Communities of Witness

Beloved in Christ,

God always acts in history by cultivating small, remnant communities of witness and resistance in the face of calamity, crisis, and horrendous evil. When Israel’s hopes were left in ruins by Babylonian brutality, God used the prophets to proclaim God’s promise of restoration and deliverance, and call the people to practice keeping covenant with God as they waited. And, in every age of Christian history, despite all the ways the church has been complicit in horrendous evils itself, God has cultivated remnant communities of faithful practice, witness, and resistance. From life under Roman oppression, to the desert mothers and fathers who fled to the margins when the church became entangled with empire, to Benedict in its ruins, to Bonhoeffer’s Confessing Church under Nazi Germany, and on and on. 

One of the remnant communities formed by the Spirit was led by Absalom Jones, whose feast day is tomorrow, and who we will celebrate as a diocese at Holy Trinity in St. Paul this Saturday. 

Jones, the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church, was born into slavery in 1746. After purchasing his freedom as a young adult, he founded the Free African Society, an organization dedicated to providing for the social, economic, educational, and spiritual needs of the African American community in Philadelphia. During the Yellow Fever pandemic, the society became a major force of assistance and relief for those afflicted in the city. Reflecting on this time, Jones wrote, “We set out to see where we could be useful. . .The Lord was pleased to strengthen us, and remove all fear from us, and disposed our hearts to be as useful as possible.” 

A century before legalized slavery ended, and in the face of deep institutional racism within the church, God, through Jones and his companions, once again cultivated a small remnant of witness and resistance. 

In our own day, as we face the overwhelming challenges and horrendous evils that are ever before us in a fallen world, we can hear our call in the prophets of ancient Israel, in the desert mothers and fathers, in Bonhoeffer, and the life of Absalom Jones. We cling to God’s promise to heal the world with love. We practice that healing love together by keeping our own Baptismal covenant. We set out, small remnant that we are, yet clothed with the mighty power of Jesus, to see where we can be useful, until God's glorious love is fully done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Grace and Peace,

The Right Rev. Craig Loya