The Beloved Community
For the past twelve weeks, I’ve come to you each Tuesday with a message of hope related to the coronavirus. Today, for the first time since mid-March, I find myself compelled to speak to something entirely different. Since the killing of Houstonian George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, the peace in many cities, including Houston, has been disrupted. Though the Cathedral is thankfully unharmed after several days of protest in downtown Houston, much other property has been damaged — including the Magnolia Hotel across Texas Avenue from Christ Church — and at least four Houston police officers have been wounded in the line of duty.
It is clear that the peace disrupted has been a very superficial one. I firmly believe that the bad actions, and especially the looting, by some protesters is the result of bad actors who have taken advantage of raw and visceral feelings. I condemn those bad actors and their actions, without reservation.
I also know, as I said to our own Officer Roy this past Sunday morning, that the overwhelming number of police officers are people of integrity who understand their role as a calling to protect and serve.
Having said both of those things as clearly and unequivocally as I can, I also must add that the indignation and frustration of the black community is genuine, real, and true. George Floyd was a good man treated mercilessly. It is wonderful that the magazine Christianity Today reported this past week on Mr. Floyd’s work with at risk youth. But the indignation and frustration is about so much more than one man and one incident. Over the weekend I offered my heartfelt thoughts in this regard on my blog. If you are interested in my extensive thoughts on the topic, I encourage you to read that blog post, entitled “A Meditation on Race.”
The question for us, as Christian people, is “What do we do in response to the death of George Floyd and to the unrest that has followed it?” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offered his thoughts in an op-ed to The Washington Post on Sunday. Bishop Curry said, in part:
“I recommend a different path — the path of love. What is the path of love? In times like these, how can we find it and follow it? When I think about what love looks like, I see us channeling our holy rage into concrete, productive and powerful action. Love looks like making the long-term commitment to racial healing, justice and truth-telling… Love looks like all of us — people of every race and religion and national origin and political affiliation — standing up and saying “Enough! We can do better than this. We can be better than this.”
For Christian people, this is not only a civic pursuit; it is a calling. From the prophets through the Lord, Holy Scripture points us to the Beloved Community that will be the fulfilled kingdom of God. And, Christians are called to live now as if the Beloved Community is already a reality, to model what the kingdom looks like as a witness to the world. When we read the beautiful metaphors in scripture of the city on a hill, or the banquet of the Lord, they are not to be for us mere poetry. For Christian people, they are the mirror in which we are to see ourselves, and they are the blueprint for how we are to live our lives.
The Cathedral’s Justice & Peace Council has begun formulating a program on racial reconciliation, which we’ll launch next year. In the meantime, may I be — may we all be — agents of grace and reconciliation in the world. And may God weave us together as the Beloved Community.
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Updates on Worship
At present, we hope to return to in-person worship later in the month of June. However, this could change, and we continue to monitor conditions in Houston and receive guidance from the Bishop’s Office. Please check this space each week for updates.
This coming Sunday, June 7, we will continue to offer worship from home online at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. At 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. this Sunday, we will introduce our new Canon Vicar, the Rev. Kathy Pfister!
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Supporting the Cathedral
Even as we worship from home, the Cathedral is engaged in ministry. Our pastoral care, outreach, worship, and program ministries of the Cathedral carry on, and supporting Cathedral ministries is as important as ever. You can make your offering in any of these ways:
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Visit the Cathedral Give page to find out the many ways you can support our church
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Make an offering or give in other ways using PayPal
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Text the word “Give” to 888-998-1634
Grace and peace,
The Very Reverend Barkley Thompson, Dean
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