75
years
A MESSAGE FROM THE RECTOR
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
I
recently saw a replay of the 1988 Women’s 4x100 meter relay from the Seoul Olympics. It was an incredible race, with an amazing come-frombehind victory for the US team. Once again, I marveled at the way racers can hand off batons while moving at top speed, when one person isn’t even looking! As I sat down to write this article, considering what I hope to communicate as we look towards the fall, I couldn’t get the image of a relay race out of my mind. We are part of a church community, a group of people bound together by faith in saving power of love. God loves each one of us no matter what we have done and what we will do. In Christ, we see that total, sacrificial love in the flesh. As followers of Christ, we become sacred learners, disciples that are formed over and over again by the Way of Love.
perhaps for the first time in recent memory, have truly changed the way we live. For many of us, we are able to dictate the way we live with an incredible amount of agency. We choose where we live, what we eat, how we entertain ourselves, and who we spend time with. We are near-masters of our universe. That is, until a pandemic forces us to quarantine ourselves, our children and grandchildren cannot go to school, we have to worry about the availability of conveniences such as toilet paper, our social disorder is put on full display, and all compounding to create a level of uncertainty that is practically paralyzing. Each one of us, whether we are highly aware or not, is carrying a heavy weight. As a person in the world, a person who is connected to other people, we cannot ignore that our grief is heavy. We each grieve in our own ways. We grieve the loss of freedom this virus has put upon us. We grieve the loss of security that our economic uncertainty brings. We grieve with those who feel rejected, judged, persecuted, and unloved because of
"Each one of us, whether we are highly aware or not, is carrying a heavy weight. As a person in the world, a person who is connected to other people, we cannot ignore that our grief is heavy... We need to be reminded that we are not alone when we travel the Way of Love together." In many ways, our discipleship is like being in the middle of a relay race. We did not begin this race and we will almost certainly not see the end, but we are part of the journey, nonetheless. There are people who have come before us, who have worked hard with great faith to prepare a community for us to inherit, and we are the ones who will build this community for the next generation. Regardless of where we fall on the spectrum of age or phase, we know what it’s like to be handed a baton, and I hope we are generous enough to hand it off to another. This year has not been easy (a grand understatement!). We have experienced truly global challenges that,
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THE ARCHANGEL | FALL KICKOFF 2020!
the color of their skin. And in our grief, we can feel lost and exhausted, which is why we need reminders. We need to be reminded of God’s love and faithfulness. We need to be reminded to seek after God’s peace that will guard our hearts and minds. We need to be reminded that we are not alone when we travel the Way of Love together. This fall, we will embark on a journey together, one in which we will explore the profound reality of discipleship – and you’re invited! Discipleship is the great calling of our lives. When we commit ourselves to true discipleship of Jesus, our faith becomes more than a
