CHALLENGES WE FACE

                Once again this week the clergy sex abuse crisis occupied a great deal of time. People were able to express their opinions, vent their emotions and openly offer their suggestions and comments of the handling of this crisis. Whatever opinion one holds is important.

                Election Day also has come and gone. Maybe the results are to your liking. Or maybe not. Maybe you’re encouraged and see hope in the leaders who will guide our country and state for the next two, four or six years.

                You may despair at what you see as our church and country continuing to plummet in a downward spiral of division. Whatever your feelings today, the work of the Gospel continues. God still entrusts us to work together to build a world of hope and welcome for all, regardless of race, gender, and creed. That world the Gospel talks about is the kingdom of God. We must still be about Jesus’ work of peacemaking and reconciliation among God’s daughters and sons.

                Whether or not you agree with the bishop, whether or not your candidate won or lost, the work of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick goes on. Jesus continues to call us to follow him, to take up our crosses to build the kingdom of God here and now.

                Now is the time to decide what we do guided by the Spirit of God to make God’s justice and mercy a reality in our own community; what will be the foundation of the kingdom of God; what cross we will carry as the means of bringing the hope of the Risen One into the lives of those we love.

                We pray, O God, help us take up our crosses with wisdom and hope, and so walk the way of your Son: the road of difficult change that leads to justice, forgiveness and peace, that transforms our world into the glorious kingdom of God.