Becoming Beloved Community

Dear Friends,

I know I wrote about it a few weeks ago, but I'm still reflecting on the concept of "Love your neighbor as yourself."

It's one of those deceptively irritating things that the scriptures teach us. On one hand, it seems like it should be so simple to fulfill. It seems like it should flow naturally. I mean, we like our neighbors. Most of the time. Except for the ones who scream through the neighborhood like it's the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (I've used this time of social distancing to cultivate my identity as the neighborhood's grumpy old man in my mid-30s.) But I digress. We like our neighbors most of the time. So why should this command be so difficult?

Well, part of it has to do with the way Jesus nuances the definition of neighbor. You know the story—The Good Samaritan. Your neighbor isn't just the people who live close or look like you or think like you or share your religion. It's everyone. And that makes it tougher. But let's face it, even taking away that challenge, our ordinary neighbors—the ones who look and act and think like us—can still be hard to love.

Here, I feel like I need to say something about the controversy over masks (masks!) that rages around us. The medical authorities say it's an easy way to love our neighbor, and yet it's become one of the most hot-button issues of the day. Such a small topic, and it creates such problems.

So, yes, love is hard. It's costly. Even in the easiest of situations.

Without a doubt, though, the world we're living in isn't "the easiest of situations." In our vestry meeting last Thursday, we spent some time discussing how St. Peter's might fully live out love of neighbor in these difficult days, especially in terms of the desire more fully to love all our neighbors of every color and creed. The Bishop has reactivated a diocesan commission for "Becoming Beloved Community," which focuses on the work of anti-racism at the diocesan level. Our sense is that we would benefit from a similar commission at the parish level.

Note, this isn't about us "solving" the problem of racism. It's also not about us doing easy, feel-good things that simplistically make us feel less guilty about our nation's history and present reality. Rather, we will be about learning, about growth, about action, about building relationships that will form us as a more anti-racist institution. It won't be easy work, and it won't be work that we are done with at some set point in the future. It will be ongoing work for the long haul.

So, if you believe that God is calling you to love your neighbor through the work of anti-racism, let me know as I begin to establish this commission.

May God grace you with the courage to love all your neighbors, even the ones speeding past your house.

God bless,
Fr. Quinn+