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Bishop Michael Curry 12/21/23 Bishop Michael Curry 12/21/23

Bishop Michael Curry’s Christmas Message

The following transcript of Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s recorded Christmas message for 2023 was originally published here.

Hello to my family of faith in The Episcopal Church, and to all of our ecumenical and interfaith friends, and to all people of love and goodwill.

I want to first thank you all for your prayers and well wishes this year as I have weathered some health issues. Please know that I’m doing well, following the doctor’s orders.

I’m also ever more aware of the power of the messages of Advent to watch, to wait, and to listen to the pregnant voice of silence, as one version of the Bible says. And out of that watching, waiting, and listening, following the way of Jesus of Nazareth and his way of love, the Spirit of God being our helper.

So please allow me to offer a reading from the Gospel according to Luke. You know it well. The deep truth embedded in it, simple story of the birth of a baby. That deep truth has long given me strength for these 70 years, strength that I often did not have on my own. For some, it may seem fanciful, but in its own way, it points to what the Bible calls hope beyond hope. It reads:

While Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to deliver her child. She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the guest room. Now in that same region, there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

The message of the angel is as scandalous and striking now as it was then. For in it is embedded God’s message in the death and resurrection of Jesus: to trust and believe in the invincibility of the good in spite of the titanic reality of evil, because God is good all the time. To trust and believe in the enduring power of love, of truth, of the good, and of justice when the reality of the opposite seems so prodigious.

To trust and believe in the enduring power of love, justice, kindness, and compassion, all because God is love and the author of all that is true, noble, and just. “Do not be afraid,” the Scripture says, “for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

Lord, we pray, give us this sign anew. Give us the lowly, the tired, those of high estate and low, and those of no estate. Church folk, those who haven’t stepped through the red doors for years or ever, give us all a sign. Give us the working, the watching, the weeping. Give us that sign anew; as you did in the first century, so now in the 21st. Give us the expected, the faithful, the passionate, the undeserving; give us a sign.

“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people: To you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.’”

On behalf of the entire Episcopal Church, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a joyous new year.

God love you. God bless you. May God hold us all in those almighty hands of love. Merry Christmas.

Shared 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".

Bishop Michael Curry

The Most Rev. Michael Bruce 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.
Presiding Bishop Curry was installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015. He was elected to a nine-year term and confirmed at the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, UT, on June 27, 2015.

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As an ecumenical and inclusive ministry of St. Andrew Lutheran Church, the content of each Church Anew blog represents the voice of the individual writer and does not necessarily reflect the position of Church Anew or St. Andrew Lutheran Church on any specific topic.

Bishop Michael Curry 10/30/23 Bishop Michael Curry 10/30/23

Bishop Michael Curry on his Faith and Health Journey

Prayer seeks the good and well-being of others. It is an act and expression of love as we lift someone or some circumstances before the God whom the Bible says is love. And that is not only a matter of expression. It leads to and undergirds outward action.

***Photo by*** ***Aaron Burden*** on ***Unsplash***

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the opening remarks of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church, meeting virtually through Oct. 27.

My wife, Sharon, and I are profoundly grateful to you for your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes; and to God, who, out of the fullness of love, receives our prayers and responds in God’s will and way. Thank you is hardly an adequate word but please receive it in the full spirit. Thank you.

I don’t think that I have ever been more prayed for than in the last month or so. I’ve been prayed for by you, my fellow Episcopalians, by friends and colleagues from other Christian traditions, by Jewish and Muslim friends, by fellow children of God of all stripes and types. Prayer matters, and it makes a difference. I’m a witness.

Before the surgery I found myself at a strange peace with whatever was to be. I know that that peace wasn’t the result of Michael Curry’s will power. Somebody was praying. I remember there’s an old Gospel song that says in the refrain, “Somebody prayed for me.”

During nine hours of surgery, somebody was praying. During three days in ICU, two weeks in the hospital, somebody was praying. And now in this recovery period with physical therapy, somebody was praying. Part of my physical therapy has been to walk a little bit further each day, and the therapist goes with me. And then when she’s not here my wife, Sharon, goes with me. And Sharon sometimes will say, “It’s time for our walk.” And I’ll say, “You know, I’m not a dog,” but it does sound like taking the dog for a walk.

