Learn, Pray, Act
Beloved friends of Christ, as your clergy we want to say two
things today: (1) we love you, and, (2) by pulling together, we can live into
what God has promised to make us: one in Christ Jesus.
When Jesus’ disciples were first learning to be followers,
he told them that people who receive the word and accept it bear fruit, not
just a little fruit but thirty and sixty and a hundredfold. (Mark 4:20)
This is just the moment to pull together and remember that
God gives us the word — Holy Scriptures and the teachings we get from them — so
that we will not just survive but bear fruit that blesses people far beyond us.
God’s power will do this even though we may be exhausted from Coronavirus, job
losses, and the collective realization we cannot avoid: George Floyd’s death
reminds us of the sin we all are vulnerable to falling into, failing to fully
respect the dignity of a child of God, based on their skin color. In short,
racism. We are a nation grieving in many ways. We are also a band of disciples,
driven by the mission of the Episcopal Church: to restore all people to unity
with God and each other in Christ (BCP p.855.) God reminds us that, if we
diligently receive the word, God will bless us to be a blessing: thirty, sixty
and a hundredfold. God is giving us the opportunity to pull together and learn,
pray and act together.
We want to start by inviting you into opportunities to learn
together. We will continue to offer ways to pray together, as we have been
doing, and there will be other opportunities too. And as we receive the word
and think together about what may be stopping us from fully living into the
love and flourishing of all God’s children, we will find ways to act to be
healers and reconcilers. These practices of Learn, Pray, and Act are intended
to guide us into the healing work of racial reconciliation. Stay tuned for
upcoming information about learning groups.
We are particularly interested in learning more about the
struggles of people of color. Our intention
is to educate ourselves by listening to the voices of our Black and Brown
members and neighbors, and tending to our relationships, as siblings in
Christ. Presiding Bishop Curry’s sermon
for Pentecost is a great place to start, along with the links provided by the
national Episcopal Church. Click here
for the sermon & resources. We also
hope to work with those of you who are interested in leading in your own ways.
God loves us with a never-failing love. So let us love one
another and bear abundant fruit that lasts.
In Christ -
Reverends Shirley, Richard, and Darren
