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Bishop Michael Curry 12/20/21 Bishop Michael Curry 12/20/21

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Christmas Message 2021

A number of years ago I read a book by Roberta Bondi who at that time was teaching at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. The title of the book was “To Love as God Loves.” Professor Bondi in that book looked at and examined early Christians. And one of the things she observed was that early Christians saw their vocation of following Jesus as learning how to love as God loves. And that was the title of the book, “To Love as God Loves.”

If that is true, as I believe it is, when we look at the New Testament stories of Jesus, and particularly the stories around Christmas, we see early glimmers of Jesus showing us how to love as God loves. The Christmas stories found in Matthew and in Luke, for example, actually show us something about God's way of love.

We all know the Christmas stories, the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes as it's found in Luke's gospel, the baby that's born of Mary, the stories of Mary while she was pregnant meeting her cousin Elizabeth, and the words of the Magnificat—“My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

We know the stories of Mary giving birth in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn, the stories of the shepherds out on the field beholding the angel choir— “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.” The stories of a baby born is the story of beauty, a story of hope; for as the Jewish tradition says, every child who is born is a reminder that God is not finished with the world yet. In this case, the baby that was born was named Jesus.

Matthew tells the same story but highlights other dimensions that remind us profoundly of the way God loves. In Matthew's story, the child is born and there is great beauty in it, but there is some difficulty, even in the relationship between Mary and Joseph when they discover that she is with child before they're actually married. But an angel intervenes and tells Joseph in the dream that this child is God's miracle.

And so Joseph accepts his responsibility and cares for Mary and the baby Jesus who is to be born. And all moves along well. And in Matthew's version there is the star, the Magi or the wise men who come from afar, but then the story takes a dark turn.

And all of a sudden the same beauty that surrounded the birth of a child now is tinged by an ugliness of tyranny, the ugliness of injustice, the ugliness of hatred, the ugliness of unbridled selfishness as King Herod hears rumors of a rival to his throne being born and begins plans to execute children to stamp out his rival. In Matthew, that is the context for the birth of Jesus.

And Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus when he is born are forced to flee as refugees seeking political asylum, eventually in Egypt, because of the wrath of King Herod. They are saved from the destruction, but many do die.

In the late 1930s, The Episcopal Church embarked on efforts to save refugees who were fleeing tyranny, evil, injustice, bigotry, hatred in Europe at the advent of the Second World War. In The Episcopal Church, Episcopalians and many other Christians and Jewish people in the United States and people of goodwill and human decency worked together in a variety of ways to save as many refugees as they could.

And at that time, Episcopalians created this image. And it shows Mary holding the baby Jesus in her arms on the donkey with Joseph walking with them. And as you can see, the sign said, “In the name of these refugees, aid all refugees.”

The Christmas stories are reminders that this Jesus came to show us how to love as God loves. And one of the ways we love as God loves is to help those who are refugees, those who seek asylum from political tyranny, poverty, famine, or other hardship.

In the 1930s, Episcopalians did this to love as God loves, and today, ministries like Episcopal Migration Ministries, the work of this church, have helped to resettle some 100,000 refugees as of December 2021. And that work goes on for refugees from Afghanistan and from other places around the world.

The Christian vocation as Jesus taught us is to love as God loves. And in the name of these refugees, let us help all refugees.

God love you. God bless you. And, this Christmas, may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

Bishop Michael Curry

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry is Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He is the Chief Pastor and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as Chair of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.

Facebook | @PBMBCurry
Twitter | @BishopCurry
Twitter | @episcopalchurch
Facebook | @episcopalian

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Bishop Michael Curry 11/12/21 Bishop Michael Curry 11/12/21

Climate Sermon

"God so loved the world..." Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry preaches at the Liturgy for Planetary Crisis. The service focused on climate change and the need for swift, just action to bring us back into right relationship across the human family and with all of God's creation.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry - Sermon during COP26 Climate Liturgy

And now in the name of our loving, liberating, and life giving God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I am indeed profoundly grateful to all who have gathered here with this time of liturgy for a climate in crisis, for all who have worked behind the scenes to bring us together, and for all who are part of the COP delegation of the Episcopal Church. At this important time, I thank you, and thank god for you, and thank God for all who advocate for our Mother Earth.

While I happened to be in New York to preach tomorrow, I live on the land of the Tuscarora nation and the Lumbee in North Carolina. A friend of mine, Charles Marsh, who teaches at the University of Virginia, some years ago wrote a book on spirituality and civil rights entitled “Beloved Community, Spirituality, and Social Justice from the Civil Rights Movement until Today.” In that book, at one point in a chapter where he was talking about Fannie Lou Hamer and her impact both on the Mississippi Freedom Party and on human rights and dignity, he said this and I quote, “Through Fannie Lou Hamer, Jesus had founded the most revolutionary movement in human history. A movement built on the unconditional love of God for the world and the mandate to a community to live that love.”

I believe that's true. Jesus did not found an institution for the sake of an institution, though institutions can serve Him. He did not found a religious organization for the sake of religious organizations, though religious organizations can serve Him. Jesus founded a movement, a movement of people committed to following His way, which is the way of the love of God. And they dare to live that mandate in the world: that God loves.

From John chapter 3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

For God so loved the world.

I'm not sure if it's because I've got more gray hair on my head, or I'm just slow to learn, but it's only been in the last few years that I've realized just a little bit the enormity of the conversation that happened in the third chapter of John's Gospel between Nicodemus, the Pharisee, and Jesus the Messiah. Nicodemus comes up to Jesus, and he's curious. He wants to know from Jesus, what's it going to take to make life livable? What is the core of your teaching? And Jesus says, “You must be born again.” Nicodemus says, “Well, that's not possible, I'm an old man. You said you must be born of the spirit that which is born of the flesh is flesh that was born of the spirit is spirit.” And then Jesus launches into the power that makes this new birth, that makes this new creation, that makes this new heaven and earth possible. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man. So what I'm telling you, Nicodemus, so what I've been trying to teach you all. Be lifted up. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. He gave Himself. God so loved the world.

It's taken me this long to figure out the enormity of what's going on here. That Jesus was telling old Nicodemus that that God loves this world, that's why I'm here. He was telling Nicodemus that this love of God for the whole world is the way to heal this world. It's the power that will heal this creation, that will redeem God's lost creation. God so loved the world.

I began to realize how large this was a few years ago when I was in conversation with Bishop Andrus. I don't even remember where we were, probably at a house bishops meeting. And I remember saying to him, I was playing with this text and wrestling with it. I've been listening to John 3:16 my whole life. In the 1928 prayer book, remember, it was in the comfortable words, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It was in the comfortable words, now in rite one in the liturgy, and if you hadn't noticed that in the 1928 prayer book, and didn't see it in the 1979 in rite one, watch the NFL football games and somebody's going to have a sign that says John 3:16.

But it never occurred to me, how enormous what Jesus was telling Nicodemus that day. Until bishop Marc said, “You know what the Greek word used for the word ‘world’ is?” And I said, “Brother Marc, I've been out of seminary a long time, and my Greek is old and rusty.” And he said, “It's the word cosmos.” And I said, “Lord, have mercy.” It’s the word cosmos! Not just a little bit here. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not not just you and me. No, no, no. Not just the human family. No, no, no. Francis of Assisi figured this out a long time ago. It's not just us. It's not just the Earth. It's everything that exists. The cosmos! God so loved the world! All things! Like the Nicene Creed said: visible and invisible. God so loved the world that He gave His only son.

