Last fall we were thrilled to watch our six-year-old granddaughter Sienna run cross country. (Yes, we are that kind of grandparents, the ones who beam with pride at pretty much anything she does.) When you run cross country, you encounter many obstacles: the terrain, the weather – especially in the wet Pacific Northwest, and your body itself. And running cross country was a huge milestone for Sienna because she suffers from severe asthma.
Despite her asthma, Sienna ran faithfully throughout the season. Not only did she work out with her teammates, but she also ran with her dad. And, whenever she ran, she had one goal. It wasn’t winning. It wasn’t how she placed.
Her sole goal was to do her best, to persevere and to run her race. And her favorite part of one race venue was running up the hill – at the end!
I’ve thought a lot about how healthy Sienna’s approach is. It’s also counter-cultural in today’s world which seems to value only winners, where the goal seems to be to find some way to “win” without doing the hard work that our values and our dreams demand.
We can apply this to our own spiritual lives when we seek to live our faith to our best – with love. Following Jesus isn’t easy. Following Jesus means to keep going, to persevere. It means putting one foot in front of the other, as we encounter obstacle after obstacle in the challenges and disappointments of everyday life. Just like Sienna’s obstacles to running her best in cross country are unique to her, our obstacles in living our faith to our best are also unique. And Jesus is with us always: during the easier stretches, through the unexpected obstacles, when we trip or fall, and as we persevere up the hill at the end of that long run after we’re already tired. In the end, it doesn’t matter to God whether we come in first or if we come in last. Instead, it simply pleases God when we live our faith to the best of our ability, every day.
Editor’s Note: The events of the past week have elicited comment from numerous faith leaders. “Living God’s Mission” blog has chosen to post the following news story from Episcopal News Service in addition to our usual weekly posting. Please be sure to scroll down to see Pam Tinsley’s “On eagles’ wings” blog, posted June 10.
Partners for Baptismal Living blogger Brandon Beck writes, “Heading into the weekend, we amplify the voice of the collected California bishops:”
Seals of the Episcopal Dioceses of (l to r) California, El Camino Real, Los Angeles, Northern California, San Diego, and San Joaquin
[Episcopal News Service] The diocesan bishops of the six Episcopal dioceses in California issued a statement on June 10 responding to the federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and subsequent clashes between protesters and law enforcement, as well as the Trump administration’s decision to send soldiers to the area against the wishes of California leaders.
The following is the text of the bishops’ letter.
A Letter from the Episcopal Bishops in the State of California
Beloved in Christ,
Like all Californians, we are watching with great concern the events unfolding around immigration protests in Los Angeles. We are deeply concerned about the ICE raids and about the potential for violence arising from the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines to the Los Angeles area. We are concerned that military deployments will escalate the confrontations unnecessarily, and worry that all of our regions in California may be subject to future deployments that heighten tensions rather than resolving them.
Bishop John Harvey Taylor, the Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles, has posted on social media this past weekend about what is happening in Los Angeles and his interpretation of the ways in which local officials, law enforcement, federal agencies, and protesters are all interacting. He expressed deep pain and anger as fourteen people in one single Episcopal congregation in that diocese were detained by ICE on Friday. Certainly, we as Episcopalians are shocked and saddened when any of our own are removed from our beloved community.
In all six of our dioceses, people are concerned and fearful about the denial of due process for those detained and the potential for ICE raids targeting beloved community institutions and people working to support their families. People feel angry and threatened that the haven they sought in our communities is no longer safe. U.S. citizens and legal residents feel deep grief at losing beloved friends and family members. Children whose parents are deported face uncertain futures. In our churches, we strive to protect our members who are at risk.
Our Baptismal Covenant asks us, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being (BCP p. 417)?” This question is a direct and ongoing call to us as persons who follow Christ to live out our calling opposed to injustice, to violence of any kind, and to stand up where human beings are not treated as we would treat a child of God. This question needs to be foremost in our thoughts as we consider our response to the situation in Los Angeles.
