A Living Part of the Growing Edge | January 25, 2026 | Rev. Karen Melander-Magoon

We often feel lonely in the holidays, wondering where we belong in all the festivities.  

January comes, the light is still thin, but we enter the world again.  The sunrise and sunsets are vibrant and we feel renewed.  

This may be the moment to connect with our inner selves; we yearn for communion, first with ourselves and then with the community.  

Howard Thurman viewed loneliness not just as an absence of people, but as a profound spiritual yearning, often overcome by connecting deeply with oneself (the "Sound of the Genuine") and finding kinship with all of life, moving from isolating individualism towards meaningful community and a larger spiritual connection. 

The Sound of the Genuine

There is something in every one of you that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and if you cannot hear it, you will never find whatever it is for which you are searching and if you hear it and then do not follow it, it was better that you had never been born…

Thurman distinguished between isolating loneliness and solitude, encouraging embracing stillness for inner discovery, but warned against shutting oneself off, emphasizing that genuine community and love are antidotes to true isolation. 

We are ourselves and each other.  Once we understand that, we

may be alone, but not lonely.  

Today I walked through Golden Gate Park, enjoying the Redwoods and the bareness of the rose garden, waiting for springtime buds. 

I could feel the roots of trees communing beneath me as I looked upwards through the branches of giant trees at the blue sky. I was by myself and yet not alone. I felt the presence of trees and grasses and all of nature.

Kahlil Gibran described loneliness as a "silent storm that breaks all our dead branches".  In solitude we find our most profound depth and reach towards our spiritual inner core.  We come alive and are alive to others.  We become part of the growing edge.  

In 1. Kings Isaiah feels he is isolated and relies on a whisper from God to know he is not alone, just as Jesus finds support from God in his forty days of solitude and the hours before his crucifixion and death.  Aloneness seems to call us to find who we really are and learn to find truth in God and the ability to sustain and be sustained by others.

The early months of the year ask us to be watchful, accept nature's darkness to embrace our spirits and ready ourselves for the coming light.

Howard Thurman saw light always present in darkness, as when a diver descends into the abyss of the sea and finds luminescence in the depths. All of us who are divers have experienced this. Thurman perceived these moments in our spirits as moments of spiritual awakening.

May we all, in these difficult times, experience light and hope in our lives so we may remain a living part of our growing edge.

Blessings to us all.