Dear friends in Christ,

The last week or so has brought strange weather to Cincinnati where I live. We’ve had some gorgeous, sunny spring days of almost 70 degrees. And we had snow. It’s almost cruel to experience the glory of spring and then have to wear full-on winter garb.

As I was walking around some gardens downtown lately, it occurred to me that the weather isn’t so different from my engagement with other parts of my life.

On the one hand, we have vaccines and in many places COVID numbers are going down. On the other hand, variants are spreading, people engage in reckless behavior, and COVID cases are surging in some places. Should I be filled with hope? Or despair?

More people are broadly aware of systemic racism now, and George Floyd’s murderer was held accountable. On the other hand, I know that racism abounds and we have so very much work to do to create an equitable, just society. Should I be filled with hope? Or despair?

Mainline churches were in decline before the pandemic, and it’s likely that these tough times will cause many churches to close. On the other hand, I think more leaders are gaining clarity on what the church is here for in the first place, so perhaps we’ll actually get to the business of making disciples. Should I be filled with hope? Or despair?

It can seem naïve to cling to hope when the immediate picture is grim. I don’t blame people who get worn down by life’s circumstances and lose hope. But I think hope is where we’re called.

Things looked grim for Jesus and his followers on Good Friday. But Easter was coming. It wouldn’t have been wrong for Jesus’s disciples to shed tears and bemoan their situation while also hoping for something better. Hope does not deny our experience of pain and grief.

In fact, I think hope can be exactly what allows us to take an honest look at the challenges in our lives, in our church, and in our world. We can see where we are. We can dwell with all the pain we experience. And, at the same time, we can be filled with Christian hope.

There’s no better time than Eastertide to practice Christian hope. Let us all take an honest look at where we are. Name the difficulties. Experience the grief. And then let us look toward the day when God will wipe away every tear and all will be made right.

As for me, I’ll try not to grimace if I have to put on my winter coat again. It’s part of the journey, after all. Summer is coming.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

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Image: Scott Gunn

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50 Days | Celebrating Easter with Daily Reflections

Dear friends in Christ,

I was just sitting down to write this week’s Forward Today when the news brought word of the guilty verdict in the trial of George Floyd’s murderer. Almost a year ago, Mr. Floyd was murdered by a police officer while being arrested on suspicion of having committed a fairly minor crime.

Mr. Floyd breathed his last on May 25, 2020. His death unleashed protests across the nation. People took to the streets demanding justice for Mr. Floyd but also seeking justice in a legal system that is demonstrably and unequivocally racist.

Black people are arrested in higher numbers than white people. Black people are more likely to suffer violence at the hands of police. Black people are more likely to be incarcerated—and with longer sentences—than white people.

All of this was true before a police officer knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes last May. But in the wake of protests, more people became aware of systemic racism in society and especially in the legal system.

No justice, not even today’s guilty verdict, gives Mr. Floyd’s daughter her father back. No justice erases the unspeakable cruelty of kneeling on an immobilized man’s neck. No justice erases the loss in countless cases like Mr. Floyd’s where people died but without someone who bravely recorded the unfolding scene on video.

I pray that Mr. Floyd is redeemed in heaven, because there isn’t really a way to redeem the loss of life on earth. But we can do more than pray.

This paragraph is written for white people like myself: The time is long past when we white people can look the other way or pretend we don’t see the systemic racism that benefits us. We must work to change systems. We must yield our privilege. We must, as Jesus commanded us, love our neighbors.

Just this week, church leaders released the findings of a racial audit of our beloved Episcopal Church’s leadership. The results are sobering, but there are also recommendations for concrete steps we can take to help our church become the beloved community as the Gospel demands.

Racism, the original sin of the United States of America, harms all of us. People of color suffer discrimination, economic deprivation, physical harm, and the constant burden of being treated without respect. White people suffer too, albeit differently, because our complicity in evil systems prevents us from being the people of love, grace, and mercy that Jesus calls us to be.