In The Episcopal Church, we uphold a proud tradition of advocating for civil rights and supporting the vulnerable in our society. We stand for fierce love and for justice that leads to peace, as well as societal practices that preserve human dignity. With God’s help, we will speak and pray on behalf of all in this situation.
Bishop Taylor has asked for our prayers for Los Angeles, and we invite all our dioceses to pray for the unfolding situation there as well as for peace and justice in all our communities. We ask that you join us in praying:
“Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” (BCP p. 823).
In Christ, The Rt. Rev. Lucinda Ashby, Episcopal Bishop of El Camino Real The Rt. Rev. David Rice, Episcopal Bishop of San Joaquin The Rt. Rev. Austin K. Rios, Episcopal Bishop of California The Rt. Rev. Susan Brown Snook, Episcopal Bishop of San Diego The Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles The Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair, Episcopal Bishop of Northern California
Followers of Christ are rightly concerned with the ways elections are held, and the ways in which their results shape the well-being of societies and their citizens. Advancing the cause of justice is always the proper work of the governments we create; affirming the equal dignity and equal worth of every person in society is the expectation placed on us by our baptismal covenant, one that we, in turn, work to realize in the public square.
So elections are never a matter of indifference to Christians. But at the same time, we are never either defined by nor reduced to a given political party or outcome. Until the Kingdom of God prevails on Earth, we will always be in the position of loving critic of, and active participants in, secular governments….
And we know, too, that when institutions fall, when the rule of law is degraded by corruption, and power is concentrated in the hands of an unaccountable few, the first to suffer are the most vulnerable in society — the poor, the outcast, the refugees, the despised and the dispossessed. And that, too, is a matter of fundamental Christian concern.
But we have been here before. We should not from this moment draw the lesson of resignation, or abdicate the duties of disciples. …
We must remember:
No election can take away from us our call in baptism to join God’s mission, wherever we live and whatever our circumstance.
No election will ever render a government that fully satisfies God’s hope for all people, because governments are human creations, and humans are fallible.
The privilege — and the responsibility — of our calling as Christians is to show, at all times and in all ways, that “loving my neighbor as myself” is the guideline by which we make our choices as citizens and as servants of Christ.
Our task as Christians in the public square is to support with all our strength the building and functioning of institutions that do the work of justice, of mercy, of guarding the dignity and rights of all equally and without favor.
That work continues every day, even — especially — in the days after any election. May God guide us in the doing of that work in whatever our place or nation, and strengthen us to be courageous in mercy, consistent in love for others, and defiant in the face of injustice and hatred.
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by Demi Prentiss
This past week’s Gospel reading – “deny [your]selves and take up [your] cross and follow me” – inspired a convicting reflection on the scripture (Mark 8:27-38) by Brian Malison, a graduate of Luther Seminary, in their daily posting “God Pause”:
“Christianity has a PR problem. It is impossible to put a positive spin on the statement, ‘Come join our church and learn how to deny yourself.’ There are no books on how to diminish yourself. It just isn’t the American way. There are plenty that tell you how to maximize your potential or how to become your very best self, but self-help books on taking up your cross are rarely to be found. Which may be why Jesus isn’t popular. Unless, that is, you are sick and tired of keeping up, you have found the pursuit of happiness to end in disappointment, or you have discovered that your very best self is not someone you like. Then the alternative of following Jesus, who welcomes all and offers redemption, sounds pretty good. Losing one’s fake life for the sake of Jesus is actually gaining real life. Now, how do we market that?”
Almost as though he was responding to Malison’s search for a “self-denial” tool, my longtime friend Christopher Thomas, rector of St. Thomas the Doubter in Dallas, TX, recently offered this “prayer for daily use” to his congregation and his Facebook followers. It serves as a powerful reminder that living the baptismal covenant – the outline of the calling God has placed on our lives – is not “one and done.” It’s intended to be a daily pattern, a “just for today” surrender to the fullness of life that God desires for us.
May God lead us to practice our baptismal promises intentionally today and every day, experiencing God at work through us. That’s the self-denial that allows us to become our truest self – the image of Christ that God dreams for us. That’s the promised transformation – of self and of the world around us – that sells.
Living God's Mission 