By Brittany Price
Who am I? What do I believe in? Who do I love? What do I value? Answering these questions helps shape our identities as individuals, communities, and organizations.
It is tempting to answer these questions with negatives. Who am I not? What do I not believe in? Who do I dislike? I remember reading in NPR that the TikTok algorithm is so successful at curating content for you because it measures not only what you like, but what you don’t like. The videos you quickly flick away from say just as much about you that the videos that you choose to watch do.
I don’t think that this serves us well as human beings. I don’t want to be defined by what I am not, even though the culture and politics around me want me to do exactly that. I am not a program or an algorithm, and community is not the same as content.
Several articles this month ask questions about identity. Who is the church organization and what belief binds us together? Who and how do we welcome people into the gates of the New Jerusalem? How do we make worship and community spaces that are not merely permissive spaces, but ones that spiritually nourish every one of us?
Community requires discernment, and disagreement is inevitable. An evolving and living community requires addressing these questions honestly and with charity, and I believe that Convention is the perfect time to have these discussions with each other. As we hold these conversations we should remember to focus on who we are and not on who we are not.
—Brittany Price
Read the full issue of the June Messenger.
Meet Brittany Price
Brittany Price has been the editor of the Messenger since November, 2025. Prior to that, she spent several years as the Operations Manager of the Swedenborgian Church of North America. Brittany holds a MA in Anthropology from Tulane University and lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, five children, and Scrapple the cat.
