I am deeply saddened that some think what happened yesterday at the Capitol is in any way after the pattern of Christ.

There is no biblical justification for what we have just witnessed as a nation.

The kind of rhetoric we are hearing that emboldens and not-even-so-subtly condones violence is deeply immoral.

It is disturbing to see such blatant evil so widely accepted and even celebrated.

Meanwhile the pandemic continues to ravage our state.

So I was grateful to be with my church family yesterday evening, masked and socially distanced, but nevertheless together. We gathered in worship to celebrate the light of Epiphany, Jesus Christ himself, come to give true and lasting peace to all those that will receive it.

We prayed this prayer for times of social conflict or distress from the Book of Common Prayer together, and I commend it to you:

Increase, O God, the spirit of neighborliness among us, that in peril we may uphold one another, in suffering tend to one another, and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile befriend one another. Grant us brave and enduring hearts that we may strengthen one another, until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended, and you again give peace in our time; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

To this prayer I add: Come, Lord Jesus.