Dear Readers, this column is about finding hope in the midst of the terrible news coming out of Minnesota and Maine. Finding hope while our President rules by fear, intimidation, and greed. While we feel overwhelmed by it all, we cannot give up. We need to stay on mission and be about the Gospel of love.
In a recent social media post from the Rev. Dan Purtell, a Lutheran Pastor serving in western Massachusetts, he shared the interesting take that Martin Luther had on the Fifth Commandment — Thou shalt not kill. “The fifth commandment ” Luther wrote, “is a mandate to not only avoid physically harming a neighbor but also to actively help, protect, and support them in all their needs.” The opposite of not killing is ensuring the fullness of life.
There are many examples of congregations working to ensure the fullness of life in the Connecticut River Valley, but here is one example that embodies hope. St John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton is home for the Manna program that feeds 250 people a day. And just a few weeks ago, they opened a shelter in their church basement to manage the overflow of people experiencing homelessness when the town shelter fills up. Making the basement into a warm and inviting place took substantial work and they did it over the Christmas holiday.
The words of Scripture give us hope. “God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).” Think about that. God, who is transcendent, is also “in us.” And that work can be so much more than what we ask for, even in our biggest prayer. Our collaboration with God is the very source of our hope.
And more hope from St. Paul. “Surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses, we run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1).” Notice, it is the race that is set before us. It might not be the race we would choose. What is this time and place in our country asking of us? How might we meet the darkness with light? We remember that we do not run the race alone. We do it surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses — the people who have entered eternal life, all the relatives and friends who inspired us to live generously and graciously. In the “great cloud” are people who worked for justice and peace in their time. People like Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Chief Joseph, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Daniel Berrigan, Dorothy Day, Nelson Mandela, Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez and John Lewis. The list is never-ending because God continues to work in us, and for us.
There is an awful lot of “terrible” right now, but we do not have to settle for what is. We can be inspired by the faithful who went before us and by the good works done by living communities of faith today. Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, understood that we must keep going amid the worst of it all. “You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and embrace them with courage, faith and hope.”
The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.