St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans is one of my favorite books in the Bible. It has been much maligned and abused, but it’s an extraordinarily beautiful book. When read as a large, extended argument by Paul, we learn a great deal about God’s expansive mercy. Towards the end of the Letter to the Romans, Paul offers some practical advice to the church in Rome, exhorting them to be a community bound together by love for one another, despite their diverse gifts and differing viewpoints and practices.
New Testament scholar Richard Hays sums up St. Paul’s arguments in the Letter to the Romans, chapters 12 and 13, as follows, characterizing Paul’s words as encouragement to be “a community living with minds renewed by God’s mercy” [Christopher B. Hays and Richard B. Hays, The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality within the Biblical Story (New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2024), 195].
“It is a community characterized by humility, recognizing diverse and complementary gifts within the one body.
It is a community characterized by rejoicing in hope, patient suffering, and hospitality to strangers.
It is a community that blesses its persecutors, rejoices with those who rejoice, weeps with those who weep, and lives in harmony with one another.
Above all it is a community that fulfills the law by obeying the commandment, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (p. 196)
It’s my deep prayer that Good Shepherd, Rosemont, can be such a community. I think that we are already such a community in so many ways. Paul’s words are crucial for the Church in every time and age. We’re one of the few places that claims to affirm the gifts of all people, not just gifts for scholarly work or athletic prowess or musical genius or business acumen. We believe that God has blessed everyone, and that all our gifts are needed for the flourishing of a community of faith.
I’ve seen so much hope at Good Shepherd in just over four years here. I have seen a great deal of patient bearing with others and with challenging situations. I certainly have witnessed profound hospitality that has exceeded any of my expectations. Daily, I see such love among the people here, that I’m deeply moved and humbled. We weep with those who are weeping—such as when we gather as a parish to bury one of our beloved members—and we rejoice with those who rejoice as we celebrate the happy occasions of marriages and welcoming of new members and the baptisms of children and adults. And I do think that we’re striving as much as we can to love our neighbors as ourselves.
But there’s always more work to be done. I offer these words as encouragement, because I want us to celebrate how much goodness is present in this parish. I hope we’ll also challenge ourselves and stretch our comfort level as we face new challenges in loving our enemies and existing together despite our differences and in offering unyielding hospitality to strangers. And I hope that each of us will go into the world to tell of the work being done in this community. Let me share a few scenes from a community “living with minds renewed by God’s mercy.”
Our vestry decides not to press charges against someone who vandalized our shadow box sign on Lancaster Avenue. The person was reacting against the sign’s pronouncement that we’re affirming of the LGBTQ+ community. We knew the person had been hurt by the Church in the past. We offered forgiveness instead of punitiveness.
At Evening Prayer, parishioners go out of their way to help newcomers navigate the complexities of the liturgy, offering such warmth and welcome that newcomers want to return to worship with us.
One of our youngest parishioners greets another child at formation after they’d been absent for a few weeks with a hug and the words, “I’ve missed you so much.”
Coffee hours after Sung Mass are more and more crowded. There’s such warmth and welcome. All are fed. Everyone is “seen.” Community is formed. We’re not alike, and some of us see the world quite differently. But we agree to exist together in love and respect for one another.
Our Pilgrims in Christ group is growing, now at fifteen participants. Each newcomer is welcomed with open arms. Many different backgrounds and religious experiences are represented. All are united in a desire to know Christ more deeply.
Eleven children darken the doors of the church weekly (and some twice a week) to make music, enjoy each other’s presence, and find a very special kind of community.
Parishioners are working quietly behind the scenes to help those who are in need so that we can truly be a parish that welcomes the stranger.
These are only a few “scenes” from a parish that I believe is committed to “living with minds renewed by God’s mercy.” In the coming weeks, there will be several opportunities to invite others to experience the beauty of this parish community. Would you consider inviting a friend to come with you to church? Remember that wonderful invitation from John’s Gospel: “Come and see.” This Sunday, our children choristers will sing at Sung Mass. Come and see. On Monday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving as a parish with a Low Mass with hymns at 6 p.m., followed by a potluck. Come and see. On Sunday, December 7, parishioner Bonnie Hoffman-Adams will offer an Advent Quiet Day on “Praying with Icons.” Come and see. On December 8, we will welcome at least fourteen new members to the parish at Sung Mass. Come and see. On December 15, we’ll anticipate the coming of Christmas with a beautiful service of Advent Lessons and Carols at 3 p.m. Come and see. Come, bringing others along as well, to see the Spirit at work in a community “living with minds renewed by God’s mercy.”
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle