In the weeks since Christmas, more than once we have heard in worship of the Holy Family’s escape from their homeland. As cruel and corrupt Herod threatened their lives, Mary and Joseph – the infant Jesus in their arms – fled to Egypt for refuge. With that soundtrack of scripture and song on our hearts, neighbors in our own country are facing mortal threats from our government. From Minnesota to Maine, the images and videos ache the Christian conscience.
At Trinity Church, we do not confront these troubles alone, but as the Body of Christ – a Holy Spirit whole greater than the sum of our caring hearts. We first seek to love God and one another more and better, by our common prayer and in our common life. We then bear our beloved community in the world.
Among our expressions of love and mercy, the Trinity Neighbors Ministry lives into our biblical mandate to “welcome the stranger, by supporting immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers.” With kindred inspiration, we partner with our Diocese and the larger Episcopal Church. Through our shared, annual Stewardship, Trinity matched Bishop Whitworth’s commitment to establish a diocesan Immigrant Legal Emergency Fund. Likewise, we join with companion parishes, ecumenical congregations, and multi-faith leaders to sing and lament, pray and witness to the wider world and our elected officials. Just last Friday, members of Trinity’s Outreach & Justice ministries gathered at our Cathedral and marched with a large contingency to the Statehouse, where we sang and prayed in Memorial Hall, just outside Governor Healey’s office.
This week, Bishop Whitworth wrote to us, commending a reflection by our Presiding Bishop, the Most Reverend Sean Rowe: Acting Faithfully in Troubled Times. She writes, “I invite you to join him, the hundreds of faith leaders gathered in Minneapolis, and all in our church to pray for those who mourn, for those who fear deportation and detention, for those who suffer for righteousness sake, and especially, for the soul of our nation.”
The love we share and the prayers we offer here, make a difference everywhere, in spirit and in substance. With Bishop Whitworth, with Bishop Rowe, and with one another, we pray for peace and justice. In the words of our Book of Common Prayer: “Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”