These are tumultuous and dangerous times.  We are God’s beloved children just as God told Jesus Christ that He was His Beloved Son.  Like Jesus Christ, we are to be witnesses of God’s love through our own love, compassion, truth, integrity, and honesty.  “We are not to be slaves of evil; we are to remember who and whose we are.  Our souls can be restored so that we can commit to God’s plans for us.” (Rev. P.E. Clark)

Never before in our nation’s history have we been so overwhelmed with our own nation’s original sin of racism, a pandemic that we were not prepared for, an insurrection on our Capital buildings by angry paramilitary groups, white supremacist groups, and violent fascist fringe groups wanting to overthrow the government for their insurrectionist president, an economy that is struggling so much that many families are now homeless and going hungry, and a seemingly ever increasing fearful group of citizens wondering where this country went wrong with its values and its very soul.  We must hold each other and our leaders accountable for the erosion of our nation’s morality, the apathy that has grown in reactions to all situations, the hatred rather than love in so many environments, and the undeniable loss of faith in God.

“We need to pick up Christ’s cross and follow in His footsteps, to stand up against the injustices of our society, and to live in the beauty of our baptisms.” (Rev. P.E. Clark)  With faith, compassion, inclusiveness, truth, integrity, and honesty, we can love as God has loved us, see as God has seen us, and yes, even love those who can only hate, kill, and desecrate the hallowed halls of our souls.  By being “Christ with flesh on,” we can return to the Christian roots of our Constitution and really be “One nation under God” with liberty and justice for all.

Martin Luther King, Jr., unfortunately, never got to see his dream from the mountaintop, but I believe he would tell us that he has found peace with the Father.  He would tell us, one day, we will overcome all of the injustices of our land when we cry out to God and ask for His forgiveness.  We must forgive each other and learn how to accept forgiveness, for it is in the forgiving that our nation will be healed with grace, peace, hope, and love.  And he would tell us, “Remember who and whose you are.” (Rev. P.E. Clark)

(Some parts of this blog were a paraphrase of a sermon by the Rev. Paula E. Clark at the Washington National Cathedral)

Anna Hartt