Dear Saints in Santa Fe and other far-off places,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.

My year as Moderator of Presbytery ends this weekend at the presbytery meeting at Ghost Ranch when I give a sermon during worship on Sunday and a new moderator is installed.

The outgoing Moderator gives a report to presbytery on the past year, and I share parts of it with you, in light of the wars, conflict, division, and pain in our world.

The Beloved Community.  It was never quite announced as presbytery’s official vision this year but in everything we did together, the Beloved Community was there.

The Beloved Community gathered for presbytery meetings in Santa Fe in February, Belen in June, and Ghost Ranch in October.  We sang, prayed, talked, ate, laughed, talked some more, lamented, dreamed, and worked as a presbytery, and as the Church universal, to embody this grand vision.  It is larger than any local meeting, effort, congregation, person, idea, and institution, and managed by no one.

The Beloved Community doesn’t wait for us to get over our anxieties about the Church, yours and mine, how we aren’t quite what we used to be (and sometimes that can be good), and not able to do what we think we should be doing.  I am reminded of the Book of Order (yes, our Book of Order) which says right on page 1, in the fourth paragraph of the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity, that we have been given all that is necessary for our mission in the world.  I looked it up again to make sure we haven’t changed it.  It’s still there.

As Dr. King would say, the Beloved Community is not some lofty utopian goal but something that is achievable and realistic when we treat each other right, justly, humanely, generously.

So, I say this:  Breathe.  Have fun.  Blend committees with coffee and conversation about what troubles you or makes you giddy, listen to others and the beating of your own heart, try new things, try other things if the first ones don’t seem right, go on mission trips and walks around your church’s neighborhood, listen to birds sing, read a scripture passage ten times and notice new insights you never saw before, seek ways to break the cycles of poverty, racism, and violence, work at a soup kitchen and share a meal with those at the table, embody compassion and let go of judgment . . . and did I say have some fun?

This is what I get excited about.  And I’ve seen it.  It’s happening.  Right here in New Mexico, in your church and mine.  The Beloved Community.  It’s who we have been this year and who we will become next year.  To be clear, we will look different as a church and a presbytery in the coming years, no doubt about, because God is moving forward, and we might as well do the same.  The world needs us to keep doing what we’re doing and becoming, day by day, who we were always meant to be.  Remember, we have what it takes to be the hoped-for church sharing compassion in a compassion-less world.

Thanks be to God for all of you, Presbytery of Santa Fe, and all the saints here and in other far-off places!

Harry