November 2022 Reading

Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.

“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

—Luke 21.6

On the eve of a precipitous election
I hear these words with renewed attention.

The destruction of the temple. A changed world.
A dangerous world. The loss of what we count on.

“Wars and insurrections...nation against nation..
arrest and persecution...” “This,” Jesus says,
“will give you an opportunity to testify.”

When things get dark and dangerous
we shine with light. We speak the truth.

We embody resurrection. We bear witness.

Not just with slogans,but with our lives.

Lives lived in subversive love,
with traitorous gentleness and radical courage
in countercultural forgiveness and illegal mercy.

The Empires of this world will always oppose
the Empire of God. Always. But our true belonging,
is in that Realm of Love; and it is eternal.

In the spirit of the Crucified and Risen One,
who is with us always,
we will persist.

Steve Garnass-Holmes