Who am I that You Care for Me?
Dear Easter People:
We welcome all our guests and those returning home to our community for Easter, always a joy to see and celebrate the Resurrection with so many familiar faces of love and life. Jesus Christ is Risen!!! Our hearts are bursting with joy as we have been following the road to Jerusalem for these weeks and new life is possible in abundance for each one of us.
Recently, I was visiting with some friends and one of them stated: “We are in tough times!” It really struck me as they began to describe what their phrase meant for them in the experience of life. My desire is to be positive and filled with the joy and positivity of life, but I don’t want to be naïve or superficial. I certainly agree that there seems to be brokenness at every level, corner, and place in the world. Clearly, we desire to face reality and discover the wounds that educate and form us on the journey. Recently, I attended a meeting, and the following reflection was offered with the opening phrase: “Who am I that you care for me?” Yes, it is true, as an Easter people, we believe and trust that the Risen Lord Jesus cares for us, even though we are in tough times. Here is the message:
Who am I that you care for me?
It’s clear now. Two years of pandemic have shown us that the image of the self-sufficient, autonomous individual cannot stand up to the growing lack of motivation and the epidemic of loneliness, mental illness, gun violence. Likewise, the new paradigm of diversity, equity, and inclusion seems inadequate to respond to the concrete problems of division, injustice, and estrangement. Intriguing phenomena have appeared: the “great resignation,” the rise of influencers, the spread of cryptocurrencies, the metaverse. And then the specter of inflation and recession. Lastly, the war in Ukraine has taken us by surprise. Its images of unspeakable violence have reminded us of the mysterious existence of evil, and of our radical inability to deal with it, either as victims or perpetrators.
In the face of all of this, a desire for more genuine connections and real community has emerged, the perception that we are somehow interdependent. At a deeper level, the more I feel uncertain, ill-equipped to face life, deceived by empty promises, the stronger I ache to be seen, accepted, affirmed by someone in flesh and blood.
I yearn for someone who is not uncomfortable with my brokenness, put off by my failures, or embarrassed by my sadness. Someone who values my deeper questions, who is certain of the meaning of life and walks with me to meet it. Someone who knows me and, inexplicably, really cares for me.
Why do I have this yearning?
But when you said: you,
to me, yes, to me singled out,
I was higher than stars,
deeper than coral. …
You gave me possession of myself
when you gave your self to me.
—Pedro Salinas, “When you chose me”
The truth of the beginning paragraph: “I yearn for someone who is not uncomfortable with my brokenness, put off by my failures,” etc., ----- is very striking for me. Easter announces that there are faces that know me and really care for me, but we can also be missed and fear that no one sees us or understands us. Please let this whole message sink in a bit and discover an honest and real way to respond!
My heart is filled with gratitude for our entire staff with the enormous work and ministry of service that unfolds during these glorious days of Lent/Easter! We are so blessed to have Margaret Kelsey coordinating all of us and Deacon Randy being so alert to the many needs. Also, the way in which he and his wife, Tere, served to bring our three Elect to baptism and the seven candidates to full communion in the Catholic Church. Broken, yes we are, but full of the depth of a Presence that promises the fact that we have been chosen which leads to such gladness in being part of a companionship that knows the Resurrection.
Blessings for fifty days of the Easter season,
Father Jerry Mahon
Rector/Pastor