Something New Breaks Open

Wednesday in Holy Week

In the midst of this Holy Week, we fully grapple with the enormity of the sacrifice of Jesus as he moved from a parade of palms to the pain of the passion. We are reminded once again that God is not remote and distant from us, but through Christ, enters our lives filled as they are with both sorrow and joy.

In the season of Easter that is upon us, we make an awesome claim that God who relentlessly pursues us in love will not abandon us. We are not left to sin and evil; we are not left to death. The miracle of the empty tomb is a promise of life. Between Good Friday and Easter, something happens to Jesus. Between Good Friday and Easter, something should likewise happen to us. We too are to be changed.

And so as the Easter light breaks, something new should break open in us. There is a new future for the world for which Christ died. The late William Sloan Coffin once said in a sermon,

Christ is risen to convert us, not from life to something more than life, but from something less than life to the possibility of full life itself. Christ’s resurrection promises to put love in our hearts, decent thoughts in our heads, and a little bit more iron in our spines.

In these Great Fifty Days of Easter may you live into our Easter love, have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and be a courageous Church that dares to follow Jesus Christ in his life of fearless love for the world.

God’s blessing be upon you.

Bishops on the Border

In some respects, it may seem strange for me to go on a border experience with other bishops just before our House of Bishops meeting in Arizona. After all, I can leave my home and be in Tijuana in thirty minutes. However, when Kirk Smith, the bishop of Arizona invited us for a two-day visit on both sides of the border, I couldn't resist.

In the wake of the passage and signing of SB1070, it was particularly important for the bishop of San Diego to be in solidarity with the bishop of Arizona. Our two dioceses comprise a segment of the border where undocumented individuals continue to risk their lives crossing the desert in hope of a better life. Because of this San Diego and Arizona have been the areas in which hundreds upon hundreds have perished in an effort to come to our country.

In reality, the situations in the Diocese of Arizona and in the Diocese of San Diego are similar. Both economies depend on migrant labor. Both areas have people with passionate feeling on both sides of the issue of undocumented persons and immigration. What I saw, I have seen before: crosses in memory of those who died in the desert, border agents trying to compassionately enforce the law, citizens of two nations affected by unintended consequences of legislation often more informed by rhetoric than wisdom.

In our table conversation today, Bishop Smith asserted that the constellation of issues that we catalog as immigration comprise the civil rights challenge of our generation. This is our Selma, our Birmingham. Indeed.

In the next few days, our House of Bishops will continue our prayerful consideration of a response to what is happening along the line in the sand from our beaches heading eastward. This modern trail of tears demands our response in word and deed. It demands that we find our heart of hospitality.

Upon my return, I look forward to finding our voice and our response to these our brothers and sisters who suffer simply because of their place of birth. I fully expect this work to move us to theologically reflect on our posture towards other members of the human family who are affected directly and indirectly by our actions and inactions. As followers of Jesus Christ, how can we do anything less? Our primary alliance to Christ leaves us no other option.

The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes
Bishop of San Diego

Photo: A cross affixed to the border fence. Each little ribbon has the name of an individual who died attempting to cross the desert into the United States of America.