KEEPING AWAKE TO HOPE IN THE DARKNESS
Many of you have heard me speak of the importance of the letters written to me by those being confirmed, received and reaffirmed. I have begun to notice some common patterns and recognize some similar opinions by the people whom God has sent our way.
I am learning there are many who find in our churches an atmosphere of acceptance, affirmation and, most of all, healing. Our Episcopal Church is a refuge for weary, troubled souls. I have wept over stories of physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse. I have been amazed by stories of perseverance from those who did not give up on church or God. I have been inspired by stories from people who have found in us a sanctuary for which they had been longing. I give thanks that in our churches these saints of God have found balm for their wounds and hope for new life.
I have thought of these people as I continue to lament, shudder, and bristle at the litany of charges of sexual abuse and exploitation in recent weeks. I grieve because I know that for each incident, there are many whose own nightmares are reawakened. I grieve because I know that for every brave prophet who has spoken, there are many others still too wounded and terrified to do so.
However, I am also hopeful and grateful. Prophets have always been the ones whom God sent as a counterweight to institutional power. Prophets were not prognosticators as much as they were truth-tellers. They told the truth about the exploitation of those who had no power by the priests, the public icons, the politicians. They told the truth about the failure to care for all, the failure to respect the dignity of every human being. They told the truth about the mistreatment of the poor by those who were rich. They told the truth about sexual impropriety visited upon the helpless by those in positions of respect and authority. The prophets told the truth, and they did so at great risk and cost. They told the truth about sin and the redemption found only in God.
I encourage you to hear now the prophet’s cry in our time. As disgusting and as painful as it is, let us pray that such courage and truth telling will lead us to a better way. Is it possible that such truth will set us free to live more authentically and responsibly as the people who God yearns for us to be? Thanks be to God for the prophets who have gone before us, and for the prophets who are now among us.
I am compelled, as your bishop, to also say clearly and confidently that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast are dedicated to guarding against all forms of abuse and exploitation. Our church has established a framework of training to protect all people in our churches. Clergy, staff, lay leaders and many volunteers are required to complete this training. It is not just a policy to be kept. It is a means by which we seek for our churches to be refuges for all people.
I once was a member of a group of clergy who gathered each week to discuss the upcoming Sunday readings and share our sermon ideas. Most of us were young and green. Spurgeon Hayes+ was the elder of our group. He would sit quietly, clearly enjoying our rants and ramblings. Then, on more than a few occasions, Spurgeon would interject one of his mantras, "but what about the woman who no one knows who is sitting on the back pew in tears, what word will you offer to her?" I hear his voice even now, and I am grateful for his admonishment to keep awake to those whom the world overlooks and ignores.
“Keep awake” Jesus tells us, and so to you I say as well, “keep awake.” Keep awake to those who are crumbling in the pews of your church; keep awake to the pain and wounds of victims; pray for them aloud in your churches; keep awake so that your own voice may speak the truth that may just admonish the powers and principalities of this world; keep awake and renounce the reality of sin that draws us from the love of God; keep awake to our Christian hope, that even when the suns and moons are dark, and the foundation of creation is shaking, there is reason to look for the signs of the presence and power of God. Keep awake. +Russell
