Transcript:
Rt. Rev. Kym Lucas:
Greetings, beloved in Christ. I hope that you are well on this day. I am curious, what is on your heart today, this week? As this new year has started, what is on your heart?
I will confess to you that my heart is heavy, as much of the diocese of Los Angeles is on fire, I’ve seen pictures of the destruction of Saint Mark’s in Altadena, I’ve heard of so many people losing their homes and being displaced. My heart is heavy, and I feel hope, as I have seen volunteer firefighters from Mexico and Canada, from as far away as South Africa coming to lend aid and help. That has given me hope.
My heart is also troubled by the economic hardship that I see all around me, the increasing number of those who are unhoused or whose housing is precarious. These things trouble my heart. And I had the joy and pleasure of a ribbon-cutting ceremony of St. Francis Center West, which is offering 59 units of permanent housing for those who are 55 and older who have experienced homelessness and disability. I have hope from that.
My heart is troubled around rumors of mass deportations, of roundups of people without regards to their personhood, their family, their obligations to be deported from this country. My heart is troubled. And yet, I have hope that there are those who take Jesus’s call to welcome the stranger seriously, who take our baptismal promise to respect the dignity of every human being seriously, who want to be pastoral support to those who might suffer.
My heart, as you can tell, is a bit of a roller coaster these days, but there is one solid assurance that I cling to, and that is the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s assessment that the arc of the universe bends towards justice. And if we, as followers of Jesus, continue to bend our hearts towards love, we help make that justice manifest in our world.
Know that you are in my prayers, and I ask you to pray for all who are struggling and suffering in our world, especially our siblings in Christ in LA, and that you pray for our world that we really will know the justice that our God intends. Blessings.