Maundy Thursday 2021
Dear Friends,
In this most Holy of Weeks, I am so very aware of how fragile and flawed our world and our country is at this moment in time. We are wrestling with fear, hate, physical violence, lies and misinformation, yet another surge in COVID-19 cases, systemic racism and open access to guns. It is a time in our world when the grim reality of Good Friday is seemingly more evident than the transforming power of Easter Sunday.
In spite of this current reality, may we live our lives in such a way that people will know we are neither fueled by fear nor sustained by cynicism, rather, we are people rooted in God’s abundant grace, offering welcome, honesty and compassion in all that we do.
Violence in any form is abhorrent to people of goodwill and to all of us who call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. I ask you to consider what actions you are taking to stop Asian hate, transgender violence, systemic racism and rampant fear. As we move toward Good Friday and Easter Sunday I invite all of us, every day to denounce stereotypes, develop deep relationships across divisive divides and dare to live as a people who know that Good Friday was not the end of Jesus’ story.
This Easter, may we be the people who live as Christ loves. May we know in our hearts and souls that the tomb was empty, Christ is alive and death and despair do not have the final say. In God’s Holy Name I pray.
From our Book of Common Prayer
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart, and especially the hearts of the
people of this land, that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
All my best,
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Bonnie A. Perry
11th Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan