We are honored to introduce Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque as a new monthly voice in our community. Zina is a pastor, writer, and longtime leader in spaces dedicated to dialogue, dignity, and belonging. She also serves as a member of Interfaith America’s Board of Directors.
Once a month, she will offer a Sacred Pause. A brief reflection inviting space for clarity, grounding, and thoughtful engagement with difference.
At a time when our public life often rewards speed over depth, this series invites you to slow down and remember what it means to build a shared civic life with intention.
We look forward to this journey together.
A Sacred Pause: October
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about recognizing the humanity of others.
But what happens when someone doesn’t recognize yours?
In this month’s Sacred Pause, Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque explores a truth we often overlook in conversations about bridgebuilding, dialogue, and pluralism: honoring the dignity of others should never require forfeiting your own.
You do not have to make yourself smaller to build connection.
You do not have to disappear in order to belong.
Holding your dignity is not a distraction from the work. It is foundational to it.
A Sacred Pause: September
In this month’s Sacred Pause, Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque offers a reminder many of us need to hear: there is a difference between commitment and depletion.
The people most likely to burn out are often the ones who care the most. The ones who keep showing up. Keep explaining. Keep trying to bridge divides.
But there comes a moment when your body, your mind, and your spirit tell you the truth.
Enough for today.
Listening to that truth is not weakness. It is wisdom.
A pause is sometimes the very thing that allows us to keep showing up tomorrow.
A Sacred Pause: August
What if one of your wisest teachers has been trying to get your attention all along?
In this month’s Sacred Pause, Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque invites us to consider the signals we often ignore. The tension. The fatigue. The quiet reminders that we are carrying more than we can sustain.
As a new school year begins and life settles into a faster rhythm, this reflection offers an important reminder: rest is not the reward for endurance. It is what makes endurance possible.
A pause is not a failure of purpose. It is how purpose survives.
A Sacred Pause: July
Things feel unsteady right now.
As we approach America’s 250th anniversary, many of us are asking what it means to build a shared future in a time of deep change.
In this month’s Sacred Pause, Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque offers a practice of steadiness. Not as silence or withdrawal, but as a way of staying grounded in what matters most.
Name one value that holds you.
Carry it with intention.
Let it shape how you move through difference.
A steady people can build a nation that endures.
A Sacred Pause: June
Every person you pass today is carrying something worthy.
In this month’s Sacred Pause, Rev. Dr. Zina Jacque invites us to consider what it means to truly see one another. Not just in theory, but in practice. Especially when difference feels unfamiliar or challenging.
Across traditions, there is a shared truth. The person in front of you matters.
The question is whether we choose to live like it.
A Sacred Pause: May
Before you scroll, pause.
What story are you carrying beneath the surface right now?
The story underneath shapes how we listen, how we judge, and how we respond to difference.
This month, try noticing the story you bring into the room. Not to fix it. Just to see it.
Because awareness is where change begins.
