How tired has the phrase “the new normal” become for you? Given that the world we knew has in so many ways, become irretrievable, how might we live with intention this year, on this island, with each other?

In an interview toward the end of his life, the ecological writer Barry Lopez stated that in the Anthropocene, the world is changing so quickly, and the problems we are facing are so deep and so systemic, what is required of us now is nothing less than heroic. But the model of hero we have inherited from both history and popular culture no longer works for the world in which we now live. What if the heroic required of us now is what Lopez calls “the heroism of community”? And how do we support each other in that kind of heroism, this new year?

Drawing upon Lopez, Thomas Merton (one of Barry’s early inspirations), Robin Wall Kimmerer and Joseph Campbell, let’s explore together.

Rev. Carla Pryne is a retired Episcopal priest living on Maury Island with her husband Eric, dog Max, and a whole lot of honeybees. She was the pastor at Church of the Holy Spirit from 2010-2016.