This message was emailed to the diocese on July 14, 2024.
Only the most cynical among us will be untroubled by the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally. We denounce this violence and pray for the former President, his family, and his supporters. We pray also for the repose of the soul of the bystander who was slain in this attack and any who were injured.
Undoubtedly, our nation can no longer be as confident as we have been that our political processes and institutions are immune from violence and bloodshed. What is being revealed by events like yesterday’s is the fragility of our communities and our neighborhoods—a vulnerability that many nations of the world experience continually.
Sadly, these are age-old realities. We read again from the Gospel for this Sunday—Mark 6:14-29—that the way the world settles its disputes and conflict is habitually by force and savagery, rather than by the means of peace and forbearance. To follow Jesus entails being acutely aware that the way of the world’s power and the Way of Christ’s Kingdom will be in stark contrast to one another.
As I prepare to baptize an infant saint as a new citizen of God’s Realm this morning, I pray that in our part of Christ’s Body, the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, we will continue to commit ourselves to the Way of Jesus. May we remember how in a time of extreme peril our Savior told his threatened and anxious disciples to sheathe their swords rather than look for retribution or vengeance.
Jesus taught his disciples, and us, to love and pray for our enemies, while seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. May the peace of Christ, a peace that Jesus told us the world cannot give, reign in our hearts and in our churches in the days and weeks to come. May we support each other to be the light this world so longs for and so hopes to see in us.