Recently, I was at a monthly gathering of our Older Wiser Laity (OWLs) at Episcopal Homes. (We call this “Spiritual Life at the Pub” even though our group is so big we now have to meet in a gathering space next to the pub!) Many of our community members at Episcopal Homes can no longer regularly attend worship services at St. John’s. Others have vision or hearing or memory challenges that make seeing, listening to, or retaining the information about all that is happening at St. John’s a bit more difficult. One of the many reasons we have these gatherings is to be sure ALL our members, regardless of ability, remain connected, informed, known, and seen, no matter what.
So I wasn’t surprised when one of our members asked me to tell her a little bit about what St. John’s is doing for outreach and community service. I love questions like this! Even though that information is available in multiple formats all the time, I relish the chance to enumerate the many things St. John’s is up to. I am so excited to tell anyone who will listen, all the ways our dollars, time, prayers, energy, and even our own work at spiritual growth and formation, are focused on this essential part of our calling as people of faith.
So, I began to list off Faith in Action programs, citing the numerous ways we are feeding the hungry, supporting our unhoused neighbors, and bringing healthcare to neglected areas of the world. I talked about how we’re providing space for 12-step groups, working on creation care and environmental stewardship, deepening our own understanding of and internal work for justice, supporting the flourishing of our LGBTQ+ members, and walking alongside immigrants in their quest to make a new life for themselves and their families in our country.
Which isn’t to say that we are doing everything we can, or that we don’t have capacity to deepen our commitments. But I am deeply grateful to be a part of a place that is already hard at work in the world for all of these important things.
This fall, our minds might be a little preoccupied with the upcoming election. There is a lot to worry over with its possible outcomes and the lives that stand to be most adversely affected. At St. John’s, we have found a framework to move us out of “faithless fears and worldly anxieties” towards planning, preparation, and hopefulness. We will join with people of goodwill and communities of faith all over our country to take advantage of the Day 1 curriculum, a framework for churches like ours to think faithfully and critically about our values and how we intend to use them in the first days after the election. You can read more about Day 1 here, here, and here. As described by the Religion News Service,
“The curriculum creates a process both to consider how support might be given to groups of people who will be most impacted by the election Presidential election results, and to align a church community’s gifts and capacity with a concrete plan…We do not know the outcome of the election. We do know there will be work to be done on Day 1, regardless of the outcome.”
We might decide, based on the various possible outcomes of the election, that there is a lot more we need to do. But also, we might have our hearts turned from fear and anxiety toward hope and joy when we realize the good work we’re already engaging in: that our actions align in large part with our values, and our resources are already pointing toward those most in need.
I know that there’s a lot of important work to do in the election process in the weeks and months ahead. I don’t deny that each of us has a part to play in electing leaders who will promote policies that represent our deepest values. But the work doesn’t end once an election happens—it really is just beginning.
We need to continue working together to support those on the margins; to advocate for just and equitable laws; and to hold our elected leaders to account. Depending on the outcome of the election and who is in charge, that work may look very different! The good news is that our faith, our values, and the One we follow and call Lord, will not change.
With God’s help, we will face Day 1 and each day after, secure in the knowledge that the Holy Spirit accompanies us in our work and equips us for it, and that we are already deeply engaged in doing those things that our faith calls us to do: to love the lonely, serve the poor, feed the hungry, and so much more.
