Do we want a beautiful city free of violence, racism, classism, sexism, greed, self-righteousness, partisanship, and ongoing division that is wasting our communities? These are shackles and fetters that must be broken and only the truth can do that.

So let us sit together in the public square and boldly pursue the truth together. We can do it with openness, transparency, humility, laughter, and joy.

Easter Sunday is still the ultimate reset for the followers of Jesus. Just as the Church was awakened to a bright new reality 2,000 years ago, so too, the modern Church should embrace again the life-giving power of the resurrection of Jesus.

I propose there are several affirmations the Church can make that will chart a new trajectory for generations to come.

Peacekeeping is exhausting because it requires constant avoidance of problems, calculating the cost of missteps, and manipulating circumstances to keep warring groups from fighting. Peacekeepers try to keep the temperature down while anger and bitterness is boiling due to unresolved issues. At some point unresolved tensions will blow up. The peacekeeping leader knows this and it causes a great deal of stress to prolong the explosion.

Exhausted, beat up, despairing leaders should be a cause of deep concern for our communities. These leaders are the people who are guiding the institutions that have held our fragile bonds together. If our leaders are all looking for a way out it means they are not energetically building the very institutions our children will need to prosper. Further, they are not fueled to fend off the attacks happening at the foundational level of their organizations.