21st Century Congregations

October 2018

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people,

and respect the dignity of every human being?

"I will, with God's help. (The Book of Common Prayer, "The Baptismal Covenant."

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In my travels around our diocese I see all kinds of political bumper stickers in our church parking lots. From those bumper stickers, it is obvious that we don’t all agree on matters of public policy. We are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and others, all at prayer together.

What binds us together is not ideology, but that by water and the Spirit we have been claimed as Christ’s own, forever. We reaffirm this truth every time we renew our Baptismal Covenant. We do not all agree on the government’s role in providing healthcare for our citizens, but because we are “all in” on respecting the dignity of every human being, it’s not an option for us to turn a blind eye to those who cannot afford to go to see a doctor when they are sick. We do not all agree on what properly belongs at the federal, state, or local level in terms of caring for our neighbors, but we are “all in” on the fact that we have been commanded to not only love God, but to love our neighbor. Who is my neighbor you may ask? One day a lawyer asked Jesus that very same question. He responded with a memorable parable about a Samaritan who showed mercy.

Ours is not a pie-in-the-sky religion. The Baptismal Covenant grounds God’s faithful people in the work God has given us to do right here and now as the Reign of God breaks in on earth as it is in heaven. We strive together for justice and peace among all people and there is no debate in our congregations about whether some deserve to be treated with dignity or not. All bear the image of the living God. And all means all. Every means every.

There is a new publication out from Forward Day-by-Day that I commend to our congregations: The Social Justice Bible Challenge. (You can read some of that book by clicking on this link . ) Some of you may already know about The Bible Challenge , one response to the Biblical illiteracy we face that encourages daily engagement with Holy Scripture. But this forty-day challenge focuses specifically on topics such as poverty, hunger, displacement and the care of widows and orphans. The authors of these meditations include Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal (and son of the Rev. Michael Bullock, a priest in our diocese) and Frank Griswold and Sara Miles, along with many others. I commend it to you. While Lent may seem like one obvious time to do something for forty days, it’s not the only time. I propose that the time is now and Advent – as we prepare to celebrate not only God-with-us but the ministry of John the Baptist and the Song of Mary who imagined the world being turned upside down is a great time to embark on such a journey. One could start on December 1 and go into Epiphany. Or begin on November 15 and finish up on Christmas Eve. Or maybe the time is now – in the midst of celebrating Creation and reflecting on our call to be stewards of God’s gifts.

What might happen if the clergy, wardens, vestry, and whole people of God agreed to this challenge and we commit to spending six weeks or so taking on this challenge from Williamstown to Westborough? What might happen if six or eight or thirty of our congregations accept this challenge? How might we engage with one another in the Berkshires, the Pioneer Valley, and Worcester County if at our lunch conversations this year at Convention we say to one another, “how is your life being transformed by accepting this challenge and reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting these ancient Biblical texts?”

Most importantly, how might our promise to be a people committed to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being take on flesh with specific actions, at a time in this nation’s history when the need for us to be the Church is greater than ever? We aren’t all called to agree on every matter of policy. But can we all agree that we are called to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God?

Rich+

The Rev. Dr. Richard Simpson

Canon to the Ordinary

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The Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts | 413-737-4786 | www.diocesewma.org