That's extraordinary. But there's more.

Roberta Bondi, who I believe is retired, used to teach at Emory at the School of Theology there, is a scholar, historian, theologian of the early church, and one of her books that she wrote a number of years ago that I still pick up and reread is a book entitled “To Love as God Loves.” And she says that when you look at the early church, the early Jesus movement, when you look at the early church carefully, you will see that the early Christians believed that their vocation to follow Jesus was to learn to love as Jesus loves. To love as God loves, because they remembered that Jesus said at The Last Supper in John's gospel, “A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you.” Their vocation: baptized. Their vocation: discipleship. Their vocation as a follower of Jesus is to love as Jesus loves, to love as God loves, to give as God gives, to forgive as God forgives, to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God!

That is the vocation of a Christian. To love as God loves. God so loved the world.

Hear me Christians, that He gave His only son. Notice the text. He gave, He didn't take. He gave, He didn't exploit. He gave, He didn't misuse. He gave to care for. He gave to love. God so loved the world. I didn't realize how big this text was.

And then there's more! I'm not finished yet. I'm going to stop because I know, I know, you all got other things to do, but this is a remarkable text. Notice that Jesus says, “God so loved the world” after He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” If you go back in the Hebrew scriptures, the story of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness is a healing story. Folk can be bitten by poisonous snakes. Stay with me now. The creation had turned against them, and they were harmed, and Moses takes this bronze snake — I don't know what all that means — all I know is Moses takes this bronze snake, and when folk look at the bronze snake, if you will, folk get healed! I think Jesus was telling old Nicodemus: “You want to heal the world. You want to heal the creation. You want to heal the nations. You want to heal our relationships. Do love as God loves. God so loved the world.”

The power of that love, the power of our advocacy in the name of that love not only can fix the crisis, but can heal the deeper crisis that is behind it.

I have started to realize, I know folk talk about intersectionality. Again, I'm a slow learner. I started to realize some things are related. It is not an accident that the rise of mercantile capitalism in the West and the conquest of lands, right, stay with me, go back to your history now, and the conquest of lands is directly linked to the enslavement of African folk and the forced removal and genocide of indigenous folk. It's not an accident that exploitation of the creation leads to not only exploitation of the earth, but the exploitation of people. That's why god so loved the world. The whole thing. All of us.

This text is big.

And lastly, because this text points toward the healing power of love, of a love really lived as God lived. It points to our vocation as followers of Jesus in such a time as this. I was reading one of the ENS articles about the sister, the Lutheran pastor from Finland, who is part of the Arctic indigenous community. And she said this: “While we are hopeful about transitioning to cleaner energy and more sustainable solutions, we are also concerned about green colonialism, including the plans to build a wind farm on our homeland. And this is the point: We still live there. We're still living there, practicing our traditional livelihoods: fishing, reindeer herding. And our land is sacred to us. It gives us life and shelter. It is our home. It is our church.” It is our home. This is our home. This is our church. And we must cultivate a new spirituality. No, no. An old and ancient spirituality that is born of the wisdom of our indigenous brothers and sisters. And born of the wisdom of our brother Jesus and the scriptures.

And therein may be the spiritual key to the sacramental work of fixing the climate, the outward and visible sign, but also repairing the inward and spiritual reality which unless repaired, will continue to corrupt the outward reality.

Maybe the old song of some old slave somewhere sums up our prayers best this way: “He's got the whole world / in His hands / He’s got the whole world / in His hands / He's got the whole world / in His hands / God's got the whole world in his hands.”

Amen.

Shared with with permission by the Office of the Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, The Episcopal Church, in its entirety. For more on Episcopal Church climate advocacy at the United Nations, visit iam.ec/COP26. The Most Rev. Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the author of the book "Love Is the Way: Holding On to Hope in Troubling Times"

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Bishop Michael Curry 8/10/21 Bishop Michael Curry 8/10/21

Encouraging Americans to get vaccinated: "Do this one for the children"

Join Presiding Bishop Michael Curry @PB_Curry by sharing your own “I Got Mine” story. Post your photo or video with the #igotmine hashtag, tag and invite your friends, and tell the world what getting the COVID-19 vaccine means to you.

I’m Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. When I was in elementary school, I came home one day and my father asked me if I got my sugar cube. And I at first didn’t know what he was talking about.

And then remembered earlier that day, we had been given a little sugar cube — this is back in the 1960s — with some medicine or something that was on it. And I ate it and took it and we all got it. It was the polio vaccine.

Years later, while I didn’t know why my father always walked with a limp, my Aunt Carrie told me that the reason he walked with a limp was because he had polio when he was a little boy. And I realized why he was so thankful that his child was able to get the polio vaccine.

Vaccines can help us save lives and make life livable.

We have the opportunity to get that vaccine now for this COVID-19. I got mine, we get can get ours. For ourselves — and if not for ourselves — for our children who still don’t have a vaccine yet.

I got the polio vaccine as a little child. Right now, adults can get the Covid vaccine to help protect our children. That’s what the Bible means when Jesus says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit (via @iamepiscopalian): https://t.co/u5HnH41VaF

The #COVIDVaccine saves lives. #igotmine to do my part to live out the Bible’s commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And I’m inviting my friends to share their own #igotmine stories.

See related op-ed in USA Today.

Shared with with permission by the Office of the Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, The Episcopal Church, in its entirety. The Most Rev. Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the author of the book "Love Is the Way: Holding On to Hope in Troubling Times".

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Bishop Michael Curry 4/1/21 Bishop Michael Curry 4/1/21

Presiding Bishop Curry: Easter 2021 Message

"Our work goes on. Our labor for love continues," Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry said in his Easter 2021 Message, "We will not cease, and we will not give up until this world reflects less our nightmare and more God's dream where there's plenty good room for all God's children.

“Our work goes on. Our labor for love continues. We will not cease, and we will not give up until this world reflects less our nightmare and more God’s dream where there’s plenty good room for all God’s children. Hallelujah anyhow.”

When I get to heaven — and I know it may sound presumptuous for me to say it, but I live by grace and believe in amazing grace — when I get to heaven, I certainly want to see the Lord. But I want to see dear members of family and friends, those who have gone on before, the many people I want to sit down and have some conversation with. Of all the biblical people, aside from the Lord himself, when I get to heaven, I want to meet Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene, who was one of the people, one of the women, who followed the way and teachings of Jesus and who probably provided much of the funding for his movement. Mary Magdalene, who with some of the other women and only one of the male disciples, stood with his mother, Mary, at the cross as he died. Mary Magdalene, who, even after he died, on that Easter morning, got up with some of the other women early in the morning, before the day had begun, in the dark, got up to perform the rituals of love to anoint the body of Jesus in his grave.

I want to ask her, “Mary, tell me what got you up that day. Tell me what got you to go to the tomb early in the morning when it was dark, and you could barely see. Why did you get up and go to anoint his body? Mark’s Gospel says that you and the other women said to each other, you knew that Jesus had been buried in that tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea, with Nicodemus’ help, but a large stone had been rolled in front of the doorway, into the tomb. And one of the women said to the other, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us?’ You knew the stone was there. You knew you couldn’t move it. And yet you got up and you went anyway. Mary, tell me your secret.”

