No, we cannot compromise the core values of what we believe, and we believe every human being deserves to live and die in dignity. We believe all human beings are worthy of respect. We believe peace is not an option, but the only way forward for all of us to find what we pray for. We believe poverty and hunger are not inevitable but can be eradicated. We believe the Earth is alive and must be treated as a living being with whom we are in a profound relationship. We are open-minded, but we cannot compromise the core values of what we believe.
Bishop Steven Charleston ~ October 10, 2023
Tag: peace
Jesus does not prefer political parties; Jesus does choose sides
Recently, we were appalled to learn that the former chair of the Hastings school board and her family were forced to move to another city following vicious social media attacks--attacks originated by adults--against one of her children. The attacks were launched in an attempt to unseat the mother from the school board. When Bishop Craig Loya learned of this story, he was moved to respond with a powerful and compassionate op-ed letter to the Hastings Star Gazette. We commend his letter to you as a witness to the power of Christ's unremitting love in the face of unwarranted abuse and cruelty against one of God's beloved children.
Opinion letter published December 10, 2021 in the Hastings Star Gazette
I was saddened to hear recently from the Episcopal congregations in your community, St. Luke’s on Vermillion Street and St. Mary’s in Afton, that Hastings has recently become the latest flashpoint in the painful and highly charged division that characterizes so much of our public life these days.
I was heartbroken to learn that at the center of the controversy was a child and that child’s treatment at the hands of adults in the community.
I have the honor of serving as the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota. In that role I am called, first and foremost, to follow and emulate the One who came not to be served but to serve; to, with God’s help, reflect and embody the love of Jesus in a world that is starving for it.
I know that many in our country believe, with good reason, that those who call themselves Christian are aligned first and foremost with the powerful, with white nationalism, with anti-democratic movements in our midst, with intolerance, and with violence.
The Episcopal Church has its own sinful history of perpetuating oppression. However, as a follower of Jesus, my allegiance is always to those whom Jesus came to love and to serve. Make no mistake: while Jesus does not prefer political parties, Jesus does choose sides.
The politics of Jesus are about embracing the poor, loving our enemies, feeding the hungry, lifting up the oppressed, reforming the unjust structures in society, seeking good for the other instead of insisting on our own way, disregarding the boundaries of social exclusion, calling out our own self-interested hypocrisy and that of our religious and civic leaders, making room at the center for those who have been pushed to the margins. Those are the things that Jesus actually did. These are the marks of what it means to be his followers in the world.
The Episcopal way of following Jesus is unequivocal in affirming that all of God’s children, including our trans siblings and including those with whom we ardently disagree, are beloved, accepted, worthy of dignity and welcome to fully participate in the life of the church.
We as a people are better when our churches, and all our public spaces, both affirm and reflect the wonderful diversity of humanity, which together more fully reflects the very image of God.
The Rt. Rev. Craig W. Loya, X Bishop, Episcopal Church in Minnesota
A Litany for Peace
By Linda Friern and Tony Bartlett, in The Fire of Peace © 1992, Pax Christi
Let us pray that we may be set free from the chains of violence and war.
Jesus the Christ, by your cross and resurrection…deliver us
by your nonviolence and love…deliver us
by your witness to truth…deliver us
by your passion and death…deliver us
by your victory over the grave…deliver us
from the desire for power…deliver us
from the conspiracy of silence…deliver us
from the negation of life…deliver us
from the worship of weapons…deliver us
from the celebration of killing…deliver us
from the slaughter of the innocent…deliver us
from the nightmare of hunger…deliver us
from the politics of terror…deliver us
from a false peace…deliver us
from relying on weapons…deliver us
from the spiral of armaments…deliver us
from plundering the earth’s resources…deliver us
from the despair of this age…deliver us
from global suicide…deliver us
By the light of the Gospel…give us your peace.
by the good news for the poor…give us your peace.
by your healing and wounds…give us your peace.
by faith in your word…give us your peace.
by a hunger and thirst for justice…give us your peace.
by the coming of your reign…give us your peace.
by the outpouring of the Spirit…give us your peace.
by reconciliation of enemies…give us your peace.
by gentleness and nonviolence…give us your peace.
by the truth that sets us free…give us your peace.
by prophecy and witness…give us your peace.
by persecution because of your name…give us your peace.
by the power of your love…give us your peace.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world… have mercy on us.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world… have mercy on us.
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world… grant us your peace.
Almighty God, kindle, we beseech you, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your dominion may increase till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.