From the Bishop

From the Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher, IX Bishop of Western Massachusetts

The Gospel of Luke tells that powerful story of what happened after the death of Jesus when Cleopas and another disciple are walking on the road to Emmaus. The Risen Jesus (whom they do not recognize), comes up behind them and asks what they are talking about. Cleopas tells him about the greatness of Jesus and then about his suffering and death. What Cleopas says next has been called by some theologians “the saddest statement in the entire Bible.” He said, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” Had hoped. Hope in the past tense.

For a while, earlier this year, I was feeling hope in the past tense. I did not agree with many of the polices of the newly elected government. I remain afraid for the vulnerable in our society. I fear the consequences of neglecting the climate crisis. Where is the hope?

Friends, the Holy Spirit gave me hope again. And she did it through the Sunday lectionary gospels. The living Word of God was real for me. Every week, in those sacred texts, the Holy Spirit gave me hope. Here are just a few examples.

Jesus goes to John to be baptized. But John’s baptism was not making one a member of a church. John was very clear that his baptism was for forgiveness of sins. We proclaim Jesus was without sin! Shouldn’t he be doing the baptisms with John? But no. Jesus gets in line with the sinners. He waits with them. Showing us God is not far away. God is with us.

How about the wedding feast at Cana? The couple runs out of wine. Mary, the mother of Jesus, tells him to do something about this. Jesus tells her he can’t, because his “hour has not yet come.” God has a plan and this is not in the plan. But Jesus changes his mind. People in need change God’s plans. Jesus turns six water jars (each holding 20-30 gallons) into wine. That’s 120-180 gallons of wine! Betsy and I have hosted the weddings of our three children and we never needed 120-180 gallons of

wine. But Jesus does because he is the Son of God and God creates in great abundance. The creation tells us so. Now that gives me hope. We don’t have just enough grace to get through the day. We have more than enough grace because it is the nature of God. And when we come to the end of our life on earth, there will be more life because we can’t use up all the life that God has given us.

Then we read the story of the great catch of fish. The apostles had been fishing for a long time and had caught nothing. Jesus tells them to “go deeper.” What a powerful metaphor for all followers of Jesus! They do go deeper and they catch so many fish they can’t bring them all in. Again, such hope we find in God’s abundant grace.

Then Jesus says, “Now you are catching fish. Soon you will be catching people.” Most of the time, we interpret that as meaning, “bring people into the church.” Now I am all for that. But recently I read a great sermon from one of our clergy. He asked, “When do we catch people? We catch them when they fall.” Could that be what Jesus meant? When a person falls into poverty, we catch them. When a person falls into depression, we catch them. When a person falls into addiction, we catch them. So you see the Church is hope for the whole world.

We will be in the Great 50 Days of Easter when this magazine reaches your mailbox. We will hear in gospel after gospel that love is stronger than death. Hope abounds.

At the recent House of Bishops gathering in Alabama, Bishop Rob Wright addressed us all on a very critical topic. This was one of my favorite lines: “Audacious faith is a blessed buoyancy. It’s vertical assurance for horizontal endurance.” It is faith that moves us forward in hope. A faith sustained by the Word and the power of the resurrection in our lives. This is why, no matter the fears and the challenges we face, God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20) ♦

+Doug