At a “reconciliation Eucharist” held July 4 in Houston, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori talked about the relationship between freedom and reconciliation, saying that neither is fully experienced despite being “fully around us.”
“We live in a world that is not yet whole, and we understand our vocation to be its healing or repair,” she said in a sanctuary filled with both black and white Episcopalians. “Our Jewish brothers and sisters call it ‘Tikkun Alam,’ the repair of the world.”
A healed world is an ancient dream, the presiding bishop said during her sermon. Telling stories of both joy and grief is part of the healing process.
“Over and over and over again, the prophets railed against those who brought greater divisions to the world, those who bring more injustice, those whose deeds sow destruction,” she said.
Jefferts Schori said there are many kinds of reconciliations — “between individuals, within families, among nations, between politicians and, yes, even theological factions.”
She also told the congregation gathered at at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Houston that when one is oppressed, all are oppressed. Also in attendance were members of the Union of Black Episcopalians, who were gathered for their 39th annual meeting.
Read the whole thing in the Houston Chronicle.