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Beloved in Christ,
At five o’clock this morning, my daughter and I went for a run together, as we often do. It was very dark, and the fog was so dense we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us, even with our headlamps. It was a longer run for Mari, and we stopped at the turnaround point for a minute or two to regroup for the trip back. As we passed another figure shrouded in the mist, we all went out of our way to warmly greet each other.
For many across our diocese and our nation, this morning feels covered by a dense fog. For many others, there is great rejoicing. That is probably the only thing that was certain regardless of the election’s outcome - one more chapter in a now long and bitter epoch in our nation’s history.
It is worth remembering today that Jesus is God’s small, good thing for the world. The path of life Jesus sets out for us isn’t forged by victory through force. It is forged by the small, good thing of standing in the broken, forgotten places, with the forgotten, vulnerable people. It is forged as God’s extravagant love reaches over every division that tears God’s children apart. While the world will always worship and covet what is big and powerful, small and humble is how God saves that world from itself.
In the season to come, there will inevitably be much we are called upon to say and do, which will require great courage and great faith. It is always so in a sinful and fallen world. For now, and for today, it is enough to sit for a time with the fact that it is not your job or mine to save the world from the fog that enfolds it. It is your job and mine to join Jesus in being God’s small, good things that point to God’s better way of love. It is your job and mine to run together in the fog, clinging to each other, pausing together to rest and recover, reaching out to our neighbors in love, standing with and for those whose dignity and lives are threatened. It is your job and mine to follow the lead of our ancient mothers who also set out together in the early dark, and found, as God’s people have across the centuries, that God’s small and humble love topples every fearful power under heaven, and heals all creation in the warmth of its light.
Grace and Peace, |
