A Word From the Editor

by Pam Doty
Mary Muir, a communicant of St. James’, Knoxville, shared a story with the congregation there which I believe needs a wider audience. In her words:

"Recently as I was delivering for Mobile Meals at Broadway Towers I hugged one of the women. She responded that I must be from that church, St. James’, that gave hugs. What a wonderful way to be remembered -- as a church that not only helps feed the body but warms the heart!"

For those of you concerned about the direction the Church is going, take heart. It is in these small things that we show Christ to the World -- not in contentious arguments over the jot and tittle of the law, not in the debates of the shortcomings of one group or another, and certainly not in the condemnation of groups with differing opinions.

All too often we sound like the Pharisee praying in the Temple, "Thank you Lord that I am not like that sinner!” We get on our soap boxes and preach exclusiveness, forgetting that our Lord ate with sinners , blessed them and healed them, inviting all to come to his feast. We work on the speck in our neighbor’s eye while ignoring the mote in our own.

We judge and we fret. We push for our own way and try to drive the Church in the direction we, in our fallible flesh, think is right.

But, when we get right down to the heart of the matter, to the very core of the Church, groups do not matter. It is each child of God, known by name, that matters.

And we are called to feed, clothe, visit, nourish the least of these children of God as though serving Christ himself. That is how the Church grows and moves in the right direction -- in love, in feeding the body and warming the soul. As St. Paul is purported to have written, "In the end, only faith, hope and love remain. And the greatest of these is Love."

So reach out to all God’s children, treating them with dignity and respect. Give them bread and give them hugs.

Peace.

Pam Doty is editor of The East Tennessee Episcopalian.