Friends,

First and foremost, thank you for an amazing Holy Week and Easter Day. So much effort went into making these holy days feel meaningful and special. If you were one of the many who poured their labor into these days, thank you. If you helped fill our pews at one of the many services, thank you for joining us. The crowd on Sunday morning is something that will stick with me! I am taking a few days off to visit my siblings and will return to the office on Monday. We are lucky to have Jackie Pippin leading worship on Sunday as she is exceptional in all things priestly!

Easter was exhausting, at times manic, but always sacred. In the background of our efforts a political drama was unfolding that has had a direct effect on our many of our members. To be honest, whenever I sit down and try to figure out what to say, I am at a loss. I feel that I get information on a delay compared to most members of our community. Perhaps that is a difference in media habits. Perhaps it is an occupational hazard. However, when I get caught up, I find my mind racing with all the data points on whose lives these events will affect.

Personally, I am not a pacifist. While I believe that some wars are more just than others and are worth the fight, I do not believe we can find ourselves on the other side of violence unscathed. Whether or not I believe the war in Iran is more or less justified is a moot point, because like those who are fighting in this war, the decision to fight is not up to me. The point is to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation. If we demonize our enemies, or fool ourselves into thinking our military members will be impervious to harm, then we are making light of something that should never be trivialized.

Cynicism and outrage can be helpful to get through trials and tribulations in the short term, but if there is an end to this violence and perpetual political conflict, then love and prayer are not just lofty values, but necessary. It is the very moments we are hesitant to offer our love and prayers that we are called to pray the hardest. When the time comes where peace is possible, we cannot let our hearts be so hardened that we believe our enemies do not deserve lives worth living, safety, and ample love. Love and prayer may seem to be fuzzy ideals at the beginning of a conflict, but they can ground us in the reality of the situation, and by the end of the conflict, they are often the only tools that can help us end the cycles of violence.

I am not a expert on policy, military theory… hell I am not even particularly well-informed when it comes to our congregation, but I do know enough to know that this situation is serious, and it is of human design. Pray for the names that come to your mind the quickest, especially for the members of our Church that serve in the military. Take a moment to consider those are often forgotten in your prayers, and give them the time they deserve. Then consider that one person or persons whom you cannot stand, those that the world would be better without, and pray for them the hardest.

My prayers are with you. If anything, I urge you to treat this season with the seriousness that it deserves, and to be grounded in love and prayer.

Blessings,

Nick