The Bishop and Canons are sharing meditations on diocesan life each week during Lent. You can read the Bishop's introduction from Ash Wednesday here. 

The Meditation

Ignatius of Antioch was born sometime around the years 35 - 50. He became a Christian as a young man and was a student of the Apostle John. He eventually became bishop of Antioch, and refused to deny Christ when the emperor came calling in the year 107. That refusal led to a death sentence, and Ignatius began the walk to his martyrdom in Rome. As he journeyed toward his execution, he wrote letters to his fellow Christians. In one of those letters from over 1900 years ago, Ignatius wrote:

"Be obedient to the bishop and to one another, as Jesus Christ was to the Father, and as the Apostles were to Christ and to the Father, that there may be union both of flesh and of spirit."  (Epistle to the Magnesians, 13:2)

Understanding that death was near, this was the message Ignatius wanted to share with rest of the church. Be obedient to one another. Listen. Put others first. Serve. Pay attention.

Paul said it this way: "Bear one another's burdens."(Galatians 6:2)

The diocese was there with Ignatius and Paul, even nineteen centuries ago. The bishop's ministry was already present there. Our Christian life is not a personal endeavor, and it's not lived in order to serve our own needs. The diocese is our primary Christian community, a community that lets us live out our gospel identity -----  together. It's a life of fellowship with folks who may be terribly different from one another. It's a community of varied gifts and experiences. Gathered as one, we stand together in this place, on this land, and join voices to proclaim that sins are forgiven, there is good news for the poor, and that love always wins. We choose to prioritize this common life because we get to see more of Christ that way. Following Jesus together, we live out mutual service and sacrificial collaboration.

Be obedient to one another. Bear one another's burdens. This is the life of God: to live together as one. Bound in word and water, we are promised hope, and so we speak hope to the world. United in prayer and at the table, we are fed together and so we feed together. Gathered by the Spirit's whisper, we listen closely for the quiet voice and breathe it deep into our lungs. In doing so, we are connected to all those gathered before us and to all those who will gather after us.

Andre Rublev's icon of the Trinity

A poem by Rowan Williams:

Rublev

One day, God walked in, pale from the grey steppe,

slit-eyed against the wind, and stopped,

said, Colour me, breathe your blood into my mouth.

I said, Here is the blood of all our people,

these are their bruises, blue and purple,

gold, brown, and pale green wash of death.

These (god) are the chromatic pains of flesh,

I said, I trust I make you blush,

O I shall stain you with the scars of birth

For ever. I shall root you in the wood,

under the sun shall bake you bread

of beechmast, never let you forth

to the white desert, to the starving sand.

But we shall sit and speak around

one table, share one food, one earth.