The Rt. Rev. Craig Loya

Swept Up

From the Bishop

Beloved in Christ,

Today is the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. Most of us, I suspect, don't quite know what to make of angels. In scripture, they are present in many of the most important moments. They are usually terrifying, but they also represent the way human beings can be swept up into God’s ecstatic love and life. Jacob receives a magnificent vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder between heaven and earth. Jesus promises that Nathanael will see the same thing by dwelling in Jesus. Mary is stopped in her tracks by the life-changing message from an angel. The shepherds see the desert skies lit up with angelic glory. 

The terror they bring with them is not the threat of violence, but the good news that God’s love will stop at nothing to embrace and heal the world. That good news demands a change in how we see the world and how we live our lives. 

When people encounter angels, they know the world is more than it seems to be. Angels remind us that the diversity of God’s creation is richer and more mysterious than we could ever grasp or imagine, and they remind us over and over that as dark as things might be, God’s light is still more powerful, God’s love has already won, and we are surrounded in every moment by messengers inviting us to be swept up into that love, and draw the whole world in with us.

I don’t know about you, but it felt a bit, this weekend, like I was being swept up, like I was receiving the message of the good news of God as we walked through the business meeting, workshops, story sharing, and worship during our online convention.

It felt like we were more deeply connected, part of the same fabric, the same story that God is telling in this world.

If you missed any part of convention, I welcome you to find links to each part on the ECMN website here.

And, as I did at convention, I invite you into the next chapter of what the spirit is doing here in ECMN. You can find more about this by clicking here.

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop
Episcopal Church in Minnesota