2024 was a chaotic and emotionally challenging year for so many of us in this nation. Being an election year, Americans were subjected to a constant onslaught of campaign speeches and interviews and rallies.  We elected a new president and other leaders in November, and many of us, perhaps most of us, were rather excited at the prospect of saying goodbye to 2024.  

2025, however, has started off just as chaotic and challenging. Despite who you support and where your political leanings may lie, the size and speed of the recent changes to our government has been overwhelming. It’s been hard to keep up with it all, and even well- meaning, good-hearted, community-minded folks have been tempted to just check out until the dust settles.

But we can’t do that because here’s the thing… the Way of Jesus is about love, and love almost always involves staying engaged.  Jesus’ teachings are adamant that truth and justice and compassion and mercy must be not only part of the conversation, but indeed, at the core of our behavior with and toward each other as well. If we, as God’s people, are not asking questions about whether our words, actions, and yes, policies are grounded in love, then we’re missing the point of Jesus’ teachings.  If we, who proclaim love for God are not advocating for and with the most vulnerable, then really, who will? We’ve got to stay in the game and do what we may to ensure truth and justice and real, authentic liberty, especially for the least among us.  We’ve got to keep stepping up to the plate and giving it our best.

On February 12, 1909, that’s what a group of folks did.  They stepped up to the plate.  They stood up for justice and peace and fairness and liberty for all.  They put their skin in the game. On this day in 1909, the NAACP was founded. It was an  interracial American organization created to work for the abolition of segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation. As chaotic and challenging as their days were, those men and women stuck their necks out to oppose racism and ensure African Americans their constitutional rights. It wasn’t perfect.  There were and continue to be lots of ups and downs and plenty of mistakes. But over one hundred years later, these folks are still in the game, doing their best, to make the world a better place.

Now, I know most of you at St. John’s, and I know many of you rather well.  I think that part of the reason that you remain engaged in the work of the church is because you want to make the world a better place.  I truly am so grateful for your good hearts and willing spirits. But here’s the hard truth: the Way of Love is hard work. And it’s never over. And it’s never perfect. And it’s exhausting. And you and I will go to our graves with the job only partially completed.

My friends, the Way of Love that we are walking together may seem small and innocent.  You may feel that what you do as an ambassador for Christ makes no difference.  The work of Jesus that we do together may appear to others as naive or irrelevant. It’s true that you and I perhaps can’t do a whole lot about so much of what is going on in our nation and world right now. All of that is true.

But don’t let that keep you from faithfully walking the Way of Love. By continuing to show up and evaluate what is going on by filtering it through the lens of love, you are doing your part.  By continuing to show up and do whatever you can to be part of a just solution, you are doing your part.  By continuing to show up and stay in the game like those folks who founded the NAACP, you are doing your part.  By continuing to show up, our souls truly are nourished, and maybe, just maybe, the soul of this soul-sick world might become just a little better too.  I know you’re tired, but stay in the game.  Continue to show up.  Continue to speak up.  Continue to do your part for the cause of Love.  It matters.

~Father Art