But believe me, prayer matters, and it has made a difference. And I’m a witness. Thank you.

In the weeks since I was in the hospital, I’ve thought more about prayer, and not only prayer, but the relationship between prayer and what Jesus taught us about God’s way of love.

When Jesus and New Testament writers speak of love, the Greek word most frequently used to translate the word love is the word “agape.” The word agape refers to the kind of love that is unselfish, sometimes sacrificial, but always seeks the good and the well-being of others as well as the self.

That kind of love is what Jesus was talking about when he said, “God so loved the world that he gave his only son.” Unselfish, sacrificial, seeking the good, our good, of all people. That kind of love is what Jesus was talking about when he said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Agape. Sacrificial. Unselfish. That kind of love is what the writer of 1 John was talking about when he said: “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” Agape. Unselfish. Sacrificial. Seeking the good and welfare of others.

So what’s this got to do with prayer? Interestingly enough, I didn’t think of this til earlier this week, but if you look in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel in Matthew 5-7, where Matthew has brought together many of the critical teachings of Jesus, Jesus explicitly links prayer and love as a way of personal and social change. This is what he said:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

Agape. Unselfish, sacrificial love that seeks the good and well-being of others as well as the self.

From Leo Tolstoy to Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this text has been a cornerstone of the nonviolent way of justice and change that seeks the good and well-being of others as well as the self, personally and in society.

Actually, that’s what our prayer book teaches us. This is a side note—the prayer book really is our order of worship; it actually is kind of a rule of life shaped by prayer in the best of the Benedictine tradition. In the prayer book, in the General Thanksgiving at the very end of Morning and Evening Prayer, it asks that we may pray and praise God, “not only with our lips, but in our lives.” Prayer is as much action as it is contemplation. So pray, and do something.

Now this can be dismissed as church talk, and I know that. But this is not simply a church thing or a religious thing. It matters for the life of our world. It matters in our homes and families. It matters in our communities and societies. It matters in our congregations and in our church. It matters here in our life together as Executive Council. It matters to the nations that we call home. It matters to the entire human family and our care for God’s creation. Dr. King wisely and prophetically warned us before his death: “We shall either learn to live as brothers and sisters or we will perish together as fools.” The choice is ours—chaos or community. We are all children of God equally bearing the image of God, each of infinite worth, value, and dignity.

Even as we speak there is conflict, division, and great suffering in Israel and in Gaza; in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo; and in Ukraine, Armenia, and Haiti.

Prayer matters and makes a difference. We must pray. So, pray for wisdom and moral courage for world leaders so that violence does not beget more violence—because violence doesn’t work, and violence will not bring about a just and sustainable and enduring peace. Shalom. Salaam. Violence will not get us there. Violence of the spirit, violence of the tongue. Violence of the flesh. It does not work. So pray for the leaders of the nations. Pray for all victims of violence who have been hurt, harmed, or killed in our societies and communities.

Pray for those who have been victims of hate crimes, whether directed at Jews or Muslims or anybody else.

While we can’t do everything, we can do something. I’ve learned this from our Office of Government Relations. People of faith and goodwill can organize and address our governments to call for humanitarian aid to flow freely to those in desperate need in Gaza; for the release of all hostages; for an end to all targeting of children and other civilians; and for a de-escalation of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

But beyond the practical about what we can do is who we are called to be. On Aug. 16, 1967, Dr. King addressed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which I believe was his last formal address to that conference, with these words:

I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence, you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.
And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love.
For I have seen too much hate. And hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love.

But this doesn’t have to apply just to lands far away or to political leaders. It can apply to us. It’s not just about Israel and Gaza, Sudan and DRC, Ukraine, Armenia, or Haiti. It’s about Michael Curry. It’s about you and me. It’s about all of us in this church and all of us who are part of God’s human family.

Jesus said it this way, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you and so fulfill the law and the prophets.” In our agreements and in our disagreements, we can treat each other with love, honor, and respect. For that is God’s way of love and life. And that is the only hope of humanity.

God love you. God bless you.

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

Andrea Roske-Metcalfe 8/25/22 Andrea Roske-Metcalfe 8/25/22

The Balancing Act of a Wider Welcome

My daughter attends gymnastics class every Tuesday afternoon. She’s eight years old and it’s a beginner class – nothing too serious, designed entirely for fun.

