I am writing this after my second in-person Bishop Formation event which was followed by my first Conference of Bishops in Chicago. It was a big week of receiving information, building and rekindling relationships, receiving more information, worship, prayer, and receiving additional information. I am grateful for and humbled by the entire experience. I am also thankful I decided to stay an extra night to see my old roommate and her family. There is something grounding in spending an afternoon with someone who has known me for twenty years and remains my dear friend.
The worship services and prayers this past week also kept me grounded. Three times other bishops proclaimed the Good News to our assembly. During regular prayers, our chaplain lifted our collective concerns to God but also reminded us of whose we are. I had moments of feeling slightly overwhelmed throughout the week, but these moments of worship and prayer anchored me and even gave me deep joy, the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit.
This e-news edition will go live when those of us following the three-year Revised Common Lectionary will be in the middle of a series of readings from Philippians, the Apostle Paul’s letter written from prison to early Christians facing their deep troubles. Your church may follow the Narrative Lectionary or read just one text each Sunday (both of which make good sense to me), but I invite everyone to revisit this short letter.
The overarching theme of Philippians is the joy we have in Jesus Christ. There is so much that is still broken in our communities and cosmos and sometimes both the small conflicts and large injustices can overwhelm. I cannot continue the work of witnessing to the love of Jesus Christ with words and actions without reminders that the good news is for me too, and that the joy Paul writes of is ours. In this very short letter (just four chapters) written from prison, the words joy and rejoice appear 12 times. Paul writes, “For me living is Christ, and dying is gain.” As with many of the dying that many of us have sat at bedsides with, it’s not that Paul has a death wish: he simply knows that death will allow him to “be with Christ” in closer fellowship (1:21). Identity in Christ is also the source of joy for the Philippian believers in hard times, together with the hope of resurrection from the dead and Christ’s return to earth.
I hope each of you are being reminded regularly of the deep joy and hope that comes in knowing Christ Jesus. Maybe the reminders will come at the Lord’s Supper, maybe through a sermon, maybe in prayer with your community, and maybe in a conversation with a sibling in Christ. There are burdens that come with following Jesus, but there is also deep joy and hope.
Peace,
Bishop Meggan Manlove