Standing Committee Communication
Posted Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Diocesan Voices
In his recent Eastertide column, Bishop Allen Bishop reminded us that “We are now called to live as the wounded but risen Body of Christ, bearers of forgiveness, hope, and joy”. Although it might be easy to fall into the trap of focusing on how “our spirits here are troubled,” I wanted to share some of the other messages that we have received over recent weeks. I thank those who penned these messages and allowed me to share them with you.
We need not move forward with fear, but with trust that God is doing good things in our midst.
...we hurt, we are angry, some of us want to cry, others are on the verge of giving up. I suspect that every single one of us has felt all of these emotions over the past few months, if not longer. We want someone to lead us out of this. But the truth is, we all can only hold the hand of the one behind us and in front of us and together lead each other to the place of safety.
We are fortunate in this endeavor in that we all are a people of the faith we hold in Jesus Christ. We have this peculiar faith that was founded out an execution and yet rose to exceeding glory. We all know from our faith that the trauma is not the end result, we have this new life that has been given to us. I for one, hope we all will seize upon this gift and claim it as our path forward. As a people of this faith we have been given, I hope we will not let the pain, the trauma, the tears, the anger be the final answer. In truth we cannot let it be so.
In Deuteronomy God says, “I set before you life and death. Choose Life.” That is our work: to take both the trauma and all attendant feelings into consideration as well as to choose to live our lives more fully. Fear drives out faith. Choosing life turns us toward hope and new possibilities. Let us choose life by living fully, loving wastefully and becoming more of who we were created to become.
This is an opportunity for us to deepen our centeredness in Christ through prayer, meditation and sacrament as we hold one another and seek first the kingdom of God.
I ask that we all prayerfully consider these messages as we continue our conversation about the Diocese at the Standing Committee’s Open Forum on Sunday, April 27, 2008 from 4-6PM at St. Mary’s Church, Wayne.
D-L Wormley, Standing Committee