She loves the bar the best, hoisting herself up, tipping forward and back, bending at the hips to find different ways to balance her body.

I suppose, then, that I should’ve anticipated her using the back of the church pew as a gymnastics bar during worship on Sunday mornings, but I did not.

And now she does this every—single—week.

Not the whole time, mind you. Sometimes she sits in the chapel at the back and makes sculptures out of foam blocks or pipe cleaners, but that space is designed mostly for younger kids. Eight is a funny in-between age at church. So she’ll sit on the kneeler in the pew and writes letters in her journal instead, or choose a coloring sheet, or make shapes with kinetic sand on the hymnal in her lap.

But every so often, all throughout the service, she balances on the back of the pew in front of her like it’s a gymnastics bar.

And every time she does, I have to catch myself, because my instinct is to ask her to stop.

“When I was raising my kids in the church, they sat quietly and followed along with the liturgy!” Honestly, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve heard some version of this statement over the many years I’ve been a religious professional. A good deal of my vocational time and energy has been spent speaking and writing and preaching and teaching in response to it, to demonstrate that kids are present, are participating in worship, are following the liturgy, even when they’re not sitting still, or standing at the appointed times, or reading or singing along with the rest of the congregation.

I know this because I watch what happens when kids are given the space and understanding to act their age and be themselves in the worship space. I hear my own kids singing the kyrie from the bathtub. Other parents tell me about playtime tea parties where their child consecrates the meal, reciting the Words of Institution from memory to their dolls and stuffed animals. The liturgy gets in their bones, even when they appear to be paying it little to no attention.

More importantly, when these kids understand their worshipping communities to be places and spaces where they can show up with their whole selves, they really want to do just that – to show up with their whole selves, and to be a part of things. They want to light the candles, and pass out bulletins, and collect the offering. They want to help in the sacristy after worship.

My daughter has recently begun to help serve communion, and it’s her new favorite thing. In between all the pipe cleaners and kinetic sand and sitting on the kneeler and using the pew as a gymnastics bar, she asks me, over and over, “Is it time yet?” She wants more than anything to go put on the robe that’s two sizes too big, to stand with the other worship leaders in the chancel, to declare to the people of God, “the blood of Christ, shed for you.”

And when it’s time, she is all-in. She pays attention up in that chancel space in a different kind of way. She steps into that responsibility with the knowledge that she is a full participant in this community – a leader, even! – and she brings her whole self to that role.

My own daughter is one example, but I watch this same dynamic play out week after week in my congregation with kids as young as four and five. When we understand kids as people who are only learning to be full participants in worship – as in, they will only be full participants when they follow along the entire time, speaking and singing and sitting and standing and listening attentively at all the appointed times – we communicate to them that they don’t fully belong. (This understanding is also wildly ableist, for worshippers of any age.)

But when we meet kids in worship with the invitation and affirmation to just be themselves, and we welcome them as full participants just as they are, it changes their self-understanding in that space, and it changes their engagement.

I will admit that this can be easier said than done. It’s not always our first instinct. I still catch myself wanting to ask my own children to sit up or sit still or quiet down. I grew up in a congregation where we were absolutely expected to sit still and follow along with the liturgy, and those expectations are hard to shake. It’s nothing against my parents or the congregation where I was raised; that was simply the norm when I was a kid.

But it’s still the norm and expectation in a lot of worshipping communities today, even though we know so much more about kids and their social and emotional development.

There’s a loss of control when any community chooses to make space for kids to be themselves, and to bring their whole selves to the table with the understanding that they really belong. It’s never smooth sailing. It’s a balancing act, like my daughter on that gymnastics bar.

But it’s always worth the effort. So the next time you see a kid acting their age in worship, check your first instinct, like I still have to. Then delight in the fact that they feel comfortable enough in your community to be themselves. What a gift, if only we make the space.

Andrea Roske-Metcalfe

Andrea Roske-Metcalfe is a Minister of Word & Sacrament in the ELCA. She's the founder of the Pray-Ground movement and a Moth GrandSLAM champion, teaching workshops on the craft of storytelling for churches and other organizations in the Twin Cities and beyond. She lives with her family in south Minneapolis.

