It’s a good time to be an Episcopalian.
I am so proud of my denomination and the way so many have been speaking up, speaking out, marching, and finding other ways to make a difference. The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church; The Rt. Rev. Mariann E.Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C.; The Rt. Rev Alan M. Gates, Diocesan Bishop of Massachusetts, who signed a joint statement with all the other Episcopal bishops in New England; The Rev. Robert W. Fisher, Rector of St. John’s Lafayette Square; and others too numerous to mention. They speak for me. They represent the faith I profess—the gospel of grace and the gospel of love—trying to give people a word of support and encouragement in a time of challenge and crisis.
Day after day after day of watching people out in the streets, being assaulted with pepper spray and rubber bullets, shoved by plastic shields and beaten by wooden batons, breaking curfew as an act of civil disobedience, putting their bodies on the line, makes me want to add my two cents in the only way I can.
But this is not a time when I can march.
The backlash to Monday’s photo op, the righteous anger of today’s memorial service in Minneapolis, for George Floyd, the international news coverage and solidarity marches all over the world, the beloved community diversity in the marching crowds, the random acts of kindness and understanding among the marchers who barely know each other… all these things make me feel as though the wind direction has changed.
So I am emboldened to take this as the best occasion to break whatever anonymity I have left (!) and speak my piece.
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This video is half an hour long, and starts with the Acts 2 Pentecost reading. The sermon/reflection begins at 4:05. I will get a transcript up at some point for those who are hearing-impaired and those who don’t have half an hour to give it. But I feel that sermons are an auditory experience and reading the words on the page doesn’t have the same effect as hearing it out loud.
So here goes. My attempt to add my voice to the national conversation. It’s been many years coming.
I do it in part to stand with all the other lay and ordained leaders of my denomination who are out there doing what they can. This is all I can offer right now, but I believe it may add some flavor to the stone soup of inclusive justice ministry we are all creating together right now.
May these words nourish someone’s heart today.
me babe, steppin’ out, into the night, into the light