Rector's Reflection: In Dark Times, Inspiration by a Cloud of Witnesses, August 16, 2025

Beloved Members of St. Martin's,

Our gospel for this weekend contains, on its face, a difficult message: Jesus claims he does not come to bring peace but division.

As we listen to the context clues in our short passage, we can hear Jesus's frustration. He has spent the last many days (in chapters 11 and 12) alternating between crowds and meals in private homes, hammered with demands for explanations and arguments, with scarcely a moment to take a breath. Once again, when we step back, the beauty of our pericope is in the true humanity of Jesus shining through-- he gets tired and cranky, just like all of us, especially when everything just seems to be too much.

Having to come to terms in the last few weeks that the rottenness of my 2024 has apparently continued in 2025 with the continued health crisis of my sister and the long slow slog of settling my mother's estate upon. the other demands of parish and family life, I feel Jesus's exhaustion and frustration, and I know I am far from alone in that feeling, even here within the parish. I wonder if Jesus internally went where I usually do, with a big helping of imposter syndrome, accompanied by a drumbeat of subconscious questions of what am I doing here? and do any of the things I am trying to do actually matter?

I suggest we start with reading Jesus's claim that he has come to bring division as coming out of that exhaustion and frustration. as well as coming out of the reality that so far in the gospel and in the life of Luke's audience and our own, Jesus's message has caused EXACTLY argument and division. The name of Jesus is now used by some in our time to justify cruelty, warfare against migrants and refugees, aggression, oppression of the poor, and ignorance, among other sins. The Son of God who embodied in human flesh the good news message of justice, reconciliation, mercy, and grace has been appropriated by those who, in his actual lifetime, would have opposed him with every fiber of their beings.

Where can we turn for encouragement in times such as these? The letter to the Hebrews provides us with another resource: the "great cloud of witnesses--" those people who, throughout history, have overcome times such as these and worse. People in recent memory, such as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (born Edith Stein), or Sophie Scholl, or the Episcopal Church's own Jonathan Myrick Daniels, whose feast day was August 14. They stood against these same evils listed above, within living memory. You can learn more about those who are engaged in the reconciling work of God in our library, in our Everybody's Story Children's library, and through committed participation in Christian formation this year.

As we get ready to return to the school year and the program year, I hope that all of us will rededicate ourselves to a commitment to learning about our faith, our theology, and what exactly our commitment to follow Christ in times of violence and hatred means. I hope the each member of this parish commits with renewed vigor and determination to our shared ministry of hope, reconciliation, and love, and that you will join with me in formation, stewardship, and ministry.

In Christ,

Mother Leslie+