned before. Together we opened a Sudanese congregation in Phoenix, established a scholarship program to help members of this community attend college, and began to offer leadership retreats for them.

We next started a Spanish language congregation at the Cathedral, La Trinidad Community. Currently I am the vicar at a Spanish language congregation sharing space with the congregation at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in West Phoenix. We worshiped at Santa Maria for about a year and then the church burned down. Perhaps this was a sign that it was time to really retire. However the members of this mission continued to attend church although we were meeting under a tree. The church began to grow. The church was rebuilt; we moved into the new space, and currently have about 350 members.

Being Open to Change

How and why changes and transitions happen in our lives remains a mystery. What I do know is they are part of life. How we respond is profoundly based on who we are culturally, socially, and especially spiritually. Learning to manage transition is about recognizing that every change is truly an opportunity to move forward and not a stumbling block to make us stop.

Years ago I read a little book about building bridges and concluded I could learn about being open to change if I applied some of its principles. I offer them to you:

  • Be free and floating yet firmly based on a relationship with God
  • Accept the fact that there will always be strong winds that will present challenges
  • Remember that a good bridge must be content to being stepped on and driven over; that’s what bridges are for
  • Maintain balance: exercise discernment in making choices and weigh contrasting realities

Try This
What issues are facing your vestry at this moment? Are you feeling stuck or experiencing resistance or confusion? Consider how your individual responses may reflect your own “pre-understanding” of the situation and as such, perhaps contributing to the problem. Is there something you might be missing – or misinterpreting – based on this “pre-understanding?” Reflect on areas of confusion or disagreement by looking at the situation through the lens of another; this often involves examination of your own assumptions related to word definitions or knowledge help by others. Building skills in this area may strengthen your effectiveness as a communicator and a leader.

Carmen Guerrero, an Episcopal priest, serves as pastor at Santa Maria Episcopal Church in Phoenix, Arizona. A graduate of Sewanee, her ministry has included serving as a missionary in Honduras, as a parish priest in the dioceses of West Texas and Arizona, as a member of the diocesan staff in Los Angeles and Arizona, and as Jubilee Officer for The Episcopal Church based in New York.

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This article is part of the May 2016 Vestry Papers issue on Transition and Change