Tammerie Day

Eric Adams describes his experience as an African American citizen and father as well as a police officer in blue uniform in this guest column; what can only be a painful intersection every day has become searing this week.

Whether we are facing personal conflict in our relationships, or leaning into the harder conversations of our society—like those around racial injustice and sexual identity—many of us struggle to listen to what needs hearing and speaking what needs saying. Listening is a core competency for me as a pastor and chaplain, but I am finding listening also can be a revolutionary and democratic act.

When I worked for a business consultancy, I loved the pace. We worked with companies trying to make large-scale changes as quickly and efficiently as possible. The rate of growth and learning in these companies was steep; people would say a month in this kind of hyperdrive was like six months in normal operations. As our team moved from company to company, we felt like we were gaining years of experience in months. A chaplain’s 24-hour on-call in the hospital can feel like that.

Surf’s up on religious doubt....