Gathered, Formed & Sent

Dear Friend,

Given our experiences over the last three months, Moses’s speech, in the first reading this Sunday, strikes me as highly pertinent. “Remember,” he says, “how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert…” He describes it as a vast and terrible desert with “seraph (i.e. fiery) serpents and scorpions…” Our journey of a mere three months has brought its own scorpions and serpents: racism, fear, and anger.

I’ve been reflecting on a challenge issued by biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann. It goes like this: “The story of the bible is the story of God enlisting and recruiting human agents to do the things that God has promised.” For me, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, this means that like our ancient forebears, God has enlisted us. What’s more, he has given us a share in the divine life through the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. In essence, we are gathered – slowly and deliberately starting on Monday at 8am. Then, we are formed by God’s Word and the sacrament. Finally, we are sent on a mission, a task that involves honest conversation, listening, and care, as Father Larry so powerfully reminded us last week.

God’s work of justice begins with us taking steps of risk and persevering, as Moses did with his people. Brueggemann goes on: “We are people who believe that God’s resolve for liberation in the world and of the world is a resolve of urgency that still pertains to the abused. And we are the ones who know that the promissory, liberating work of God devolves upon folk who do God’s work in the world.” In the weeks ahead I’d like to explore this as a call to our “new normal” as a parish.

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan Lackie ofm, Pastor