If the church has any meaning at all in this new millennium it is because she remains a source of hope and healing in a world filled with chronic anxiety, fear and death. Here the people of God gather to renew their relationship with the Ground of their being, to seek the grace to rise above the greed and envy that are daily impediments to a holy life, to embrace a life of gratitude for all God has given us. I was so taken by this vision, over a decade ago, that I wanted the vestry to consider purchasing the old hospital so that we might use the brick when it came time for us to renovate the church and parish center, because it would symbolize the healing mission of our parish-church.
Today, I no longer think so much about the symbolism that those bricks would have stood for, but I think more about how we as a community might become a home for all those searching for a place of welcome in the midst of the storms of this life, and what we, as rector and people, must do to prepare ourselves spiritually and emotionally to be healers among the people with whom we live.
It seems to me that this healing vision was very much a part of the parish's self understanding years ago when it opened itself to the needs of the homeless, the poor, and the hungry and when, as a congregation, she embraced those living with AIDS/HIV. There was an awareness then, that somehow we have lost, of our need to be involved in the suffering of those around us. It is true that several members of the parish, on their own, outside the faith community, continue to be very involved in some of these ministries, but the conversation among the faithful has ceased.
How important is it for us to reawaken to the true needs of the world around us?
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