This Week from Caitlyn
Dear Siblings in Christ,
I'm not usually a big sports fan, despite my husband always trying to "disciple me" into it. But this year, I've been won over by the World Cup here in North America. And sure, as I've been watching more games, they are slowly making more sense and becoming more fun to watch. What has really won me over, though, are the videos and interviews with fans from all over the world, and seeing the ways our cities and people have embraced them. It's in the love between the Scottish fans and the Bostonians (although that's perhaps to be expected with such a large Irish-heritage population and a shared disdain for English tea). It's in the unexpected way Lawrence, Kansas, overwhelmingly embraced the Algerian team arriving to train in their stadium, even learning their anthem to play and sing with them. It's people from all countries joining Norway's rowing chant in the streets and the ways a rainbow of the world's jerseys in the stands jumped up elated when the smallest country to ever qualify, Curaçao, scored their first-ever World Cup goal against "heavyweight" Germany. We've known each other only by our political headlines for centuries, often only in our worst moments as countries, but it feels like we've now all been getting to know each other as people, people ignited with the same divine spark, that imago Dei, that lives in every human being regardless of race, creed, and nationality.
In this week's Gospel, Jesus continues giving his disciples instructions as he sends them out, like ambassadors of the Gospel. He says, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me...and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." These disciples will travel to faraway places, with some traditions saying that the Apostles will go even as far as the Iberian Peninsula and the far reaches of Asia. Our adult pilgrims who return tonight have been learning about how Paul and his associates traversed between many different cultures and diverse cities, using the images and landscapes they found themselves in to illustrate the joy of the Gospel's message wherever they went. This recognition of our common human dignity, and the joyful welcome that comes from sharing with each other, is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is at the heart of being a Christian. We were not meant to be afraid; we were not made to be separated. We are meant to embrace one another in the Spirit's ever-widening circle, to readily give and receive hospitality graciously, and always be ready to share and teach the anthems of our faith that others may sing along in Love's song.
As we will hear about being sent as disciples, we also prepare to send Deacon Adam back out. This Sunday will be his last Sunday with us for the summer, and he will be preaching one final time. For the month of July, we send him up to Boston, where he will intern at the monastery of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist, learning from their patterns of prayer and way of life. Then he returns to seminary for his final year of classes. I hope you will come and help us send him off joyfully.
Peace,
Caitlyn