From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

We’re all learning how to communicate online, schedule things in new ways, help others learn, get the kids into classes and their assignments turned in, and much more. In the midst of that what I’ve noticed is people have a lot of patience. We watch as people talk while muted on Zoom. Teachers sympathize with kids who can’t figure out how to turn in assignments. We know people will miss meetings because their wireless service isn’t working. We expect people to be a little late, a little disorganized, and a little frazzled.

What I am appreciating is that we’re all learning how to fumble and, more importantly, learning how to appreciate and sympathize with others’ fumbles. 

If this time teaches us anything I hope it teaches us to be more forgiving — to expect and accept that people (including us) will struggle. In some ways this is what the Church should always be modeling. We’re an institution built on forgiveness and yet we so often acquire and model not Christ’s forgiveness but the world’s mercilessness. We are too short, too impatient, and too critical of one another. This time is teaching us again that we are all taking baby steps really and we’re all prone to tripping, to stumbling, and to falling from time to time.

I had a boss once who used to tell us, when we tried to badger him with the details of what we were working on, “I don’t care what we do, I care about how we do it.” At the time it annoyed me! However, I am getting it more these days. It’s not about the details from day to day in the life of the Church. It’s about the deeper questions of faith, hope, and love. Are we doing whatever we do, succeeding or failing or muddling along, with grace and charity? Are we forgiving mistakes as we hope ours might be forgiven? Are we thankful when things go well and charitable when they don’t?

This time is a good reminder to us that we need to pay far more attention to how we’re doing whatever we’re doing even when what we’re doing is confusing, new, or (perhaps especially) even when it’s easy for us but new to someone else. Keep forgiving others. Be patient with yourselves. Be slow to frustration and quick to show thanks. That kind of charity will see us all through this time and bring us closer to one another and, more importantly, closer to the loving and life-giving heart of God.

Yours in Christ,

Robert