Good News, Bad News, Good News 

Some reflections on how to survive as a Church, Nation and World

The Good News about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The bad news about the Episcopal Church is that there’s room for everybody. The Good News of Gospel is that it can teach us how 2 live with everybody, even if our faith leads us to see the world differently from one another. In the Gospel of Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, we see Jesus send out the seventy disciples two by two throughout the land to invite people into a relationship with God and with one another. He sends them out with these instructions: “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so pray that the Lord will send more laborers into the harvest.” Then Jesus admonishes them be those laborers, to “travel light”: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.

“Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near. But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'” So, whether the people welcomed the disciples or not, the Kingdom of God had come near to them.

The following prayer from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer sums up in this Gospel in one small Paragraph. “O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.” 

How can we live out the Gospel and this prayer in a church where there is room for everybody? How do we, the Body of Christ, proclaim this good news in a country where there is so much division, even among those of us who follow Jesus? Answer: refer to the above prayer! 

I want to refer to politics, but this is not a political statement. This a statement about faith, about how the good news of the Gospel of Christ can shape our politics and our relationships. As we look at political actions and relationships, we first remember the words of Jesus that “the Kingdom of God has come very near you. 

Having said that, I want to reflect on our responses to the many decisions handed down by the Supreme Court this past week. Decisions affecting abortions, gun rights, carbon emissions, and immigration. The reactions by the citizens of our country and the members of our religious communities have been quick and emotional and diverse. Many people have been thrilled and excited and joyful. Others have been disappointed, angry, hurt and heart broken. Many of the people on all sides of these important issues are people of faith, who have made their decisions based on their faith and their life experiences, just as you and I have come to our decisions based on our own faith and life experiences. Many on all sides are members of your faith community. 

This piece is not about who is right and who is wrong about any of these decisions, even though I have my opinions about that just as you do and will work faithfully towards those ends. No, this piece is about how we as people of faith relate to God and to one another. So, I do not leave you with answers to difficult questions at this point, I leave with a prayer that I hope and pray will lead us into right relationship with God and one another in a church, a country and in a world where “there is room for everybody.”

“O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection. Amen.”