Dear friends in Christ, 

How much faith does it take to hold onto hope when the world is full of war and woe? Will a mustard seed do it? 

Lazarus must have thought, with his dying breath, that it was too late, that it was over, that Jesus wasn’t coming. Yet if he had truly given up hope, would he have heard Jesus calling his name from outside the tomb? 

Time and again, like the women of the early morning, we take up our spices and oils and tiptoe toward the place where we buried our last hope, only to hear the angel asking, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Only to find that, once more, Jesus has gone ahead of us. 

Barbara A. Holmes, in Walking with Our Ancestors: Contemplation and Activism, writes, “According to Nouwen, the Christian community is a waiting community. But it is a group of people who pray the reality of their sense of belonging into being.”  

During this holy season at the end of Lent, we may wait in faith for the resurrection. We may not skip over or ignore the lamentations of grief and suffering, but may we wonder with hope where we will find new life among the ashes of our spiritual sackcloth. A mustard seed will do it. And prayer, and community, can help. I invite you to several ways to cultivate contemplation, community, and new life in the coming weeks and months: 

On Holy Monday, March 30, Presiding Bishop Rowe has asked the churches to come together in prayer for our world and its peace. In Ohio, two opportunities for communal prayer include an in-person gathering at the Statehouse at 12:15 p.m., and a Zoom evening prayer at 7:30 p.m., both hosted jointly by the Dioceses of Ohio and Southern Ohio. 

On May 1-2, our Becoming Beloved Community retreat, another joint venture with the Diocese of Southern Ohio, will take place at Bellwether Farm. The theme for this retreat will be Praying Shapes Believing, and it will offer further opportunities to reflect on the ways in which diverse forms of prayer can help us to build community, mutual understanding, and live into the way of peace. 

On May 16, Every One Beloved, our diocesan anti-racism training, will take place at St Michael’s-in-the-Hills in Toledo. This anti-racism curriculum is based in the Bible, our Baptismal Covenant, and the tenets of Becoming Beloved Community; in it, too, you may expect to experience the grounding of prayer and contemplation.   

As we contemplate the mystery of the empty tomb, all the suffering, fear, and grief that went into it, all that confusion, fear, and joy that comes out from it, may we find the love of God anew. My constant prayer these past few weeks has been that, while we know that the peace of God is beyond our understanding, we will at least see a glimmer of what it means. A mustard seed will do. 

Rosalind + 

Further Connections in Beloved Community 

Curriculum to address Christian Nationalism 
During this time of widely-acknowledged division within our nation, turning and returning to the foundations of our faith helps to keep us grounded in the love of God that connects us. The House of Bishops report on Christian Nationalism names it as an urgent issue, even a crisis, that “distorts our relationship with God”, as well as being a “threat to our democracy”. This curriculum is designed to help us recognize how the currents of nationalism and populism that are strong in our present time can pull at the cohesion of the Body of Christ and distract our attention from the fullness of the love of God and neighbor to which we are called (Mark 12:29-31), so that, with God’s help, we can continue to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ. 

Immigration
Immigration advocacy resources are now available. These include signs of Sanctuary that can be posted around your church. Printed signs are available by emailing Canon Rosalind.