I suspect she probably will say, “Well, we didn’t know how we were going to roll away the stone, but we loved him, and we got up and went anyway. It was hard because it was dark, but we loved him, and we got up and we went anyway. Those roads could be dangerous at night, but we love Jesus, and we got up and we went anyway. Who will roll away the stone for us? We did not know, but we loved him, and we got up and we went anyway. And let me tell you what love can do for you. When we got to the tomb, the stone had already been rolled away. And we shouted our hallelujahs, and shouted our hallelujahs. He is risen.”

Last year in March, on March 13th to be precise, another Mary Magdalene, her name, Barbara, Barbara Clementine Harris, bishop of the church, a voice of love, and justice, and compassion, a voice of deep and profound faith, first woman to be consecrated a bishop in Anglican Christianity, died and entered eternal life. This was early in the pandemic. Fortunately for us, Dean Kelly Brown Douglas had worked with Bishop Barbara to make sure that her memoir was completed, and they completed it. She gave it the title from the words of a gospel song that says, and I quote:

Hallelujah anyhow
Never let your troubles get you down
Whenever troubles come your way
Hold your hands up high and say
Hallelujah anyhow!

Those words characterize the life of Bishop Barbara: hallelujah anyhow. In spite of hardship and difficulty, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of injustice and bigotry, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of war and violence, hallelujah anyhow. And that, my friends, is the spirit of Mary Magdalene. That, my friends, is the tenacity of those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus and his way of love. In spite of hardship and toil, hallelujah anyhow. In spite of the fact that this Easter is the anniversary of the assassination and the martyrdom of Martin Luther King, Jr., hallelujah anyhow. In spite of the fact that these are hard times, hallelujah anyhow.

Our work goes on. Our labor for love continues. We will not cease, and we will not give up until this world reflects less our nightmare and more God’s dream where there’s plenty good room for all God’s children. Hallelujah anyhow.

When I get to heaven, I can’t wait to hear Mary Magdalene and Bishop Barbara tell me he’s risen. Hallelujah anyhow. Amen.

Bishop Michael Curry.jpg — Bishop Michael Curry

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry is Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He is the Chief Pastor and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as Chair of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.

Facebook | @PBMBCurry
Twitter | @BishopCurry
Twitter | @episcopalchurch
Facebook | @episcopalian

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Bishop Michael Curry 3/10/21 Bishop Michael Curry 3/10/21

The Wedding Sermon of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Today we are honored to repost the sermon preached by Bishop Michael Curry at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, words of love that bring hope and promise for every day. Most Rev. Curry cites the words of Martin Luther King Jr. during the ceremony and reminds us ‘There’s power in love.’

And now in the name of our loving liberating and life giving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen.
From the Song of Solomon in the Bible: Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, passion as fierce as the grave, its flashes of flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it out
The late Dr. Martin Luther King once said, and I quote: we must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love, and when we do that we will make of this old world a new world. For love is the only way.
There’s power in love. Don’t underestimate it. Don’t even oversentimentalize it. There’s power, power in love. If you don’t believe me, think about a time when you first fell in love. The whole world seemed to center around you and your beloved. There’s power, power in love.
Not just in its romantic forms but any form, any shape of love. There’s a certain sense in which when you are loved and you know it, when someone cares for you and you know it, when you love and you show it, it actually feels right. There’s something right about it.
And there’s a reason for it. The reason has to do with the source. We were made by a power of love. And our lives were meant and are meant to be lived in that love. That’s why we are here.
Ultimately the source of love is God himself, the source of all of our lives. There’s an old medieval poem that says, “where true love is found, God himself is there.”
The New Testament says it this way, “beloved, let us love one another because love is of God and those who love are born of God and know God, those who do not love do not know God. Why? For God is love. There’s power in love. There’s power in love to help and heal when nothing else can. There’s power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will. There’s power in love to show us the way to live. Set me as a seal on your heart. A seal on your arm. For love it’s strong as death.
But love is not only about a young couple. Now the power of love is demonstrated by the fact that we are all here. Two young people fell in love and we all showed up. But it’s not just for and about a young couple who we rejoice with.
It’s more than that. Jesus of Nazareth on one occasion was asked by a lawyer to sum up the essence of the teachings of Moses. He went back and reached back into the Hebrew scriptures, to Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and Jesus said you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.
This is the first and great commandment and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. And then in Matthew’s version, he added, he said, on these two Love of God and Love of Neighbor, hang all the law, all the prophets, everything that Moses wrote, everything in the holy prophets, everything in the scriptures, everything that God has been trying to tell the world. Love God, love your neighbors, and while you’re at it, love yourself.
Now someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in all of human history, a movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world. A movement mandating people to live that love. And in so doing, to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself.
I’m talking about some power, real power. Power to change the world. If you don’t believe me, well, there were some old slaves in America’s antebellum south who explained the dynamic power of love and why it has the power to transform. They explained it this way. They sang a spiritual, even in the midst of their captivity, it’s one that says there’s a balm in Gilead. A healing balm, something that can makes things right.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole. There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. One of the stanzas actually explains why: they said, If you cannot preach like Peter and you cannot pray like Paul, you just tell the love of Jesus how he died to save us all. Oh that’s the balm in Gilead. This way of love is the way of life. They got it, he died to save us all. He didn’t die for anything he could get out of it. Jesus did not get an honorary doctorate for dying. He wasn’t getting anything out of it. He gave up his life, he sacrificed his life for the good of the others, for the good of the other, for the well-being of the world. For us, that’s what love is.
Love is not selfish and self-centered. Love can be sacrificial. And in so doing, becomes redemptive, and that way of unselfish, sacrificial, redemptive love, changes lives. And it can change this world. If you don’t believe me, just stop and think or imagine. Think and imagine, well, think and imagine a world where love is the way. Imagine our homes and families when love is the way. Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way. Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. Imagine business and commerce when love is the way. Imagine this tired old world when love is the way, unselfish, sacrificial redemptive. When love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again. When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook. When love is the way, poverty will become history. When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields down, down by the riverside to study war no more. When love is the way, there’s plenty good room, plenty good room, for all of God’s children. Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all and we are brothers and sisters, children of God. My brothers and sisters, that’s a new heaven, a new earth, a new world, a new human family. And let me tell you something, old Solomon was right in the Old Testament, that’s fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and with this, I will sit you down. We’ve got to get you all married.
French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, one of the great spirits of the 20th century. A Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a mystic. In some of his writings, he said from his scientific background as well as his theological one. In some of his writings, he said as others have, that the discovery or invention or harnessing of fire was one of the great scientific and technological discoveries in all of human history. Fire to a great extent made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby made human migration around the world a possibility, even into colder climates. Fire made it possible, there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no industrial revolution without fire. The advances of science and technology are greatly dependent on the human ability and capacity to take fire and use it for human good.
Anybody get here in a car today? An automobile? Nod your heads if you did, I’m guessing, I know there were some carriages. But those of us who came in cars, the controlled harnessed fire made that possible. I know that the Bible says, and I believe it, that Jesus walked on the water, but I have to tell you I didn’t walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Controlled fire in that plane got me here. Fire makes it possible for us to text and tweet and email and Instagram and Facebook and socially be dysfunctional with each other. Fire makes all of that possible and de Chardin said that fire was one of the greatest discoveries in all of human history. And he then went on to say that if humanity every harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captures the energy of love, it will be the second time in history that we have discovered fire.
Dr. King was right, we must discover love. The redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world. My brother, my sister, God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

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Bishop Michael Curry 1/11/21 Bishop Michael Curry 1/11/21

Word to the Church: Who Shall We Be?

