Many scholars now suggest that the world is VUCA.
Wait, you think, wasn’t he a French philosopher from the 1700s??
That was Voltaire who was often critical of the church and advocated freedom of speech as well as freedom of religion. But that is really a different post for another time.
Oh, you think, “You must be talking about Dr. Spock from Star Trek. I always loved that when he would do the salute and say, ‘Live long and prosper.’”
He was a Vulcan. But I concur that the saying is pretty awesome.
VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous.
Oh, you think. Let’s go back to talking about Star Trek.
Actually, VUCA is important for where we have been and where we are going. In January, we dove into and dwelled in the words of Jesus around the Greatest Commandment.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31
Rewind and remember how we have discussed ways to love yourself. How difficult it is to love others because people are like onions (thank you, Shrek) and yet we are called into build the Beloved Community. Because God loves us, feeds, and fuels our life with unconditional love, so that we can share/shine God’s love on others.
Okay, but why is it so difficult? One response is because of VUCA. We know this now more than ever. As another COVID variant surges and we wonder how many more. As items unexpectedly and unexplainably disappear from store shelves and we never know what we will find when we go shopping. As we grieve those who have died and our own feelings of uncertainty around what is “normal” anymore? Each day offers new ways to pivot, challenges, and changes that make us feel like we are standing on shifting sand. The world can feel VUCA politically and in our families. The world can feel VUCA in our churches and neighborhoods – just attend an HOA meeting sometime!
Perhaps your own life has had VUCA moments. Feelings of anger at a family member; unsure if you should travel or not; trying to fix one problem while another spins out of control, and never feeling like things are quite settled or that you have landed on the best solution to put the problem behind you.
I encourage you today to ponder prayerfully how this acronym speaks and shows up in your life. My guess is no one reading this is thinking, “You know, Wes, I really am living the dream right now. Thriving in life and leadership. Everything is coming up roses here.” My hunch is that you have some responses and reactions, examples, and experiences of VUCA (maybe not every letter, but I am willing to guess over half of the words relate to your life right now!). Please feel free to share in the comments OR come talk to me OR both. As we prayerfully ponder, lean into the first verse of one of my favorite hymns, “Won’t You Let Me be Your Servant,”
We are pilgrims on a journey,
we are trav’lers on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
May
these words stir our hearts and sit in our souls this day. Amen.
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