However Two or Three Are Gathered

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

                                                                                                 Matthew 18:20

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Earlier this week, we gathered together to say Compline from our homes. Among the many prayers we offered was one written by St. John Chrysostom, a bishop in the late 4th century. Living in a time of great transition for the church, many of his writings are still widely studied by the Eastern and Western church. One of his most famous prayers reads:

Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.

St. John Chrysostom quotes the famous line from St. Matthew’s gospel pledging that Jesus will always be present for his Church. In times of strife and difficulty, these words have been a great comfort. Many times all we are seeking is a closeness, a connection, a Comfort. In our present time, that connection can be hard for us to see, hard for us to hear, harder still for us to feel.

But closeness and comfort are not confined to our physical connection. As my friend Will Shaw said to me earlier this week, “No longer is it whenever two or three are gathered; but however.” However two or three are gathered, Jesus will be present with us. No matter if we are at home, or in our car, or on a walk outside or at our job in a hospital, we are still gathered together in the name of our Lord. And our Lord is there.

This Sunday I invite you to continue our Journey with Christ along the Holy Way. Our journey will take us to new and different places around the Anglican Communion. You can follow this link where you will go to our YouTube channel. There a Sunday worship video will be posted that you can join at your leisure. I will share a message, Blair will share music and our Senior Warden, Denise, will share a message from the Vestry. We will then travel somewhere else to experience worship together.

In times like this, we may be separated by time and space; but there is nothing which can separate us from God. It is as Saint Paul writes:

“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Be safe. Be well. And be at peace.
Chris+