“that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:21
This week I am blessed to represent our Diocese once again in the greater Anglican Communion. Bishops from across the world have been invited to Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury for two and a half weeks of study, prayer, and the profound work of living into Communion.
Some may ask, "why does this matter?"
The answer is in Jesus' farewell prayer from the Gospel of John. We belong to this family called the diocese, which is part of The Episcopal Church, part of the larger Anglican Communion, and part of all of Christianity. We must be faithful to Jesus’ command and overcome the worldly divisions that continually separate us.
We also need one another. In New Mexico, I often think of the quaking aspens that cover the mountains and meadows. When you gaze upon the forest, you see thousands of individual trees. Yet, each individual tree is only part of a larger organism, and the main life force is the interconnected root system underneath. Below the surface, all these trees are nourished, sustained, and bound together as one living organism. Each tree is a genetic duplicate of the other. This is who we are as Christians and as humans. We are bound by the love of Christ into a single body and human family
As you know, this Communion work is essential to this Diocese and me. I look forward to sitting with my siblings and listening and learning. I also pray that I can, in some small way, share the deep and revolutionary faith of our diocese. It is time that we refocus the light of society on what binds us together rather than what divides us. We must lift up the good and beautiful. The Church must be renewed and I believe the time is now.
I pray that by seeking and seeing the beauty in one another, we glance up and find the eyes of Jesus filled with joy, understanding, and love. Please pray for me during this time as I will continue to pray for all of you in this beautiful diocese.