The racial audit recommends steps for our church. We can all advocate for justice where we see injustice. We can look carefully at our own lives and see what changes might be needed in our hearts. We can learn more. We can build relationships. We can be the brave person who records video or intervenes when we see a risk of discrimination or harm to anyone.

I don’t know what you’re called to do. I’m still seeking to understand my own work in the area of racial justice. But I do know that I cannot claim to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ if I ignore the sin of racism in our nation or in our church.

Let us pray.

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart and especially the hearts of the people of this land, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 823)

As we pray, let us speak and work. We cannot restore Mr. Floyd’s life, but I pray that the outrage at his death moves people toward justice and mercy.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

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50 Days | Celebrating Easter with Daily Reflections

Dear friends in Christ,

This Sunday’s Gospel tells us about a time when some people approached the disciples and said to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The people were Greeks, among those who most certainly didn’t know Jesus. I love the direct, in-your-face aspect of this quote. They know what they want, and they ask for it.

I love talking with seekers, those who are looking for a church home. So often they tell me they are looking to meet Jesus Christ. This is the whole reason they come to church (whether “coming to church” is in person or online). There is very little peer pressure for anyone to attend church these days, so if a person darkens the door of a church, they are looking for something. Most likely they could echo the Greeks’ words, “We wish to see Jesus.”

Wouldn’t it be great if every church showed forth Jesus and his saving love every Sunday reliably? My sense is that sometimes we get into a maintenance rut, and people begin to think of church as the place where they find constancy and comfort in a chaotic time. While I have nothing against constancy, especially if we’re talking about the steadfast love of God, I do think we miss the mark if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on the transforming love of Jesus.

It’s not uncommon for pulpits to have the Greeks’ words written on the preaching desk. It’s a good reminder to preachers: stay on topic! Don’t forget to talk about Jesus!

Maybe we need to write out those words on our pews, in our entry ways, in our parish halls, in our zoom meetings, in our newsletters, and everywhere else. Let us never forget the point.

When people arrive at our churches, they are likely looking for something. “We wish to see Jesus.” Let’s make sure they meet him.

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

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Image: Tim Schenck

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Listen to today’s Forward Day by Day reflection on the Forward Day by Day podcast. Find morning prayer on the Morning at the Office podcast and end your day with the Evening at Prayer podcast. Available anywhere you listen!

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Dear friends in Christ,

Today’s daily office readings bring us this gem from Romans 5.

And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

There’s been a lot of suffering in the last year. Just about a year ago, “normal” life began to shut down as the pandemic loomed large. In that time, millions have died. Livelihoods have been destroyed. Familiar patterns have been disrupted.

St. Paul was speaking about suffering for the faith. Not all suffering is edifying. Sometimes suffering is just straight-up misery, and there’s been plenty of that in the pandemic time.

But I do wonder if we might look at our lives and at our church to see what we can learn from this time. Can this time of suffering produce endurance, character, and hope?

In the “before times” I think the church had too often lost sight of our fundamental mission to make disciples. It was easy to be places of comfort rather than challenge, of maintenance rather than mission, of good feelings rather than Gospel.

As we begin to look toward a post-pandemic time, I hope we take stock of our sufferings but also of our hopes. Can we use our newfound technology skills to reach more people? Can we appreciate those things we had taken for granted? Can we sharpen our focus so that we see ourselves, above all else, as communities of disciples who make disciples?

Yours faithfully,

Scott Gunn
Executive Director

Subscribe to receive Forward Today in your inbox.

Tune in!

Listen to today’s Forward Day by Day reflection on the Forward Day by Day podcast. Find morning prayer on the Morning at the Office podcast and end your day with the Evening at Prayer podcast. Available anywhere you listen!

In case you missed it…

Order your Easter Calendar | Forward Movement

Contemplative Knitting | ChurchNext

My Way of Love | The Episcopal Church and RenewalWorks

The Way of Love and Discipleship | Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry and Scott Gunn