Join us for Enfleshing Witness 2022, a free, virtual event featuring Jeff Chu, Kirk Whalum, Kim Jackson, and others.

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

Meta Herrick Carlson 8/15/22 Meta Herrick Carlson 8/15/22

Ordinary Blessings for Parents

I wrote Ordinary Blessings for Parents in the nooks and crannies of Covid Time, when I was home in the close (and constant) proximity of my kids. Quarantine magnified everything about our family life and I noticed all kinds of moments and milestones I might not of otherwise.

I hoped this book of blessings would find its way into the hearts and homes of families everywhere, a spiritual high-five for parents and caregivers navigating the routines and rituals of life together. These blessings meet you where you are and offer a witness to remind you that you do not go about this sacred work all alone. You are seen and known by a God who knows and delights in your ordinary, who comes near to declare it extraordinary.

One of my favorite blessings is inspired by watching my kids discern what they are willing to share with their parents. I remember trying to figure out what to tell and how to tell it, wondering how my parents would react to my questions and confessions. I wrote “For Safe Sharing” to bless our best intentions, our trust building, and our promise to receive what they offer along the way.

“For Safe Sharing”

I promise

that when you share something

confusing

embarrassing

vulnerable

scary

awkward

consequential

I will not do anything

without your consent.

I will hold space

for your agency and power,

which might already feel

small or threatened.

I will listen to everything

you wish to share and

will respect what you are not

ready to speak aloud.

I will be responsible

for my own opinions and feelings

because these things

are not yours to manage.

I might not be able

to make it all better,

but I promise

I won’t make it worse.

“Ordinary Blessings for Parents: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Family Life” is available wherever books are sold. This book is endorsed by Christian, Jewish, spiritual and secular leaders and the blessings do not assume a Triune theology.

Meta Herrick Carlson

Meta Herrick Carlson (she/her/hers) is a pastor and writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She serves a two campus congregation all learning how to let go and lean in for the sake of a shared future. Meta’s first book *Ordinary Blessings: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Everyday Life* proves a worthy gift in these uncertain times. Her second book *Speak It Plain: Words for Worship and Life Together* with more ordinary blessings and resources for church nerds and liturgical communities was released in December 2020.
Website | Instagram

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

Amar Peterman 8/11/22 Amar Peterman 8/11/22

Am I A Progressive?

We want to introduce you to Amar Peterman. Amar is a writer and public theologian. He is also going to be speaking at our 2022 Enfleshing Witness gathering in October. To get you better acquainted we share the following, originally published on Amar’s blog, “This Common Life.”

In a recent essay for Sojourners, Josiah Daniels offered several explanations for how his experience at a conservative Christian college made him a “leftist.” Daniels notes that after a year in college, he didn’t identify as a conservative Christian. Seeking an alternative, he found an emergent church that met in an old mall. “I knew friends and professors who identified as “progressives” had found a home there,” Daniels comments. “I started attending as well. But eventually, I realized ‘progressive Christianity’ was just as vacuous as conservative Christianity.”

While I am not a “leftist” like my friend Josiah, his concerns regarding progressivism resonate with me. I, too, knew that whatever “conservative” Christianity was, it was not for me. And, like Josiah, I ventured into the realm of “progressive” Christianity only to find it just as performative and empty.

The problem I see today is that “conservative” and “progressive” as identifying labels denote space and proximity to an idea or object. They are relative terms.

Let’s take my education as an example: While Moody Bible may be considered “conservative” in most contexts, placed next to Bob Jones University or Pensacola Christian College, it is far left. Similarly, Princeton Seminary may often be seen as “progressive” but placed next to Union Seminary or even Harvard Divinity, it may be labeled as conservative. Neither place is “conservative” or “progressive” on its own. It can only be defined as such when placed in context to something else.

The conservative-progressive spectrum, I believe, is a false binary used to categorize and make assumptions about those around us. Both “conservative” and “progressive” are handcuffs that align us with an in-group and ultimately distract us from thinking and acting with charity, nuance, and love. When we take on these identities as our own, we allow them to form our imagination of faith, our world, and the ideological “other.” We also place ourselves within the social commitments that these labels hold which limit our ability to speak truth in love.

