Today, like all days, is sacred and strange. This very moment, like all moments, is gift and opportunity. I hope you're finding ways to receive and cherish the gift: even and especially now, even and especially as a terrible pandemic is changing almost everything about our lives. And if this blog can help with that, if something here serves to encourage or inspire you, so much the better.





As a parish pastor, I face an uncertain future: church services when no one's in church; community building when the community's in diaspora; discipleship and witness when we're not at all sure what we're looking at. So, if you're battling some anxieties, if you're wondering what comes next...I'm with you. Believe me: I'm with you.





And still, at the heart of my faith, passed on from generation to generation, is this experience: that somehow, through some amazing grace, perfect love casts out fear. In the shadow of a thousand empires, our friends have boldly proclaimed it. Perfect love casts out fear. Speaking truth to power, protesting slavery, deconstructing nuclear weapons, our friends have boldly proclaimed it. Perfect love casts out fear. Welcoming weary refugees, organizing with the poorest among us, our friends have boldly proclaimed it. Perfect love casts out fear. Making amends for sexism, making amends for homophobia, making amends for anti-Semitism and colonialism, our friends have boldly proclaimed it. Perfect love casts out fear.





This is my calling now, and the vocation of the beloved community, the church of the Christ who fears no virus, who fears no empire, who fears no cruelty. Let's love one another generously, wildly and bravely. Let's rejoice in every sunrise and enjoy every moment with our children, friends and allies. And let's build communities of faith, communities of resistance, communities of tenderness--in every way we know how. And a few we're just beginning to learn.