Is anyone else tired of Covid 19? It has been a long twelve-plus months of trying to figure out how to deal with mask requirements, social distancing, virtual worship, and NO coffee hour or potlucks while continuing the ministry of the church. Finally, we get vaccines that are highly effective, but we struggle to get 70% of the population vaccinated and now there is the Delta variant which is more contagious. So Covid 19 remains a topic of conversation and concern on the daily news. As I’ve heard said several times, “We may be done with Covid 19 but Covid 19 is not done with us.” That is even more true for our siblings around the globe.
In addition to dealing with Covid 19 and the changes, challenges, and opportunities we have been forced to address, we, as the Central States Synod are stepping more deeply and intentionally into justice and advocacy work. We adopted a new mission statement that calls us to “join God’s reign of justice and radical love in the world.” At our synod assembly in June, under the theme United with Christ in Baptism: Many Members, One Body , we heard our main presenter, Judith Roberts , call us into conversations about race and we adopted a resolution on racial justice which calls us to “commit to being communities of repentance and transformation, working for reconciliation and restoration from the harms of racism due to our church and society.”
It may be tempting to say, or at least think, “I’m tired of talking about racism and dealing with all this justice stuff." After all, many people equate these topics with partisan politics considering them to be divisive and not something that belongs in the church, asking, "why can’t we just focus on Jesus’ love for everyone, without making distinctions? Why not focus on growing the church, and on helping people without making public statements that advocate for particular actions?" While we may be tired of these conversations and the challenges they present, which includes examining our own attitudes and perspectives, think of how tired people, particularly people of color, are of dealing with the impacts of racism, of the injustices that continue to fracture our society, and the apathy that ignores their realities.
There are numerous stories throughout Scripture of prophets (think of Moses, Elijah, even Jesus himself) who were tired, tired of trying to be faithful to their call from God while dealing with the backlash from the people around them. While they retreated in prayer for a time (and often lamented about how tough it was!) their conversation with God eventually, and always, led them back to the people they were sent to proclaim God’s message to, back to their call.
While we may be tempted to retreat from the complexities and challenges of this world, the reality is this is God’s world, we are God’s people, and we are called to embody God’s love for the world with all its messiness and complexity. Instead of retreating from the conversations, let us ground those conversations in Scripture, in prayer, with God and with one another.
To help us do that, beginning in August, monthly Bible studies and devotions will be provided for congregations and ministries to use at council and committee meetings, as well as other gatherings. I encourage you to retreat not from the conversations, but into Scripture and community. We may just discover a renewed energy to continue our call as a synod to be United with Christ in Baptism. Traveling the way of Jesus. Joining God’s reign of justice and radical love for the world
Bishop Susan Candea