While I do not think that this binary will ever go away, I do believe that our society and the church would do best to break free of these chains that bind us to ways of thinking and being that are rooted in the secular rather than the sacred. Our communion ought to be marked by Jesus Christ, not these false identifiers.

My hope in both my writing and faith practice is to follow the Spirit in our world today. At times, this may align me with what is “progressive;” in other circumstances, I’ll be “conservative.” But what is most important to me is loving my neighbor as I seek to follow and testify to God’s sacred and redemptive action in this diverse, complex, dynamically alive world.

Amar D. Peterman

Amar D. Peterman (M.Div., Princeton Seminary) is an emerging Indian American scholar working at the intersection of faith and public life. A widely published author, his writing and research have been featured in Christianity Today, the Christian Century, Shared Justice, Georgetown University's Berkley Forum, and more. You can follow his writing through his column in Sojourners Magazine and his weekly sub stack: This Common Life.
Website | https://amardpeterman.wixsite.com/home
Twitter | @amarpeterman
Instagram | @amarpeterman

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

Paul Raushenbush 9/2/20 Paul Raushenbush 9/2/20

Images of Love, Hope, and Unity Surround Kenosha

'Love is the answer' painted on plywood walls in Kenosha, Wisconsin, photographed by Veronica King.

Ugly tan plywood appeared on windows around the city of Kenosha in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23, as the city braced for protests and potential damage to property. In response, a group called Kenosha Creative Space came up with the idea of encouraging residents of the city to paint the plywood with the themes of Love, Hope, and Unity, and soon, what was an idea became a reflection of a city grappling with violence responding in a way that did not diminish the pain, but insisted on a better future.

Veronica King was one Kenosha resident who loved the result. As King drove around the city, she noticed how many of the images contained scripture passages and she began to photograph them and share them on Facebook as part of her work with Congregations to Serve Humanity (CUSH), an Interfaith organization in Kenosha where she is Vice President. “This is one way to help begin the healing of our community,” says King, describing the messages and images of hope.

Another part of healing came through an Interfaith prayers service held at Second Baptist Church of Kenosha on Sunday afternoon outside of one of the churches that is a member of CUSH. On a sunny, warm afternoon, religious leaders from Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Episcopal Baptist, and other traditions gathered outdoors at a safe social distance to offer prayers of hope and show interfaith solidarity in this difficult time in their community.

CUSH is focused on love and healing but also on acknowledging the persistence of racism that afflicts the city. In a statement on their website they also insist that prayers are not enough and the time is now to act:

We know that hopes and prayers are not enough to stop a speeding bullet or to counteract centuries’ worth of systemic racism and the calculated oppression of our siblings of color so ubiquitous in this nation’s history that many of the privileged among us still do not recognize it even exists. We know that in addition to the hope of our hearts and the prayers of our souls we must act.

“We can live peacefully and safely if we work together, to work through our differences, get rid of systemic racism and have a strategic plan to move forward,” King further explained, emphasizing that CUSH is working with the Mayor’s office along with the Chief of Police and other community leaders to help bring the faith voice, and increased diversity to the committees that are being formed to address racism and to heal the city.

Veronica King brings her own history as a community leader to the effort as the former local NAACP chapter president, as well as her history as a social worker, a profession she decided upon when she was 10 years old and had a dedicated social worker who would check on her monthly at her foster home. King’s work with faith communities started with her own foster parents who were active in their church who offered her “Footing and my grounding."

Even as people come from the outside, eager to disrupt with a rhetoric of division and acts of violence, Veronica King and so many other residents in the Interfaith and artistic communities are working hard to fight against racial injustice and heal Kenosha with hope, love, and unity.

This post originally appeared on IFYC.org, September 1, 2020, and is used with permission.

Religious leaders of diverse faiths offer prayers and reflections at the CUSH Interfaith prayer service held at the Second Baptist Church of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Messages of peace painted on walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Messages of hope painted on walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin

#KenoshaStrong painted on a banner hangs over the ruins of a building, and another painted wall portrays a message from scriptures.

