Seeking Joy

Beloved of God,

So many with whom I connect in my daily life are expressing the difficulty of bearing the state of the world while continuing to function in their everyday lives. Whether from Minnesota, Venezuela, or Greenland, the news feels heavy, stressful, and frightening.

Yet, just as in that first Epiphany in first-century Judea, God shows up, like a star in the sky. Like a voice from heaven proclaiming belovedness. Like a miracle and a promise of continued abundance and grace.

And the Church keeps gathering to be strengthened in our work to manifest God’s love, as we know it through Jesus Christ, to the world. Last week, over a thousand people gathered with leaders from the wider Episcopal Church for an online service of Compline, to sit vigil and to pray. I commend the witness of Bishop Craig Loya of Minnesota and Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe to you. Each reminded us that, since its very beginning, in the face of a violent empire, the Church has provided a different way of being. We are called to turn the world upside down with God’s love and God's peace; with our love and our peace. We need one another now.

If you’ve been downtown lately, some of you may have noticed the disappearance of one of the banners we had made for our Cathedral to illuminate our diocesan and cathedral values. It ripped away from its moorings in a windstorm just before Christmas. Which sign, you might wonder? The one that spelled out JOY. 

Friends, I invite you to seek out Joy wherever you can find it. It’s not lost! I find Joy in you, in our shared ministry together. With each visitation, each opportunity to be in prayer and worship with you, each opportunity to proclaim God’s justice in our broken world, I perceive the Holy Spirit joyfully among us. Witnessing to that Joy is the work of faithful resistance, Christian courage, and resurrection hope. 

As your (still quite new) bishop, I am working to balance my call to bear prophetic witness inspired by our baptismal covenant, to be your pastor in the face of strain and hardship, and to continue to build up the body of our Church, with Joy, for its current mission and future thriving. It’s a juggling act. May you also balance your own juggling with Courage and Joy, and with lots and lots of care, for yourself and others.

On a not-entirely-unrelated topic, I hope you will join me in welcoming Bishop Ian Douglas and Bishop Mary Glasspool to our diocesan community!

With love,

The Rt. Rev'd Julia E. Whitworth

Bishop Diocesan