The Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida

My brothers and sisters, the early Jesus movement burst onto the scene and, against all odds, “turned the world upside down (Acts 17.6). Empowered and compelled by the Holy Spirit, the first Christians set out to bear witness to the Good News of what God has done in Christ, to tell the world that everything has changed because Jesus has been raised from the dead. The first followers of Jesus understood themselves to be an outward and visible sign of God’s healing and reconciling love for the world.

Our vocation as Christians has not changed. We are called to be witnesses. As we face significant and mounting challenges, our world desperately needs the faithful and compassionate witness of the Church. This public witness does not begin with human agency and human ingenuity, for as we prayed on the Third Sunday in Lent, “we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves” (BCP 218). Our witness as followers of Jesus must continually point to God’s agency and power – to what God has done for us for our salvation.

In this present moment, the atrocities associated with war and global conflict; the continued degradation of human dignity; the ongoing deterioration of public discourse; and the disregard for the vulnerable and those who have been marginalized all require a robust Christian response. This response must be grounded in the Good News of the Gospel that injustice, violence, suffering, and ultimately death itself, are not the last word. We are called to boldly proclaim by word and example that the cross and empty tomb stand forever as signs of the decisive victory of God’s love over the forces of evil. We are witnesses of these things!

 – An excerpt from A Pastoral Message for Holy Week and Easter from Bishop Douglas F. Scharf