Dear Ones,
The morning was electric; young children and their parents excited and eager – with a dash of trepidation. Monday morning was day one for DC Public Schools. Amy, Pattie, her dog Cap’n, and I were out on the steps of St. C’s greeting and cheering kids teeming by on their way to Janney Elementary (older kids headed to Deal or Wilson had passed by earlier).
“Have a great first day!” “It’ll be a great year!” “You’ve got this!” We were boisterous, laughing; for some, a bit embarrassing; but most couldn’t resist a grin in reply, a wave, a word of thanks. Big grins too from the parents on the return trip. Our church bells rang as morning prayer began within.
In that brief window, the volume of concentrated pedestrian traffic was startling for what presents as a quiet residential corner. I like that about St. Columba’s: we’re right at the intersection between home and the rest of life – school, the metro, work, stores, and the rest of the world.
We’ve been humming along at St. Columba’s through these summer months but during the next couple of weeks, many more of you will come streaming back from places far and near.
More than ever, we are called to gather at this church to be about creating a community of integrity and care – for ourselves, for one another, and for the world.
We’re not here by accident. We’re here in response to the deep intentions of our hearts. We’re here because the Spirit of the living God is moving within us, filling us with hope for a life shaped in love.
My hope is that the shape of our relationships here at St. Columba’s inform our relationships in all of life. Through scripture, worship, and community, we affirm that each of us is beloved by God, called to see Christ in the face of one another, and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Given the vitriol and polarization of political discourse, and a growing sense of isolation and separation from one another, the world of 2018 seems to be badly in need of people committed to integrity, truth, and justice. Borrowing from a colleague, St. Columba’s “cannot heal the crisis of this moment. But we cannot retreat from it either.” Our celebration of difference as strength acquires ever deeper significance when tribalism and tribal resentment run amok.
We hold up an ideal of a beloved community; a bold reimagining of relationships shaped by love and the sacredness of life. As followers of Christ, we share a deep commitment to practices of prayer, grateful hearts, radical hospitality, sacrificial generosity, forgiveness, healing and nurture, care for the broken, lonely and oppressed, and a life striving for justice.
Our task is to bring this project to life every day within our walls, to carry into the rest of our lives, knowing that each element is essential to the success of the whole, making space for exploration, vulnerability, faithfulness, for the simple act of trying.
This summer I was with our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry – fresh off his rock-star preacher appearance at Britain’s royal wedding. He received a standing ovation in a packed DC church as he quoted the summary of the Law. I kid you not; all he did was proclaim, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself,” and the crowds went wild. How hungry we are for this resounding truth, for sacred love, for integrity.
Wherever you are, now is the time to come to church, to be the community of Christ, to nurture one another, so that as Gandhi said, we can be the change we wish to see. Love God. Love one another. Here at the intersection between home and the rest of life.
