Daily Reflection | Connected in Christ

Wednesday, June 3, 2020
The Rev. Rob Stevens

A Letter to the St. John’s Community
The Work Ahead

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

These two questions come at the end of our baptismal covenant.  These promises are at the heart of what it means to be a part of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement.  When these questions are asked at St. John’s they are answered with a hearty “WE WILL!”

Just like most of you I am reeling after the events of this week.  George Floyd, a beloved child of God was brutally murdered by those who took an oath to serve and protect him.  His words, “I can’t breathe” echo in my head and heart. 

Racism is real and it is present.  Denying this fact is disrespectful at best and dangerous at worst.  We all have preconceived unconscious ideas of each other based on race.  It just is.  I am suggesting that Racism like Sin is a human condition and one that must be confronted.  Denying this or deflecting it keeps us stuck in our sin, but if we accept this reality and confess it, we have to opportunity to heal not only ourselves but each other.  We are freed of the paralysis of “feeling guilty” and compelled beyond just “not being racist”, but to actively being anti-racist!

Our brothers and sisters of color are hurting.  Many are afraid.  What will we do?  I invite you to listen.  Listen to those whose voices have been silenced for too long.  We have much to learn from each other.  This is uncomfortable.  We need to sit in our discomfort.  George Floyd’s murder was heinous and one on a long list.  Our discomfort is human.  Thank God we are uncomfortable. I urge you, especially if you are white, to resist shedding your discomfort.  Your fellow parishioners of color have been uncomfortable for a long time.  Maybe it is time for all of us to be uncomfortable.

I do not propose a simple solution to this incredibly complex stain on our society that is over 400 years old, but I do promise to listen, to seek to learn, to tell my truth, to seek to love all God’s children and call out and fight against oppression of any kind.  Our community is capable of great goodness.  If we have the courage to sit with our pain and discomfort, I have faith that God will lead us into a new understanding.  This is not magic…This is the process of healing and becoming a community that truly cares for all.  In order to BE the church, we must acknowledge our darkness as well as our light.  I pray that as our country continues to struggle with Racism and division that we as a community of faith grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Way of Love we will not shy away from this hard work.  

One prayer that aligns me with this hard work of listening, confession and reconciliation is the Prayer attributed to St. Francis.  May we pray this with the expectation that it will move us to action so that George Floyd will not have died in vain. 

 

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.
–Book of Common Prayer 1979, page 833

 Here are some resources with information and opportunities to begin doing this vital work: