Dear St. Lukers,
Thanks to Pastors Melissa and Jad for doing a beautiful job leading worship these past two weeks while I was gone. Their challenges and thoughts on the fruits of patience, kindness, and goodness gave us much to grow on! While away, John and I spent time touring museums and historic sites in New York, D.C., and then spent the 4th of July in Philly. This was a first visit to Philly for both of us, and with all that was happening in our nation and world, it was moving to visit The National Constitution Center, Independence Hall, and to see where our founding documents were created, argued over, and eventually signed.
I sat in silence reading those famous words of the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Whatever one might understand as the religion of the founding fathers, most being Deists, it is remarkable how this idea of equality connects to the deepest meanings of the Creation story in Genesis 1, where all people were made in the image of God, equal in the eyes of the Creator. This is what Paul meant when he said in Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Paul never meant this to be interpreted that only those who follow Jesus are equal and beloved, he meant through the sacrificial love of Christ for the world – we are all created equal, should be seen as equal…to which the founding fathers would add “with certain unalienable rights.”
History tells us the writers didn’t agree on who “equal” applied to back then, and honestly, I wonder if we could agree on that definition today. As I read the news and look at the landscape I fear we are treading precariously on this fundamental idea, God’s vision for humanity, and the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Why do we keep excluding categories of people? Why won’t we find ways to let the bell of freedom ring again for all people? Why are we continuing to create harm instead of working, toward the common good? These are the thoughts that were on my mind as we floated by the beautiful Statue of Liberty with her torch welcoming the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to our shores.
Faithfulness. That is the fruit of the Spirit we focus on this Sunday. Eugenia Anne Gamble writes: “Faithfulness is not so much about what we choose to believe in our minds as it is about whom we choose to trust.” To whom and how we are called to be faithful begins by answering the question of who is ultimately faithful to us? I would argue that answer is not necessarily found in the fragility of this world, but in the one who is infinite, unconditional, and unequivocal in the definition of “equality.” For me, this understanding of faithfulness calls me to wrestle with anything of this world that settles for less.
I invite you to read Bishop Tom Berlin’s response to the detention center (click here), which is at the center of my longing for understanding what faithfulness looks like in this world. I pray you will read it through the lens of God’s faithfulness to you and consider how God is calling us to be radically faithful to others. I invite you to join Pastor Jad and I on Sunday in worship as we wrestle with this fruit of the Spirit that has already been planted in our hearts, for whom the Spirit is calling us to tend in order to bear its fruit in the world.
Grace and Peace,
Jenn.
