When Two Rivers Merge

Here in Pittsburgh, we often speak of three rivers: the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio. But older Indigenous naming traditions offer another way of seeing the same waters: whether the long river was called Ohio or Allegheny, the Monongahela was understood as a tributary flowing into something larger. Same water. Different map. Larger truth.

On this Annual Meeting Sunday, we will reflect on Rev. Christopher Buice’s parable of two arguing rivers and consider how two or more things can be true at the same time. As we prepare to gather around lunch, reports, budgets, elections, memories, hopes, and shared decisions, we will ask what it means for a congregation to flourish not through sameness, but through faithful confluence — many currents joining in one larger life.