Weekly Clergy Letter From Mother Anne Turner

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

On Sunday morning, members of our Episcopal Youth in Community (EYC) will pull out of the parking lot on their way to southwestern Virginia.  They will spend a week repairing housing, building relationships, and preaching the gospel with hammers and nails.

 

Watching such groups leave brings me joy, and I know it brings joy to many of you, as well.  (If you want to feel your spirits lifted, come to the parking lot at 10:00 a.m. for a brief commissioning service.)

 

I’m aware that our job is not to admire these young people.  It is to emulate them.

 

To be clear, I am not suggesting that we all road trip to construction sites for a week of labor.  But I am suggesting that we use the EYC departure as a prompt to think about what our own mission work is.  What do you think Jesus might want you to accomplish this week?  How do you think he’s preparing you to do it?

 

It can be sneakily tempting to think of church as only inward-facing.  One of the gifts of community is that it opens our hearts to one another; one of the perils of community is that we think that loving people already on the inside is enough.

 

But Jesus is constantly sending disciples outward.  Indeed, the lectionary in this season after Pentecost talks repeatedly about how the people who want to follow Jesus are sent out to do the kind of work that Jesus values.  They pack light and move fast.  The need is too great to dilly-dally.

 

The need is still great.  And we are all a part of the answer—high school kids and me and you.

 

“Mission field” sounds like an old-fashioned term.  I hear it and imagine Victorian evangelists preparing to embark a steamer ship bound for China.  But there are mission fields in front of us still.  You probably know people who are lonely, or scared about losing their jobs, or struggling as parents.  People who are hungry walk up to the door of our church at least two days a week every week.

 

This is where Christ calls you.  You may not even have to go further than the parking lot.

 

Yours in Christ,

Anne+