An MLK quote and messages of peace and love are painted on walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Scriptures quoted on walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Scripture quotes and message of strength and resilience painted around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Paintings of Love, Unity, Justice, painted on brick walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Paintings of love and hope around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Black Lives Matter and messages of unity painted on plywood walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Paintings of love and peace around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Paintings of love and equality on plywood walls around Kenosha, Wisconsin

Messages of the power of love painted on plywood walls across Kenosha, Wisconsin

Paul Raushenbush

Paul Raushenbush is Senior Advisor for Public Affairs and Innovation at IFYC (Interfaith Youth Core) promoting a narrative of positive pluralism in America, while researching and developing cutting edge interfaith leadership. He is the Editor of Interfaith America.
Facebook | @raushenbush
Twitter | @raushenbush

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 7/17/20 Bishop Michael Curry 7/17/20

How Love Shows Us the Way During Difficult Times

Bishop Michael Curry asks "what would love do" in a world upended by racial protests and the coronavirus.

Today, like Peter and the disciples, we must discern a new normal. The continued rise in cases of COVID-19 and the raising of voices in the streets following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have left us disoriented, uncertain, and confused, afraid of what we know and anxious about what we do not know. Our old normal has been upended, and we hunger for its return.

I do not say this from a lofty perch. I get it. There is a big part of me that wants to go back to January 2020 when I had never heard of COVID-19, and when I only thought of “Contagion” as a movie. Looking back through what I know are glasses darkened by loss, I find myself remembering January 2020 as a “golden age.”

But of course, January 2020 wasn’t perfect, not even close. And anyway, I can’t go back. None of us can go back. We must move forward. But we don’t know for sure what the new normal will be. Fortunately, God’s rubric of love shows us the way.

We’ve all been trying, making mistakes, learning, regrouping, trying anew. I’ve seen it. I’ve quietly read Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline online with you. I’ve seen soup kitchens, pantries, and other feeding ministries carefully doing their work in safe and healthy ways. There are Zoom coffee hours, Bible studies, and small discipleship groups. I’ve seen people of many faiths stand for the moral primacy of love. I’ve seen it, even when public health concerns supersede all other considerations, including in-person worship. That is moral courage. Who knows, but that love may demand more of us. But fear not, just remember what the old slaves used to say, walk together, children, and don’t you get weary, because there is a great camp meeting in the Promised Land. Oh, I’ve seen us do what we never thought we would or could do, because we dared to do what Jesus tells us all to do.

As our seasons of life in the COVID-19 world continue to turn, we are called to continue to be creative, to risk, to love. We are called to ask, What would unselfish, sacrificial love do?

What would love do? Love is the community praying together, in ways old and new. Love finds a path in this new normal to build church communities around being in relationship with God. Love supports Christians in spiritual practices. Prayer, meditation, study. Turn, Learn, Pray, Worship, Bless, Go, Rest.

What would love do? Love calls us to care for our neighbors, for our enemies. Love calls us to attend to those in prison, to those who are homeless, to those in poverty, to children, to immigrants and refugees. Love calls us to be in relationship with those with whom we disagree.

What would love do? Love calls us to be gentle with ourselves, to forgive our own mistakes, to take seriously the Sabbath. Love calls us to be in love with God, to cultivate a loving relationship with God, to spend time with God, to be still and know that God is God.

A few weeks ago when so many things were happening, both in our country and in our wider world, I was on a Zoom call with a member of our staff working on videos and interviews and it was so much and so chaotic, I remember just saying, "Let's just stop, and pray.”

And the prayer I prayed was a prayer from The Book of Common Prayer. It's toward the end of the prayer book on page 832 called “For Quiet Confidence.” This prayer is based on a time in the life of the prophet Isaiah, when the people of Judah and Jerusalem were living in a time when their country was in turmoil and things were uncertain and chaos seemed to be ruling.

The prophet Isaiah said, "You must remember that it is in returning and rest, that you will be saved; in quietness and confidence, you will find your strength."

And this is the prayer we prayed and I offer it for all of us. Let us pray:

Oh, God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and in rest, we shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength. By the might of thy Spirit, lift us, we pray thee to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

God love you and keep the faith.

This online column has been shared with Church Anew with permission by the Office of the Right Reverend Michael B. Curry, The Episcopal Church, in its entirety as it appeared on Today.com July 15, 2020. The Most Rev. Michael Curry is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and the author of the upcoming book "Love Is the Way: Holding On to Hope in Troubling Times," due out Sept. 22.

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
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