In another time of national crisis, another time of danger for our nation, in 1865 on March the fourth, Abraham Lincoln concluded his second inaugural address with these words:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Lincoln knew in that moment, in the moment of a national crisis, a moment of great danger, that such a moment was a moment of decision, when a nation, when a people must decide who shall we be? What kind of nation, what kind of people shall we be? A hundred years later, Martin Luther King faced the same reality. Who shall we be? The civil rights movement was waning. The great victories that had been won had been won. And yet now questions of poverty and economic despair and disparities raised an awesome specter on the nation. We were at war.

We were at war in another country, but there was war on our streets. The nation was deeply divided. Cities burned. There were riots. Riots at national conventions of political parties. The future of the nation was in question, and it was at that time that Dr. King realized that in moments of danger, a decision must be made. And he titled his last book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community. I believe as he believed, as Abraham Lincoln believed, as I believe you believe, that we must choose community. Chaos is not an option. Community is our only hope.

The truth is Dr. King spoke often of all that he did and labored for was for the purpose of realizing as much of the Beloved Community of God as it is possible on this earth. He spoke of Beloved Community, the Bible, the New Testament, Jesus spoke of the kingdom or the reign of God. Jesus taught us to pray, and to work, and to labor for that Beloved Community, that reign of God's love in our time and in our world, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth just as it is in heaven. Those are our marching orders from Jesus himself.

I am a follower of Jesus of Nazareth because I believe that his way of love and his way of life is the way of life for us all. I believe that unselfish, sacrificial love, love that seeks the good and the welfare and the well-being of others, as well as the self, that this is the way that can lead us and guide us to do what is just, to do what is right, to do what is merciful. It is the way that can lead us beyond the chaos to community.

Now, I know full well that this may to some sound naive, to others, idealistic, and I understand that. And yet, I want to submit that the way of love that leads to beloved community is the only way of hope for humanity. Consider the alternative. The alternative is chaos, not community. The alternative is the abyss of anarchy, of chaos, of hatred, of bigotry, of violence, and that alternative is unthinkable. We have seen nightmarish visions of that alternative. We saw it in Charlottesville just a few years ago when neo-Nazis marched through the streets of an American city, chanting, "Jews will not replace us." That alternative is unthinkable. We saw it in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where a public safety officer knelt with his knee on the neck of another human being. A child of God, just like he was, and snuffed out the breath of life that God gave him. The alternative is unthinkable.

And we have seen it this past Wednesday, when a monument to democracy, the Capitol of the United States of America was desecrated and violated with violence by vandals. Lives were lost. A nation was wounded. Democracy itself was threatened. My brothers and sisters, this way of love that Jesus taught us when he said, "Love the Lord your God, and your neighbor as yourself." This way of love that Moses taught even before Jesus. This way of unselfish, sacrificial love, it is the way to redeem a nation, to save a world. It is the way of hope for us all. But do not make the mistake of thinking that I speak of a sentimental and emotional love.

Jesus spoke of love most consistently the closer he got to the cross. This way of love is the way of sacrifice, the way of unselfishness, the way of selflessness, that seeks the good of the other as well as the self. And that is the way of the cross, which is the way of life. And if you don't believe me, ask another apostle of love. Not Dr. King, not Abraham Lincoln, ask Archbishop Tutu. Ask one who has given his life for the cause of God's love in the way of Jesus. Ask him; ask Nelson Mandela in your mind. Ask them what love looks like. They knew that the way of love was the only way that could guide South Africa from what could have become a bloody nightmare and civil war to the way that could build a nation.

And it was not sentimental. Remember truth and reconciliation. They had to face painful truths. They had to do what was just and what was merciful. They had to do what the prophet Micah said, that the motivation and the guide was love. Archbishop Tutu said this:

Love, forgiving, and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones is not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back or turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness of the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse for a while. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring forth real healing. Superficial reconciliation only brings superficial healing.

This is the way of love that can heal our hurts, that can heal our land, that can help us to become one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. So, I would ask you to do two things. I'm asking you to make a commitment, a renewed commitment, to live the way of love as Jesus has taught us and to do it by making a commitment to go out and bless somebody. Bless somebody you disagree with. Bless somebody you agree with. But to go out and bless somebody by helping somebody along the way. Go out and bless somebody by listening to their story and their life. To go out and be an instrument of God's peace, an agent of God's love.

And then I would ask you to pray. Pray for this nation but pray with some specificity. Pray that we may have the wisdom and the courage to love.

God of grace and God of glory,
on thy people pour thy pow’r.
Crown thine ancient church’s story,
bring her bud to glorious flow’r.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
for the facing of this hour
- Harry Emerson Fosdick, God of Grace and God of Glory

With malice toward none, with charity toward all. With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. Let us strive to finish the work, the work that we are in. To bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. To do all which may achieve and cherish, a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

Church Anew is dedicated to igniting faithful imagination and sustaining inspired innovation by offering transformative learning opportunities for church leaders and faithful people.

Tim Maudlin 12/28/20 Tim Maudlin 12/28/20

Do Justice, Love Mercy and Kindness, and Walk Humbly with God

Editor's note: Every two weeks, the Church Anew leadership team gathers for prayer, reflection, and visioning. This devotion was shared at our last meeting in December with Pastor David Lillejord, Pastor Matthew Fleming, Pastor Gail Bach and Pastor Mary Brown by Mr. Tim Maudlin. We'd like to share our 2021 intention with you.

Good morning Pastors Matthew, Mary, David, and Gail.

Thanks for the opportunity to share devotions today as we are grateful for God’s blessings of Church Anew initiatives in 2020 and plan for 2021. As we conclude Advent and are turning to Christmas, I praise God for grace in Christ as the light of the world and thank each of you as sisters and brothers in Christ for your lives of faith, leadership of St. Andrew and Church Anew, and our shared passion and friendship in proclaiming the Gospel.

I have the following three main points in the form of questions for your consideration during our devotions this morning:

1. What is your daily playlist?

2. What is your life’s playbook?

3. How will you magnify the Lord?

While I share my illustrations, I invite you to ponder your answers to these questions.

What is your daily playlist?

My daily faith playlist begins with morning prayers before getting out of bed, continues with prayers and dialogue with my wife throughout the day, and concludes with our shared counting the blessings of the day followed by our evening prayers before sleeping.

My playlist focus also includes a daily walk in the regional hiking trail during which I often listen to four Christian contemporary songs. My song playlist begins with “Call It Grace.” Consider a few of the lyrics from this song: “Amazing, unshaking, this is grace. Unchanging, unfailing, this is grace. Some may call it foolish and impossible, but for every heart, it’s a miracle. It’s nothing less than scandalous that Jesus took our place. Call it what it is, just call it grace.” While listening, I ask myself: “What is my response to God’s grace? Gratitude? Cheerfulness? Generosity? Love?”

