Bright Lights of Love

From the Bishop

Beloved in Christ,

I spent last week in residence in the Northwest Mission Area. Beginning with a confirmation liturgy at St. Paul's in Brainerd, I spent the next six days visiting all eight of our Ojibwe congregations. It was an extraordinary week, spent learning more about the life, culture, and stunning geography of this part of our diocese. The drive between Pine Point and Mahnomen at sunset on Saturday night brought tears to my eyes it was such a beauty to behold. Our clergy who serve these congregations love the places they serve heroically and sacrificially, and the lay people who are the primary leaders of their congregations are resilient and fiercely committed to engaging God's mission of love and justice in their communities. I am so proud to be bishop of a diocese where such important ministries are sustained by such faithful disciples of Jesus.

The people and places I spent the week with were in the front of my mind as I watched the painful scenes play out this week in Haiti and Afghanistan. The world, so often, in so many ways, and for so long now, can feel heavy and hopeless. But even in the face of big pain and brokenness, the communities I prayed, laughed, cried, and ate with in the northwest stand as bright lights of love and hope, defying the darkness that threatens to enfold us. From our smallest mission outpost to our largest urban parish, don't ever forget that what you do, week in and week out, day by day, inside and outside the church, really matters. Every faith community in Minnesota, in potlucks and funerals, Bible studies and vestry meetings, feeding ministries and Sunday School, is a reminder that in Jesus, we are assured that nothing is so broken it cannot be saved, no one is so lost they cannot be found, and nothing is so dead that God can't restore it to new and glorious life. 

To paraphrase that great moment in Thomas Merton's book The Seven Storey Mountain, every one of our communities, from the great north woods to the fertile river valleys, from the vast prairies to the dense urban centers, no matter how small or ordinary they might feel, is walking around, shining like the sun, in a world so desperate for life, hope, and love.

Keep the faith,

The Right Revered Craig Loya
X Bishop
Episcopal Church in Minnesota