Love One Another

Beloved,

This has been a challenging season for many. Not only are we grappling with an unexpected virus but we’re facing one of the most divisive political elections in recent memory. To many Americans, regardless of political persuasion, it feels like the very heart of our democracy is at stake.

In times like these it is easy to give into cynicism and despair. It is easy to lose hope for the coming of God’s Kingdom in our world. And yet, these are the precise moments that end up being the precipice for God’s showing up, in unexpected ways, in unexpected places.

The movement of the Holy Spirit is unpredictable. As Jesus says in John’s Gospel, the Spirit “blows where it wills” (John 3:8). There is often no rhyme or reason for how God shows up, at least from our perspective. It can seem random.

Yet I have seen the Spirit reveal itself consistently over the past few months. The way you all have dug in deep together, transitioned into new ways of being in community, and have continued to put your faith into practice has astounded me. I am continually encouraged by your faithfulness, not only to God, but to each other in this new season of being the Church.

If there is anything I think our world yearns for right now, it’s a community of people who come together across boundary lines to embody a different way of being human. This way isn’t rooted in division or violence but is rooted in radical love and self-offering. That’s the spirit I’ve been experiencing in our community, and I’m honestly humbled by it.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you, and also to encourage you to continue living into our practice of being in community together. The next couple of months are going to be challenging, for many reasons. It’s important that we continue to love one another, continue to care for each other, and continue to bear witness to God’s Kingdom in thought, word, and deed.

For me, what this is means is that I have to continually seek Christ in all things, honoring that of God within others and God within myself. That’s our baptismal call and its one which anchors us in seasons like these. 

I am so grateful for each and every one of you, and am so glad that we are on this journey together. You give me hope, when it sometimes feels like hope is in short supply.

I want to lift up the following words for us as we continue to live into who we’re called to be. These words came during a particularly challenging time in Jesus life, when he and his community were on the precipice of significant change. These have often been called Jesus’ “final instructions” to his disciples, since they came relatively close to the end of his earthly ministry. 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” – John 15:12-17 NRSV.

Friends, let us continue to love one another as we bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Will