My song playlist continues with “The Blessing” which begins with the words of the Benediction recorded in Numbers Chapter 6: “The Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord turns His face toward you and gives you peace.” Then the song’s lyrics reference Deuteronomy 7:9, “May God’s favor be upon you in one thousand generations and your family and your children and their children and their children. May God’s presence go before you and behind you and beside you, all around you, and within you. God is with you. God is with you. In the morning, in the evening, in your coming, in your going, in your weeping, in your rejoicing, God is with you. Christ is with you.”

What a comforting and empowering reality to experience Emmanuel, God with us, and knowing that nothing will ever separate us from God.

My third song in my playlist is “Gracefully Broken,” which has the following lyrics that often serve as petitions in my prayers: “Here I am God, arms wide open. Pouring out my life, gracefully broken. All I have in these hands and all that I am, multiply for You. Find my heart on the altar again and set me on fire. Set me on fire. My heart stands in awe of your name. Your mighty love stands strong to the end. You will fulfill your purpose in me. You won’t forsake me. You will be with me. All to Jesus now. I’m holding nothing back, holding nothing back. I surrender. Have your way, use me Lord, do your will. It’s all your way. Use my life for your Glory.”

What are your frequent prayer petitions?

My song playlist continues with “Humble and Kind.” This song reminds me of Micah 6:8 where God invites us to do justice, to love mercy and kindness, and to walk humbly with God. While listening to “Humble and Kind” and pondering Micah 6:8 in my daily life, I sometimes watch the song’s uplifting music video which remind me of my wife’s executive director leadership role for more than 10 years of a semi-professional choral singing group which celebrated concerts and community engagement experiences honoring more than 70 cultures from around the world.

Other “Humble and Kind” lyrics include: “Visit grandpa every chance you can. It won’t be a waste of time.” As a grandpa of an 8-year-old granddaughter, I treasure every moment with her. Thankfully, she also thinks of me as “goofy grandpa!”

I imagine Pastors Mary and Gail are each grateful to have become a grandmother in 2020, each thrilled with every precious moment with their respectful grandchild. I expect Pastor David will welcome, in the Lord’s time, the joy of becoming a grandparent. I imagine that Pastor Matthew, as a father of two elementary school daughters, doesn’t currently have a glimmer in his eye about becoming a grandparent.

The last “Humble and Kind” lyrics are “Don’t take for granted the love this life gives you. Don’t forget to turn back around, help the next one in line, always stay humble and kind.”

These concluding lyrics invite us to consider our family and leadership roles and to help the people next in line that each of us are invited to mentor, love, and empower, including to do justice, love mercy and kindness, and walk humbly with God.

What is your life’s playbook?

As you ponder your playlists, consider your daily choices in the context of your life’s playbook.

Several years ago, my wife and I decided to explicitly state our faith and values, our life priorities, and goals in a written document we call “Blessed to be a Blessing.” We update “Blessed to be a Blessing” each Easter and Thanksgiving and then share “Blessed” with our adult children and their spouses. We are grateful for the extended family consideration of our faith and values, life priorities and goals. We engage our family in dialogue about their own situations.

While “Blessed” serves as a guidepost of our playbook for life, I invite you to state your playbook priorities and goals formally and explicitly. How are you sharing your faith and values, priorities, and goals with the next ones in line?

How will you magnify the Lord?

In Luke Chapter 1 we read Mary’s Magnificat that “my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God.” How will you magnify the Lord? How will you do justice, love mercy and kindness, and walk humbly with God? In 2021, how will Church Anew magnify the Lord?

The hope of my wife and me is shared in part in our 2020 Christmas card greeting entitled “Faith, Hope, and Joy,” Reading excerpts: “Christmas greetings, friends. We are grateful for God’s grace and blessings in our lives, including the gift of each day and being healthy while the Covid infections and deaths surge. We are sheltering in our home while staying connected virtually with family and friends. We are thankful for St. Andrew’s live streaming of uplifting worship services, Jan’s weekly bible study groups are staying virtually engaged and connected, Tim’s fulfilling corporate and volunteer roles are also virtual. We are thankful that Doug, Laurie, Avery, Eric, and Sokhey are healthy and blessed in so many ways. We are grateful that God’s grace in Christ always shines brightly with hope and love. We pray as following Jesus, born to be our savior, that you will be blessed with love, joy, and peace. We pray that our nation’s soul will begin to be healed with compassion and gratitude. We hope that you will be thankful for every day, share kindness with everyone, and seek to serve God always. In Christ, with love, Tim and Jan.”

In summary, I invite each of you to consider personally and in our respective leadership roles, including for Church Anew, how in 2021 you individually and we together will answer these questions:

What is your playlist?
What is your playbook?
How will you magnify the Lord?

In conclusion, dear friends in Christ, thank you for your lives of faith being Jesus in word and deed including through the leadership and blessing of Church Anew. Let us pray with praise to the Lord.

Tim Maudlin

Tim Maudlin is a member of St. Andrew Lutheran Church and volunteer member of the Church Anew leadership team. He is currently Chairperson of St. Olaf College's Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community and Regent and member of the College's Executive Committee. He is a member of Luther Seminary's Innovation Team's Advisory Council and past director of Luther Seminary. He is a former trustee and board chair of Augsburg Fortress (d/b/a 1517 Media), the publishing unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

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Bishop Michael Curry 12/23/20 Bishop Michael Curry 12/23/20

Presiding Bishop Curry’s Christmas Message 2020: Joy to the World!

Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry offers a message of hope for this Christmas.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come. In your hearts, in your homes, in your lives, prepare him room.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come: let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.

Perhaps like me, you’ve sung this hymn for years — in church, at home with your family, gathered with friends and neighbors. Perhaps you’ve sung it to yourself — in your car, on a walk, or quietly in the dark of night.

Joy to the world!

While we may not feel joyful this year — as the pandemic of disease continues to bring sickness and death, when fear and mistrust — a darkness — threatens to overcome the light — we, as followers of Jesus Christ must bear joy to this aching world. We must shine light into the darkness. Joy to the world!

Like much in our lives, proclaiming joy is difficult work — also good and essential work — especially now. Though we mourn that which is lost in our lives, our families, and our communities. Joy to the world!

While we strive to pull up the twisted and thorny vines of hatred and bigotry and anger. Joy to the world!

Through streaming tears and gritted teeth — Joy to the world! — because God is breaking into our lives and into this world anew.

While this is a strange year, the ministry He gives us remains the same. We will prepare him room in our hearts by taking on the ministry Jesus demands of us: feed those who are hungry; welcome the stranger; clothe those who are naked; heal those who are sick; visit the prisoner. Love God. Love your neighbor. Sing joy into this old world. Prepare him room.

St. Luke writes of the first Christmas, “[Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” There, in the simplest bed, in the cool of the night, in a trough, in bands of cloth, lies the One for whom no room was made. And yet strangely, there lies the One whom not even the universe can contain.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come. In your hearts, in your homes, in your lives, prepare him room.

