Virtual Convention is This Weekend!

Beloved in Christ,

This month, the Bishop's Book Club selection was Howard Thurman's classic and extraordinary book Jesus and the Disinherited. The central question addressed in the book is how the gospel can and should be understood as good news specifically for those who are excluded, oppressed, and cast aside by the powers and empires of the world.

The Jesus movement emerged against the backdrop of the racial, economic, and political oppression of the Jewish people by the Roman empire, and as a way of joining the God of Israel's project of endless and liberating love as an alternative to the world's never-ending cycle of violence and oppression.

Over time, and particularly in the Western world, Christianity became aligned with the politically and economically powerful, and in many cases was used as a tool of oppression. In the process, the Church's proclamation lost much of its original power and credibility.

I found the book convicting, inspiriting, and deeply energizing.

It was a reminder that the good news of Jesus isn't simply a good idea or a helpful philosophy. It is nothing less than the power of God to change a world order that leaves too many cast aside, knocked down, and pushed out.

In these days of disruption and challenge, God's invitation to us is to reclaim the full depth of what is good about the good news, and be caught up in the life-giving fullness of God's project to heal our broken, hostile, violent world with a love that knows no end, and that alone has the power to finally set us free.‌

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop
Episcopal Church in Minnesota