by Liz Goodyear Jones
Clement, bishop of Rome, approx. 96 a.d.
Phil:4-3
“I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music …, who could ask for anything more”, goes the Gershwin jazz standard. I know, I get to hear my jazz musician husband play this often. I love it. What rhythm!
This is part of the reason I love the Episcopal church so much. It’s got rhythm too. And to be inclusive, so do the Catholics and anyone else who follows a liturgical year.
Why am I talking about this on Clements feast day? Well, partially, it is the day after one of my favorite liturgical moments. Sunday was Christ the King! It’s the period at the end of the sentence of the liturgical year. Christ the King Sunday!
What a moment. This is when we get to celebrate the truth that it all turns out in the end. All the compassion you spent on others, the love you shared with so many. The life you have struggled to live with integrity and mercy. It is the end of the movie (AND the beginning by the way). Lover gets lover, the child gets born; people come together and LOVE wins the day!
OK. Of-course, you know that yesterday did not end all the suffering and pain on earth. I know that too. But here is a little tip o’ the hat to Clement, likely the bishop of Rome around 90 ad. We may not have gotten to the celebration yet, but if you create the possibility that we will, and see and love it, you’ll find you are gaining faith in that day’s becoming a reality. Really. And faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see! (Hebrews 11:1)
Clement’s message to us is that the only thing that really matters is just this– Faith. So, get on up people. Create that picture of the world turning out. Imagine that day that the last child is fed; swords are turned into plowshares and love, peace and miracles abound.
Imagine it; fuel it every day with your faith. You may be the one to make it so! I’ve got great faith in you!
Liz is an Episcopal priest living on the Gulf coast of Mississippi. She and her husband Dave enjoy the good life with two kitties named Taj and Leo, while Dave paints and Liz writes.