God love you; God bless you; and may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

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Bishop Michael Curry 11/12/20 Bishop Michael Curry 11/12/20

November 13: Day of Love

DAY OF LOVE is Friday November 13, 2020

We have designed the Day of Love to bring awareness to World Kindness Day and the ONE THOUSAND DAYS OF LOVE campaign. The purpose is to highlight good deeds in our homes, congregations, and our communities, focusing on the positive power and the common thread of love that binds us. November 13 will be a day devoted to the positive potential of both large and small acts of love.

Please join us by taking part in three acts of love.
Check-in with someone you haven’t seen recently.
Thank someone special in your life.
Do something for children.

Won’t you join us?

To learn how you can take part, download our DAY OF LOVE Toolkit!

If you want to get started on an Act of Love of your own. Download our ACTS OF LOVE Guide designed to help children, youth and adults share love in their home, their community and throughout the world.

Church Anew is dedicated to igniting faithful imagination and sustaining inspired innovation by offering transformative learning opportunities for church leaders and faithful people.

Bishop Michael Curry 11/2/20 Bishop Michael Curry 11/2/20

Election 2020: Our Values Matter

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's sermon from Holding on to Hope: A National Service for Healing and Wholeness.

And now in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God, father, son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak and taught them...." Matthew 5:1-2

The Beatitudes, just read in a variety of voices from around our country, are part of a compendium of some of the teachings of Jesus that tradition has called "The Sermon on the Mount." They are so named because the setting for these teachings of Jesus is on a mountaintop. That is not an incidental detail.

In 1939 the late Zora Neale Hurston published a novel that retold the biblical story of Moses and the Hebrew freedom movement recorded in the book of Exodus. She told it in the idiom of African slaves in America, but she wrote it as an ingenious critique of lynching and the immorality of Jim Crow segregation here at home, and a critique of the rising tide of fascism, authoritarianism, hatred, and bigotry around the world that would lead to the Second World War. She titled the book, Moses, Man of the Mountain.

"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain and taught them."

The mountain is not an incidental background detail. When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain and began to teach them. Matthew was deliberately and intentionally invoking the memory of Moses around what Jesus was doing in the sermon on the Mount.

It was on a mountain called Sinai that God confronted Moses and challenged him to live beyond mere self-interest and to give his life in the service of God's cause of human freedom. "Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt land, and tell ole Pharaoh, let my people go."

Years later when the Israelites had won freedom, it was on that same mountain that Moses received the Ten Commandments; God's law and principles for living with freedom.

And at the end of his life, it was on another mountain, Mt. Nebo, that God allowed Moses to, as the slaves use to say, look over yonder to behold a promised land.

Centuries after Moses, in Memphis, Tennessee, a follower of Jesus named Martin, on the night before he was martyred for freedom's cause, spoke of hope in the biblical language of the mountain. "I've been to the mountaintop, and I've seen the promised land." No, the mountain is not an incidental detail.

The mountaintop: That is where prophets and poets look over yonder, to behold not what is but what ought to be. To behold the promised land of God; a new heaven, a new earth, the kingdom of God, the reign of God's love breaking in, the beckoning of the beloved community, a reconfiguration of the landscape of reality from the nightmare it often is into the promised land of God's dream for the human family and all creation.

"When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain and taught them."

What did he reveal from that mountaintop? He told them about the way to the promised land.

Blessed are you when you're poor and broken-hearted. Here's the way.
Blessed are you when you're compassionate and merciful. This is the way.
Blessed are you when you're humble and meek. This is the way.
Blessed are you peacemakers who will not cease from striving until human beings learn to lay down their swords and shields down by the riverside to study war no more.
This is the way to the promised land.

Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst that God's righteous justice might prevail in every society, in every age, for all time.
This is the way.

Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
Love God, your neighbor, yourself.
Love when they spit, shout and call you everything but a child of God.
Love!
This is the way. the way to the promised land.
When you live something like this, when you look something like this,
when we love like this, then we are on our way to the promised land.

You may be thinking, this sounds wonderful in church, but will it work in the world? Can such lofty ideals about hope, beloved community, and the reign of God be translated into human reality and society? Some years ago I was in the public library working on a sermon. I took a break and walked around the stacks looking at books. In the religion section I came upon a little book with an old black binding, published by St. Martin's Press titled, The Great Sayings of Jesus.

The forward to the book was written by Richard Holloway, who once served as the Primus or presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church. He said that in Gospels generally and, "In the Sermon on the Mount, in particular, we get from Jesus something of God's dream for a transformed creation. But the epilogue [the rest of the Gospel story] reminds us that the dream is costly, that dreams are cruelly disposed of by the world as we know it. Yet the dream lives on, nothing can kill it for long; and Jesus goes on breaking out of the tombs into which we have consigned him."

"The dream lives on." Do not underestimate the power of a dream, a moral principle, eternal verities, virtues and values that lift us up and move us forward. For true and noble ideals and the dream of a promised land have their source in the God who the Bible says is love. And God, as my grandmother's generation used to say, God is still on the throne!

Our ideals, values, principles and dreams of beloved community matter. They matter because they drive us beyond service of self alone, to commitment to the greater good of us all. They matter because they give us an actual picture of God's reign of love, and a reason to struggle and make it real. They matter to our lives as people of faith. They matter to our life in civil society. They matter to our life as a nation and as a world. Our values matter!

They matter in some simple and yet significant ways. A number of years ago Robert Fulghum wrote a wonderful book titled, All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.
Here is a list of the things – the values – he learned:

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Imagine a world in which these basic values don't matter.

Share everything? Imagine a world in which the value of sharing is replaced by greed and selfishness.
Play fair? No, cheat, lie, steal. That would make for an interesting World Series, NBA Championship, Super Bowl, election, democracy.
Wash your hands before you eat. No, let's spread the germs.
Flush. I rest my case.
"When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together."
No, it's everyone for themselves.

Our values matter! A world, a society, a life devoid of values and ideals that ennoble, that lift up and liberate, is a world descending into the abyss, a world that is a dystopian vision of hell on earth.

Mahatma Gandhi knew something about the power of ideals, dreams, and values. He said it this way.

Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

Our values matter!

III

The values and dreams we hold as a nation, our shared American values, they matter even more. We hold this prayer service in the midst of a national election, in the context of profound divisions that left unhealed could prove injurious to the fabric of democracy itself. The right to vote and to participate in the democratic process is a value of the highest order.

To be sure, no form of governance attains perfection. The preamble to the Constitution wisely reminds us that each generation must continue the evolving work of forming "a more perfect union." No, our democracy is not perfect, but it offers the best hope yet devised for government that fosters human freedom, equal justice under the law, the dignity and the equality of every human being made, as the Bible says, in the image of God.

Reinhold Niebuhr said it well, "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."

Despite our flaws and failings, we have some shared values. One of them is the preservation and perfection of representative democracy itself, "that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

We don't think of it this way very often but love for each other is a value on which our democracy depends. On the Great Seal of the United States, above the bald eagle are banners on which the Latin words, e pluribus unum are written. Those words, e pluribus unum, literally mean, "one out of many." One nation from many diverse people.

