From the Bishop

From the Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Douglas J. Fisher 9th Bishop of Western Massachusetts

In a few weeks I will be going with our delegation to General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. As always, that Convention will have a very full schedule with meetings all day into the evenings. But at some point I will sneak away in that neighborhood to the intersection of 4th and Walnut.

Why? Because there is a plaque there marking the space where my spiritual hero, the monk Thomas Merton, had a vision on March 18, 1958. He wrote:

'In Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers…The sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and joy…I have the immense joy of being human, a member of a people in which God Himself became incarnate…If only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are walking around shining like the sun… If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.' Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

That is why we include so many of our ministries under our financial resource called Human to Human. In Building Bridges (our Veterans ministry), Reconciliation House, Marie’s Mission, Lydia’s Closet, Laundry Love, our Chaplaincy to jails, and outreach to those experiencing homelessness are not meetings of the “haves” with the “have nots”. It is human to human. That is also true of the many food pantries we have. The great gift of our churches that supply housing for refugees goes way beyond the house itself. The gift is the relationships formed with them as people “who are shining like the sun.”

Greg Boyle says this most clearly. He is a Jesuit priest who has ministered among gangs in Los Angeles for 40 years. He writes: “Sister Elaine Roulette, the founder of My Mother’s House in New York, was asked ‘How do you work with the poor?’ She answered ‘You don’t. You share your life with the poor.’ It’s as basic as crying together. It is about ‘casting your lot’ before it ever becomes about ‘changing their lot.’ Success and failure ultimately have little to do with living the gospel. Jesus just stood with the outcasts until they were welcomed or until he was crucified—whichever came first.”

This edition of ABUNDANT Times is about holy listening. Stories of pain and resurrection move us to do justice and live justly alongside those whom we engage in ministry. If we are willing to listen deeply, we will continually recommit ourselves to Jesus’ mission of mercy, compassion, and hope. The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, prophetic leader, lawyer, and the first African American woman ordained an Episcopal priest wrote, “Hope is a song in a weary throat.” Human to Human is our response to the weariness of poverty and isolation in our communities. We are listening and reaching out in love. ♦

+Doug