From The Desk of Deacon Judy

Family

This Sunday we will honor our fathers, grandfathers, and all the father figures in our lives and in our families.

When thinking of family, our St. James family comes to mind. We support and care for each other and for our community.

Of course St. James is part of the Diocese of Alabama. Bishop Kee used to call Diocesan Conventions a family reunion. So many of the St. James family have been involved in diocesan ministries – Cursillo, Daughters of the King, Diocesan committees, Diocesan book study groups, and more – connected in faith and love.

As I head to General Convention in Louisville next week, I am reminded that we, as individual Episcopalians and members of a parish congregation, are part of an even larger family. Over 100 dioceses from nine provinces comprising 22 countries will gather as The Episcopal Church for a week to put faith into action with resolutions that uphold the Gospel of Jesus and our Baptismal Covenant. It is energizing to see lay and clergy in the House of Deputies and bishops from the House of Bishops deliberate, disagree, and decide on the future direction of our Church. This 81st General Convention of the Episcopal Church is pivotal as a new Presiding Bishop will be elected. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has served his nine-year term and will be honored for his leadership.

But wait, there’s more. Our Episcopal Church is part of the family of Anglicans in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Representatives from provinces from the Middle East to Africa to the Asian Pacific and from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office will be in Louisville to observe the governance of The Episcopal Church, to worship, and to celebrate with us.

Like Biblical families and modern-day families, there are at times tensions, divisions, and disagreements. The beauty of our Church is that around God’s table we are one. We can hold the tensions and love each other anyway, just as Jesus loves us.

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus gave a harsh message, but it holds deep truths. He seemed to reject his family, but in reality, he was broadening the definition of family. Jesus said: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

May we always remember that we are a family, interconnected, interdependent, bound together by the love of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray the prayer for the Unity of the Church:

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, as you and he are one: Grant that your Church, being bound together in love and obedience to you, may be united in one body by the One Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom you have sent, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Pentecost Blessings,

Judy Q+