But do you know where those words come from? They come from the writings of Cicero who lived during the time of the Roman Republic. Cicero said, "When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many." Cicero who gave us those words said that love for each other is the way to make e pluribus unum real. Jesus of Nazareth taught us that. Moses taught us that. America listen to Cicero, Jesus, Moses. Love is the way to make e pluribus unum real. Love is the way to be America for real.

We have some shared values.

Thomas Jefferson gave voice to these shared values in 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."

We have shared national values. Abraham Lincoln gave voice to them when he said in the Gettysburg Address:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

We have shared national values. Every one of us was taught these words as a child in school.

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One nation, Under God, Indivisible
With liberty, And justice, For all

We sing our shared values.

America. America.
God shed his grace on thee.
And crown thy good with brotherhood.
From sea to shining sea.

At a church picnic, many years ago when I was a parish priest, I happened to be sitting at a picnic table with parishioners, several of whom were veterans of World War II and Korea. One of the men sitting there, then well into his 80s, was one of the Tuskegee Airman, the first black air unit to fight.

He started talking about Eleanor Roosevelt, and he spoke of her with great reverence and respect. He went on to explain why. In the beginning the Tuskegee airmen were being trained to fly, yet they were prohibited from flying and fighting for their country because of the color of their skin.

At the time there was a great debate in Congress and the country as to whether or not a black person had the lung capacity to handle altitude. And, if they had the brain capacity to handle the intellectual rigors of flying. Scientists were brought in to argue the case on both sides. Nothing changed. The Tuskegee Airmen kept training.

The tide turned when Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States, went to Tuskegee and brought the press with her. While the cameras flashed, she got in a plane piloted by a Tuskegee airman and flew for 45 minutes over the Alabama countryside. The picture of her in the plane with the black airmen went viral. And it changed the debate.

What led Eleanor Roosevelt to stand with them? In a spiritual biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Harold Ivan Smith said she "wanted her critics to join her in working toward a new America that lived out the Declaration of Independence and the Beatitudes of Jesus." She was holding on to deep American ideals, the values of this country. And lifting up the values of God.

What led the Tuskegee Airmen to fly, fight, and even die for their country? Between 1943 and 1945 those airmen flew over 15,000 sorties. Recognitions included 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Silver Star, 14 Bronze Stars, 744 Air Medals, and 8 Purple Hearts. In 2007 President George W. Bush awarded 300 Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal.

I was raised by folk like those guys sitting at that picnic table. In her living room, my grandma proudly displayed the pictures of her two sons who fought in World War II, serving in segregated units within the Army Air Corps. My wife has her grandfather's discharge papers; he fought in a black unit in World War I. This I know: They loved America even when America didn't love us. They believed in America because – even when America falls short – the values and ideals of America, the dream of America, stands tall and true and will one day see us through.

So whatever your politics, however you have or will cast your vote, however this election unfolds, wherever the course of racial reckoning and pandemic take us, whether we are in the valley or the mountaintop, hold on to the hope of America. Hold on to hope grounded in our shared values and ideals. Hold on to God's dream. Hold on and struggle and walk and pray for our nation, in the words of James Weldon Johnson...

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.

This sermon has been shared with Church Anew with permission by the Office of the Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, The Episcopal Church, in its entirety. The Most Rev. Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the author of the book "Love Is the Way: Holding On to Hope in Troubling Times".

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Church Anew is dedicated to igniting faithful imagination and sustaining inspired innovation by offering transformative learning opportunities for church leaders and faithful people.

Bishop Michael Curry 9/10/20 Bishop Michael Curry 9/10/20

Bishop Michael Curry: Not Just Me, But We

A few years ago, Professor Charles Marsh of the University of Virginia wrote a book on spirituality and the Civil Rights Movement and said, "Jesus had founded the most revolutionary movement in human history: a movement built on the unconditional love of God for the world and the mandate to live that love."

It's true! Jesus of Nazareth began the most profoundly revolutionary movement in history. It was a movement of people for whom this Jesus — his teaching, his example, his risen life — became the epicenter of their lives, and whose way of love became their way of life. As a result, their lives were changed, and they in turn changed the world around them. It's not just about me, it's about we.

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another just as I have love you."

I. The Last Supper

At the Last Supper, just hours before Jesus would be pulled from his knees in prayer and arrested, then tried and tortured and eventually executed by the empire of Rome, Jesus said this: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you should love one another" (John 13:34). The command wasn't new. New Testament Professor Amy Jill Levine of Vanderbilt Seminary in Nashville, commenting on our text, stops in place and asks, so what's new?

Jesus' teaching on love, which is the center of his message, is built on the teaching of Moses. In Matthew's Gospel (22:37-40) Jesus told a lawyer that the greatest law is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. He was quoting and referring to Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. The command to love God, neighbor, and self is not new. It wasn't new then. Or now. Jesus made it the centerpiece of his message, but it wasn't new.

"So, what's new?" Professor Levine asks. Here's what's new: the words "just as I have loved you." I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. That part's not new. Then he says, "Just as I have loved you, so you should love one another."

You are to love as you have been loved by me, loved by God. You are to love and be loved, to give and receive, to do justice and to be treated with justice, to show mercy and to receive mercy. In other words, love is not just about you, it's about us. It's not just about me, it's about we. And that makes all the difference in the world. And that way of love is potentially the most revolutionary movement in all of human reality.

I never saw it this way before, but it's all over the teachings of Jesus. Just take a look at the beginning of John 13, where our text comes from. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. That was never done. The teacher doesn't wash the feet of his students! The master doesn't wash the feet of the slave, the wealthy don't wash the feet of the poor, and on and on and on. But Jesus washes his disciples' feet. He turns the existing world order not only upside down but right side up. And Peter, if you read the text carefully, is the one who resists and says no, no, no, I should wash your feet, not the other way around. But Jesus says, "No, if you don't let me do it, you are not part of me, you have no share in me." Then Jesus says, "I have given you an example.” Wash each other's feet, live in equality, mutuality, and the reciprocity of God's beloved community. And it's soon after that that Jesus says, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you."

This is the way of love. You are to love and be loved, to give and to receive, to do justice and to be justly done unto. It's not just about me, it's about we. God made us to give and receive, to bless and be blessed, to love and to be loved, to do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

It's not just about me, but we! And brothers, sisters, siblings, that is a revolution.

II. Oxygen

I was about 12 or 13 when I had a conversation with my father that I still remember. I don't know what the subject matter was, but whatever I said my father blurted out, "You know, the Lord didn't put you here just to consume the oxygen!"

I don't think that was a considered, reasoned, philosophical, or theological statement. It was more likely a classic parental response to 13-year-old hormones expressing themselves. But whatever the case, he really said something important.

The Lord didn't put me here, he didn't put you here, he didn't put us here, just to consume oxygen. We are not just here for mere biological purposes. The key word in the sentence is "just." We are not here just to consume the oxygen. But we are here in part to consume oxygen.

Think about it for a moment. The world of living things is so constructed that there is an intimate, interconnected, symbiotic, biological, ecological relationship between various forms of life, between all humans, between human beings and other forms of life and existence.

In his letter from a Birmingham jail, Dr. King put it this way. "We are bound together in an inescapable network of mutuality. Tied in a single garment of destiny."

