Lent in an Age of Upheaval

by: Rev. Cameron Trimble

We continue in the season of Lent. Traditionally, this season invites Christians to slow down, create space for inner examination, and prepare for transformation. But this year the invitation feels less symbolic and more immediate.

Over the past week, the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran, escalating tensions that now widen into a larger regional conflict. At the same time, immigration enforcement inside the United States continues to intensify. Detention centers are expanding. Arrest numbers are climbing. In many communities, families are living with deep anticipatory dread and constant fear.

Congregations are feeling the weight of this moment.

Pastors are fielding anxious phone calls from fearful families. Lay leaders are asking how to protect vulnerable members of their communities. People gather on Sunday carrying grief that has no easy place to go.

Religious communities have lived through difficult seasons before. The question is not whether disruption will come.

The question is what kind of communities we will become in the midst of it. We will be exploring this very question starting March 17th with Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox in a series called “Visions for the Common Good.” 

The Work of “Hospicing” a World That Is Ending

Brazilian scholar Dr. Vanessa Machado de Oliveira offers a powerful lens for understanding our moment.

In her book, Hospicing Modernity, she suggests that many of the systems that structured the modern world—economic, political, ecological—are reaching their limits. Rather than trying to restore them to a previous state, societies must learn how to care for systems that are ending while nurturing what might come next.

Hospice is not collapse. Hospice is a practice of care in the midst of endings.

For congregations, this insight is clarifying. Many churches are exhausted because they believe their primary task is to save institutions that no longer function the way they once did.

But what if the calling is different?

What if congregations are being invited to become places that accompany communities through a time of profound transition?

That shift—from institutional survival to communal accompaniment—changes everything.

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“Hospicing is about learning how to sit with endings while remaining open to the possibility of new beginnings.”

— Vanessa Machado de Oliveira

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The Crisis Beneath the Crisis

German sociologist Hartmut Rosa argues that modern societies suffer from a deeper problem than political polarization or economic inequality. We have lost the capacity for what he calls resonance.

Resonance describes moments when people feel genuinely connected to one another, to nature, to meaning, and to the sacred. These experiences create vitality and belonging. But modern life, Rosa argues, is dominated by acceleration and control. As speed increases and relationships thin out, resonance disappears.

The result is widespread alienation.

When resonance disappears, societies become brittle. Institutions lose legitimacy. Fear spreads quickly.

Congregations, at their best, cultivate the opposite.

• They gather people face-to-face.
• They slow time through ritual.
• They connect human life with something larger than itself.

In an age of fragmentation, this may be one of the most important roles religious communities can play.

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“Resonance is a relationship in which both sides speak with their own voice and are capable of responding to one another.”

— Hartmut Rosa

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Moving at the Speed of Trust

Nigerian philosopher Bayo Akomolafe often says, “The times are urgent. Let us slow down.”

Akomolafe is pointing to something many leaders eventually discover: when systems become unstable, rushing to act without relational grounding often reproduces the same patterns we are trying to change.

Congregations can model a different rhythm.

Instead of reacting to every headline, they can cultivate communities that move at the speed of trust—listening deeply, strengthening relationships, and discerning together before acting.

It may not look dramatic. But over time, it creates communities capable of sustained courage.

What Congregations Can Do in the Next 90 Days

When the world feels overwhelming, the most helpful step is often the next faithful one.

Here are several practices congregations can begin experimenting with over the next three months.

Create spaces where grief can be spoken

Many people are carrying enormous emotional weight right now. Congregations can host listening circles, lament services, or small group conversations where people are invited to name their fears and hopes honestly.

Psychologists studying collective trauma consistently find that communities become more resilient when grief is shared rather than suppressed.

Rebuild networks of care

Before churches were program centers, they were networks of mutual care.

Congregations might explore practical ways members can support one another: shared meals, childcare networks, emergency assistance funds, transportation support for elders, and accompaniment for families navigating legal challenges.

These practices may sound simple. They are also deeply countercultural in a society organized around individualism.

Clarify what your congregation stands for

The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that moral courage begins when individuals decide they will no longer participate in systems that violate their conscience.

Congregations may need to ask themselves similar questions:

• Who are the vulnerable people in our community?
• What responsibilities does our faith place on us?
• Where must we draw clear moral boundaries?

Clarity reduces fear and strengthens courage.

Deepen spiritual practice

Activism without spiritual grounding eventually burns out. Congregations can strengthen resilience by renewing practices that cultivate interior stability: silence, prayer, contemplative reading, song, and shared reflection. These practices are not escapes from reality. They are ways of developing the inner capacity to face it.

Begin imagining your congregation’s future role

Finally, congregations can start asking a deeper question through Futures Labs:

What might our community need from a congregation like ours in the coming decade?

Some congregations will become centers for community organizing. Others may focus on spiritual formation, ecological restoration, or healing work in fractured communities. There is no single model. But asking the question can awaken new imagination.

A Final Word

At Convergence, we spend much of our time helping congregations navigate questions like these.

Through Futures Labs and strategic discernment processes, we help communities step back from immediate crises and ask deeper questions about their role in a rapidly changing world.

The future will not be shaped primarily by governments or institutions. It will be shaped by communities that learn how to remain human in the midst of upheaval. And that has always been the work of the church.