Hello St. Paul’s,
As you know we are engaged in a strategic planning initiative, with the hope of plotting a course for St. Paul’s ministries over the next 3-5 years. While we work out the details of that, we are not standing still, and one of the church’s responsibilities is to empower her people to “grow into the full stature of Christ” by offering opportunities for formation in faith. As you’ve heard me say several times, quoting the Catechism, the mission of the church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ, in other words to promote reconciliation.
We live in a deeply divided time, and popular culture tends to exacerbate those divides. The media herd us into like-minded bubbles so that we rarely encounter people with differing viewpoints on big social issues, until we are forced together at family reunions or in the workplace, and find ourselves unable to have a civil conversation or defend our own views in articulate ways. We even start to think of people “on the other side” as unworthy of our compassion. This isn’t helpful if we are to pursue the church’s mission. So, what can we do at St. Paul’s to move the needle in a healthy direction? How can we learn and encourage others to find ways to live together in the midst of deep disagreement? Answering these questions has become a goal of our adult formation ministry for 2025.
The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations has created a five-part course called “Make Me an Instrument: a Guide to Civil Discourse”. It seeks to give us tools for listening to each other – not with any desire to change minds, but so that we can fulfill our baptismal promises to respect the dignity of every human being, and to see Christ in all persons. With the assistance of our Listening Hub members (who have been practicing this skill for some time now) and our Peace and Justice committee, we plan to offer this class for our Sunday forums in Lent, starting on March 9 and running until April 6.
After Easter we hope to start offering periodic forums in which people with differing perspectives on big social issues share their viewpoints in the context of their faith, giving us all the opportunity to practice the civil discourse we will have studied during Lent. While I have no shortage of progressive speakers, I need your help to identify people who might be willing to participate in a panel or to speak from a conservative perspective on issues such as reproductive freedom, migration, economic justice, and health care.
My hope is that in the course of 2025 we will contribute in some small way to the healing of our society, providing a way forward in faith for those of us who currently feel pessimistic about the direction our country is headed and opening up our hearts to our neighbors who think differently from us. I believe this can be a valuable formational experience for all of us and I hope you will actively participate.
Your sister in Christ,
Penny