We are here in part to consume the oxygen. But not just to consume. Think about it. I've been out of school a long time, but if I remember correctly, the biological process of photosynthesis may be a parable of this principle. We, and all animals, inhale oxygen. And we exhale carbon dioxide. All forms of plant life in turn inhale, or take in, the carbon dioxide and they release, or exhale, the oxygen. In other words, they give us what we need and we give them what they need. Now, does anybody really think that's just an accident or coincidence?

The poet was right. The hand that made us is divine. That's not an accident. That's a parable.

We are here to inhale and to exhale.

We are here to receive and to give.

To be loved and to love.

To be cared for and to care.

To be justly treated and to treat others justly.

To have food, clothing and shelter, and to labor for a world where every man, woman and child has adequate food, adequate clothing, adequate shelter.

To be equally treated with the human rights intended by God for all, and to labor so that all are equal in our society and global communities.

No, the Lord didn't put us here just to consume. The Lord also put us here to give, to serve, to love.

The old Hebrew prophet Micah said it best: "You have heard what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."

No, my brothers, my sisters, my siblings, Jesus started a movement! The most revolutionary movement in history. A movement built on the way of love that teaches us how to live, not just for me, but for we. And that is a revolution.

III. Clint Eastwood

Now, I know somebody's thinking, this is fine, preacher. It's fine for church and good to talk about this king of love not just for me but for we, but it's a cold and cruel, tough world out there. I may be revealing too much about myself, but I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood. Like many of you, I grew up on Clint Eastwood films: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," "Hang 'em High." There probably is no greater sentence in the English language than, "Go ahead, make my day."

My wife knew that and exploited it once. She wanted to see "The Bridges of Madison County." She talked me into going by telling me that Clint Eastwood was in it. I thought it was a war movie. It was a love story with Meryl Streep. I have never forgiven her for that.

But beyond the shoot-em-ups, Clint Eastwood has actually made some significant and socially important films. Over the years, he has actually made some incredible films.

In the film "Bird" he told the story of the jazz great Charlie “Bird” Parker.

In the film "Unforgiven" he taught us about forgiveness — maybe one of the most profound films about what it means to be forgiven.

In "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima" he looked at the 2nd World War in the Pacific from the perspective of Americans and the perspective of Japanese.

In "Mystic River" he dealt with the pain of child abuse.

In "Million Dollar Baby" he dealt with deep relationships between human beings coming from different worlds.

In the film "The Mule" he dealt with hard decisions, drug dealing, the complexity of life's decisions.

In "Grand Torino" he dealt with racism and the possibility of redemption and even reconciliation.

But maybe his greatest achievement, or at least my favorite, was the film "Invictus" — the story of Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa — the story of how a nation divided by race, class, color avoided a racial civil war between black, white, and colored, a war that would have rendered the streets of Johannesburg, and Cape Town, Soweto, red with the flow of human blood. "Invictus."

Early in the film, after Mandela had been released from prison, after a new democracy was being established and elections held and he was elected president, Mandela assumed office; he walked into the government complex, the equivalent of the White House. As he entered on this first day, you could see most of the white government employees emptying their drawers, packing their things, getting ready to leave. They assumed they knew what was coming. He ordered all the government workers to meet him in a large auditorium. All the previous staff were white. All of the staff from the African National Congress were black or colored. The same was true of the security details, and all were present and armed. He spoke to the two security details and said they must become one security detail. Needless to say, neither group was thrilled. Then he turned and addressed everyone in the room — black, colored, and white alike. And he said something like this:

"The rainbow nation begins here ...

Reconciliation begins here ...

Forgiveness begins here ...

And forgiveness is the power that liberates the soul.

Love begins today.

And today, the new South Africa begins."

When I heard that, something inside of me said, that's not the language of power politics. I took political philosophy in college. I read Plato about the philosopher king. I read Machiavelli's The Prince. I read Locke and Hobbes and Marx and Engels. I read Kwame Nkrumah's Africa Must Unite. I've read about politics. I've been around politicians my whole life, but I've not once heard one talk about reconciliation, forgiveness, justice, and love. That's not the typical language of power politics. That's the language of Jesus. That's what the Master taught us.

Love. Forgiveness. Reconciliation.

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God?"

What does Jesus say? Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

"Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

"A new commandment I give you that you love one another.

A friend of mine, the Anglican Archbishop of Southern Africa, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, spent the last year and a half praying with Nelson Mandela as Mandela faced his own death. At the request of the family and with their permission, he published a book on that last year and a half. And he titled it Faith and Courage: Praying with Mandela. In the last few years of Mandela's life, the archbishop came to know that this was a man of profound and real faith who actually tried to follow in the footsteps and the way of Jesus of Nazareth and his love.

And when the record is written, it will show that Nelson Mandela and others like him led a revolution in South Africa, a revolution that did not degenerate into hatred and violence and bloodshed. It did not degenerate into a racial civil war. They led a revolution based on love and justice and truth and reconciliation that created a multi-racial society.

Do not be deceived. Love is the most potent reality in all of the universe. "A new commandment I give you ... love one another as I have loved you." And you will discover that love is the greatest revolution possible.

God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

This is a weekly sermon from Day1.org reposted with permission.

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Bishop Michael Curry 8/10/20 Bishop Michael Curry 8/10/20

Prayerful Action in a Pandemic

Earlier this week, I was preparing a very brief meditation for a kind of public service announcement on prayer in the time of pandemic.

As I was preparing, something dawned on me that I wanted to share with you.

There are two instances and there may be others to be sure, in both the Hebrew scriptures and in the New Testament where you see prayer linked directly with action.

One example is found in I Kings where the prophet Elijah is fleeing for his life. He says in chapter 19 that he ends up at a cave near Mount Horeb, which is Mount Sinai in other places. He's in prayer, fasting and struggling for 40 days. After that time of prayer, when he kind of senses what God wants him to do, Elijah then goes out and leads a reformation in Israel that was really significant.

Elijah’s prayer led him to action.

You see the same kind of pattern in Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He's praying about what he should do. That leads him to make the decision to give his life, to show what love looks like for the cause and way of love. But it's that prayer that leads to action.

It occurred to me that in this time of pandemic, it may be helpful to remember that our prayer can lead to actions.

We can't do all the things that we used to do, but we can do some things. We can pray. Pray for all of the conditions and all of the situations that we are aware of in our world, and that we are aware of because of this pandemic. We can also take some action. There are ways we can support causes that help people in this time. There are ways that we can support ministries that are helpful.

We can keep social distance. That's a way of action. It's an act of prayer.

We can pay attention to public health officials and their guidance, that's an action. We can wear, of course, face masks. I was trying to think of what is a prayer that combines prayer and action in the Book of Common Prayer? I found it. There are many, but this one stands out.

It's the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Pray and do what you can.

God love you. God bless you and keep the faith.

"Habits of Grace", July 27, 2020. Used with permission, The Episcopal Church 2020.

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III. Clint Eastwood

Bishop Michael Curry

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As I was preparing, something dawned on me that I wanted to share with you.

Elijah’s prayer led him to action.

It occurred to me that in this time of pandemic, it may be helpful to remember that our prayer can lead to actions.

We can keep social distance. That's a way of action. It's an act of prayer.

Bishop Michael Curry

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry is Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church. He is the Chief Pastor and serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, and as Chair of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.

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