Dear Beloved,
We have entered Holy Week and are turning our attention to the cross, Christ’s crucifixion, and ultimately His triumphant victory over death in his resurrection. Once a year, we remember this amazing event that happened over two thousand years ago. We recognize that Jesus is unconditional love, and before we can get to the victory cry of Easter, we must mourn what happened the prior Friday morning. We mourn that hate lifted love up on the cross.
Hate is alive today. We wait with fear and trembling as the George Floyd case begins. Black America in particular is bracing itself for yet another moment of hate to go unpunished and injustice to be upheld in the courts. Will that be the case this time? Many are finding it hard to embrace a hope that can vision a day when America declares that black lives finally matter.
We see, and must not quickly forget, that hate claims all people, and the hate of racism has recently claimed the lives of several Asians unto death. Xiaojie Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Soon C. Park, Hyun J. Grant, Suncha Kim, and Yong A. Yue, are the names of those who lost their life during the massacre in Atlanta. Since the pandemic, Asians are experiencing increased violence in America. How has America responded, and how will it respond? Will Asian American victims of hate find justice in America? How will the church respond? How should we respond?
This is Holy Week!
Surely, this week, we will find it in our hearts to care enough… won’t we? Asian Lives Matter! This Friday, in particular, Christians remember the gruesome mob lynching of Jesus on a tree. Hate did that! But we know the whole story of Jesus. What will be the whole story of America? What will be the whole story of the church in America? America has drowned in the sin of racism since its inception. This generation finds itself sinking in that same sin. But the whole story of Jesus is of resurrection, and hope and faith and eternal life! Last June, Bishop Dorsey McConnell asked the question, “What shall we do?” That is still the question one year later!
Jesus says, “Love God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength.” He commands, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus even requires of us to love those who persecute us, to love those who spitefully use us, and even to love our enemy. That’s the whole story of love.
This is Holy Week!
As we ponder the scandal of the cross and the mystery of how salvation comes to us through it, let us reflect on how hate and terrorism came to Jesus, and how Americans are suffering the same today.
We stand, and we pray, and we protest with our Asian brothers and sisters here in America. We cry for and demand justice to come for them, us, and all others who find themselves in harm’s way of the terrorism that plagues many of us today. The way of love could never be more necessary than now. As we look on Jesus this week and ponder the way of the cross – how the cross lifted love – how might love lift us?
James Rowe (1865-1933) penned the lyrics of a familiar hymn, Love Lifted Me:
I was sinking deep in sin,
Far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within,
Sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me
Now safe am I.
Love lifted me
Love lifted even me
When nothing else could help
Love lifted me
When doing what is necessary to eradicate the sin of hate and racism, know that when nothing else could help, love lifted…
Sincerely Yours in Our Lord,
The Rev. Canon Eric McIntosh
Canon for the Beloved Community Initiative
emcintosh@episcopalpgh.org
Shahnaz Alam-Denlinger
BCI Program Coordinator
s.alamdenlinger@episcopalpgh.org