Tools for Transformation: Cultivating Our Resilience in Uncertain Times
What a time to be alive. Every day (every hour?) news headlines pop up about something previously unthinkable happening in our world. I’ve been taking in small sips of news, especially post-inauguration in the U.S., trying to stay current but being careful that I don’t overwhelm myself with things outside of my control.
There is no escaping the fact that the new U.S. administration – and the far-right movement that is propelling it – as well as similar forces amplifying these views in Canada, are bringing changes that impact our daily lives, our work at KAIROS, and our partners around the world. What a time to be alive, and to be working for ecological justice and human rights across Turtle Island and globally.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about change lately, and what it means to navigate this intense time of change together as a community, and as a movement of people who care about dignity and justice for all people and for our sacred planet (and all planets and asteroids and moons vulnerable to extractive industries…).
If there is one thing that we know, it is that the pace of change will not slow down. But we also know that we have dealt with change before, that we as an ecumenical body, as a movement for justice, have experience adapting, shifting, changing to meet the moment. I wrote about this on my Imagining Change blog last week:
“Looking ahead, even looking present, at the chaos and uncertainty, the unthinkable things happening, the political instability and uncertainty in Canada & US, and in the relationship between the two countries that I belong to as a dual citizen, there is no managing change or going through a process of change to arrive at some fixed point. Change is a fast moving current around us, and our challenge is to find ways to flow with it, to “cultivate a culture of change resilience” as change management thought leader Paul Okoye recently put it.
“That is the leadership call to action of this moment – to cultivate change resilience to be adaptable as people and as organizations, churches, institutions and groups of all kinds. The changes are happening faster than we can anticipate. What is in our hands is our capacity to rise to the moment, to respond to what is asked of us, and know when to hold steady and when to bend, twist, shift, and when to sink deep and stay in the still, dark waters, to endure. Sometimes we get to choose that and sometimes we don’t.”
One of my favourite pieces of art, by artist Olly Costello, features the phrase “We have been given all the tools.” As KAIROS, as our movement together, we are gifted and equipped to lead and engage our community and our country in transformation towards justice and peace. It is not in our hands how everything turns out in the end, but it is in our hands what we do with the many tools and resources that we have in our network. We know how to do this – KAIROS and its predecessor coalitions have been doing this work – navigating changing political and global contexts – for more than 40 years. We have adapted and continually found ways to work together to make change happen.
Finally, I want to share a quote with you from someone inspired by seeing the Jubilee 2025 campaign announcement shared on LinkedIn recently:
“It’s initiatives like these that keep me hopeful for the future of humanity on this planet…”
So, let’s keep on doing what we’re doing, finding joy in community and relationships together even as we push back against despair and apathy to keep showing up anyway, to keep taking the next necessary step towards a future of flourishing for everyone. It is one of my greatest sources of strength and courage for the journey right now that we are doing this together, and every day I get to show up to the work in front of us and do just a little bit more to push forward the work of transformation in community with a whole KAIROS movement and our many partners for human rights and ecological justice around the world. We have the tools, and together we are getting down to the work we know how to do to plant seeds and cultivate transformation towards justice.
The quoted text above is drawn from Leah’s Imagining Change blog
By Leah Reesor-Keller, KAIROS transitional executive director
