Community Wisdom

 Friends,  

Last week I asked how you are doing in the midst of a week where violence and injustice was centered in all of our news feeds. And I invited you to reach out with your responses to the question, “What can we, who aspire to take up the cross, do in such a time as this?” 

 

Thank you for your responses. They demonstrate the deep maturity of faith that exists in this congregation, as well as a respectful honesty about our limits. Some of your suggestions pointed toward individual actions that we can take or attitudes that we can embrace. Others pointed to more systemic attitudes or practices that we can cultivate corporately, which can help establish a different order that is less antagonistic. Again, I thank all of you who responded for your thoughtfulness and for taking the time to share your thoughts. Here is some of the wisdom I was able to glean from your notes. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to attend to our rhetoric and, instead of using the word “fight” when we speak of resistance, to use the word “work.” They noted that word “work” is more compatible with picking up and carrying a cross and doesn’t require a winner or loser. 

 

Someone has encouraged us lean into curiosity over criticism, and listening over presumption or fault-finding.  

 

Someone has encouraged us to start each day, and take time throughout the day when a decision is required, with the question:  "What does the Lord require of you?" and the answer, "Do Justice, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly".

 

Someone has encouraged us to pause in the noise and meditate mindfully. It can be a simple moment of breathing in grace and breathing out thanksgiving; it can be a time of silence and disconnection from the noise around or within; it can be a prayer; it can be a way of reminding us that we are part of something larger than what we see and feel. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to pay attention to our communication styles, whether they enhance or hinder engagement with those whose opinions differ. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to let only a certain amount of the news in and to pay attention to the sources which filter the news we do receive. 

 

Someone has encouraged us to find joy in volunteering, especially among those who are struggling the most. Helping someone matters, even if we can’t help everyone. 

 

Several persons have encouraged us to look at our vocation as a way of practicing our call to love others, work for peace, and advocate for justice, by the way we encounter others, use our voice, and exercise our power. 

 

As you can see, the responses that I received demonstrate how deeply ingrained our identity is as a community that not only rests in the joy of knowing that God redeems us, but responds to that joy by taking up the cross as the way of following Christ. that is beyond our understanding. 

 

I am incredibly humbled and thankful to be part of this journey with you. 

 

Mark of St. Mark