I had considered writing this month about my upcoming three-week summer residency at Virginia Seminary for my doctoral studies. Those studies continue to go well and are enriching my ministry and St. Mary’s. I had also considered writing this month about the roof remodel. That is a really important project for us as a parish. It is not exciting, but is necessary and an important act of stewardship. But then this little thing happened called The Royal Wedding. I have a very passing interest in the English Monarchy, so for months, I thought I might read an article after-the-fact or perhaps watch a clip or two, but when they invited our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, to preach, it really peaked my interest. Bishop Curry was my Bishop while in college in North Carolina and I have heard him preach a bunch of times over the years so I had some sense of what was possible, but still... Wow! What a sermon! And millions, perhaps even billions of people according to some estimates, heard him preach the Gospel. Nearly ten percent of Americans tuned in to watch the wedding on television, let alone the folks like me who watched it online. How can you not be proud to be an Episcopalian?! If you haven’t watched or heard it yet, stop reading this article and go watch it! The link is on the front page of our website: www.saint-marys.org
The message Bishop Curry preached was the same message we preach here at St. Mary’s every Sunday: love. God is love and that love was embodied in the person of Jesus Christ who died and rose for us, and invites us to join in his movement of love: loving God and our neighbor. This love has the power to transform the world. In fact, it already has, even though we are not yet to the Promised Land. Love. Love your God. Love your neighbor. Love as Jesus loved. Love as if the whole world depended on it. Spoiler alert: It does! The acts of love that we offer in this life shape the world to make it more and more congruent with God’s vision for the world. This love needs to infiltrate every aspect of our lives from how we act to the decisions we make. Love. God’s love. Our love. This is the message Bishop Curry proclaimed. This is the message we proclaim. This is the message I encourage you to proclaim everywhere you go.
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