Presiding Bishop's Message
Hurt, Joy, & the Grace of God
A book on the recovering diocese of San Joaquin, Hurt, Joy and the Grace of God, A Resurrection Story of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin will be published by Amazon sometime this summer. Below is the Introduction by The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Introduction
The story of San Joaquin is like that of many human communities – it is filled with pain, love, betrayal, good and faithful work, and relationships that both delight and frustrate. It is above all a paschal story – abundant dying, desertion, hopelessness, AND resurrection. The human road home to God takes the same journey Jesus did.
It can be disconcerting to discover that church communities have all-too human failings, but they wouldn’t be truly human communities if they didn’t. Churches and cathedrals, chapels and temples all exhibit the same messy behavior we encounter in other parts of our lives. This story is important because it tells of the ability of people who feel abandoned to remember or discover that God is still in their midst, even when they have lost most of what they thought defined their lives with God.
As you read, don’t go looking for villains and heroes. Pogo said it well some decades ago: they is us. Go looking for faithful and creative responses to the unexpected – find the Spirit doing new things in old vessels, and bringing new and unexpected partners in the midst of crisis.
This is the story of a Church being vulnerable enough to let itself be re-created, to show the world what it looks like to rise from the dead. The story isn’t finished, however. But it just might give hope to others who feel betrayed or abandoned. We live in a time of seismic shifts in social structures, including what it looks like to be a church or faith community. The spiritual maturity and grace to walk into that terror-filled land of shifting ground can bring new and abundant life to those who are willing to travel light, receive hospitality from others, and offer themselves for the healing of the world. Blessings on your own journey!
A book on the recovering diocese of San Joaquin, Hurt, Joy and the Grace of God, A Resurrection Story of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin will be published by Amazon sometime this summer. Below is the Introduction by The Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Introduction
The story of San Joaquin is like that of many human communities – it is filled with pain, love, betrayal, good and faithful work, and relationships that both delight and frustrate. It is above all a paschal story – abundant dying, desertion, hopelessness, AND resurrection. The human road home to God takes the same journey Jesus did.
It can be disconcerting to discover that church communities have all-too human failings, but they wouldn’t be truly human communities if they didn’t. Churches and cathedrals, chapels and temples all exhibit the same messy behavior we encounter in other parts of our lives. This story is important because it tells of the ability of people who feel abandoned to remember or discover that God is still in their midst, even when they have lost most of what they thought defined their lives with God.
As you read, don’t go looking for villains and heroes. Pogo said it well some decades ago: they is us. Go looking for faithful and creative responses to the unexpected – find the Spirit doing new things in old vessels, and bringing new and unexpected partners in the midst of crisis.
This is the story of a Church being vulnerable enough to let itself be re-created, to show the world what it looks like to rise from the dead. The story isn’t finished, however. But it just might give hope to others who feel betrayed or abandoned. We live in a time of seismic shifts in social structures, including what it looks like to be a church or faith community. The spiritual maturity and grace to walk into that terror-filled land of shifting ground can bring new and abundant life to those who are willing to travel light, receive hospitality from others, and offer themselves for the healing of the world. Blessings on your own journey!
