Dear Friends,

One theme that keeps popping up for me these days is the collective nature of faith and salvation. Many of us have been immersed in the notion that faith is a very private and personal thing, and that salvation is all about the individual soul living on in eternity. The teachings of Jesus (and much of scripture) just don't match up with that. We see throughout scripture that God calls groups of people to follow. Commands and judgments are made on whole groups. Restoration and wholeness are for groups of people and beyond humanity. That healing and restoration is something declared to be happening now.

 I spoke of this in my Ash Wednesday sermon as I said that our world could stand to lament all the awful things we see humanity doing to each other and the planet. We can be sad and grieve the failure of humanity to respect the dignity of every human being. We confess and accept our own part in sin. This runs counter to so much rhetoric that wants to deny that anything is all that bad, or that we have any responsibility. That kind of thinking is usually topped off with despair that there isn't anything we can do to change things. 

Our faith calls us to name and confront sin and to believe and trust that things can be transformed. We live that out as we offer mercy by feeding our neighbors. We act for justice as we advocate for changes in public policy. We come together as we are and trust that God meets us as we worship together. Healing and hope aren't just about the individual. We are all in this together and God is with us. 

As we walk this way of Lent, I encourage you to pray and nurture your own faith. I also pray that we can all see the many ways that our faith is about our life together. The call is to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We don't walk this journey alone. 

Peace,

Fr. John Mark