Dear Incarnation,
I am grateful that our liturgy can hold all that we are carrying into church every Sunday; that oceans roar, nations rage, kings rise and fall, but our God remains unchanging, and our worship reflects this reality. On Saturday evening, as I read the news about the shooting at the Trump rally and the gravity of our political moment began to sink in (though if I'm honest, I'm still not sure it's fully sunk in), I was grateful for the constancy of our worship. A friend texted me, "Responding to assassination attempt against a once and future president was not on my pastoral bingo card" — and indeed, it was not on any of our bingo cards.
But that doesn't mean we toss out the bingo card and look for a new game. Instead, we do exactly what we did last Sunday, and the Sunday before: we pray, we sing, we hear God's words proclaimed and preached, we receive God's life in his body and blood given for us, we greet one other with a word of peace, and we are sent out to invite more people to the table. These are the practices that sustain our faith and our life together. We keep at them, week after week, sometimes through tears, and we will still be keeping at them long after our current crisis has passed.
We are citizens of another kingdom. And our worship helps us imagine that kingdom and follow our crucified King into the world. It all feels so small and inadequate — and the way of this kingdom is indeed small — but it is a powerful act of resistance against the evils we face. Katie preached about this inadequacy in her Sunday sermon, and Caroline's testimony showed how even our perceived weaknesses can be gifts and strengths in the community of faith.
On Sunday, I prayed briefly about the weekend's political violence just before the Collect of the Day. Several of you have asked for that prayer, so I am pasting my notes below in case you find them helpful.
Father, we grieve the injury and loss of life at yesterday's campaign rally. We lament our broken politics, and we lament violence in service to our politics. We confess our own difficulty in loving our political enemies. We pray that amidst the heightened anxiety of this time, your truth and light would overcome falsehood and confusion, and that we would be strengthened to love our neighbors as ourselves. We pray for a peaceful election. Help us live as peacemakers and light-bearers and citizens of your kingdom. [I then closed with the following collect:]
44. IN TIMES OF SOCIAL CONFLICT OR DISTRESS
Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, violence, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
***
This is the time in our church calendar when everything slows down. Katie is away for a few weeks enjoying vacation with her family; I'll follow suit later in August. Please pray for rest and refreshment for our staff, and for our entire community, this summer. And I'd love to hear how you are experiencing rest and refreshment yourself — or where that's been challenging. Please reach out for prayer or conversation!
With love,
Amy
p.s. I have enjoyed this new song from Porter's Gate lately, and perhaps you will too! These lyrics felt especially poignant this week:
To what shall we compare the spirit of the hour, if not a sword?
It frees us, unites us, enslaves and divides us in violence;
Help us, Lord
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