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This past week, the clergy of our diocese, including me, Mtr. Pamela, Deacon Sally and Deacon Dave, shared a short retreat together at a beautiful Greek Revival plantation in southern Virginia (pictured above). The house, built in the 1839, was magnificent. It was clearly lovingly designed, maintained and renewed during its long life. As all great houses built in the antebellum South, it was also constructed and maintained for many years by slaves. The crumbled remains of their cabins dotted the hillsides around the lawn.
This is an uncomfortable reality we live with, particularly in this part of the country. Sometimes beautiful things can have a shadow side to them. Slavery and its legacy is a darkness that clouds our memories and haunts our hearts. We made a point to talk about the conflicted past of this great house during our clergy retreat. It was helpful.
For many of us, particularly those of us with a long history as Anglicans in this area, the Falls Church is a great and beautiful house. As we learned last week in our bishop's pastoral letter, among the many good things and gifted leaders that have come from Falls Church, there have also been some deep shadows. They are now being named and brought into the light. Seeing them has the capacity to confuse and haunt us.
If you are feeling this I want to encourage you today. This side of heaven, the shadow side is always present in us and in others. We should not be surprised to see it even in those we see so much that is good. We can be grateful, however, when our shadows are brought into the light, held before Jesus and lamented. We believe in a God who forgives sins. We believe He is present with us through his Son Jesus Christ even when we are standing in the midst of shadows. We believe Jesus ultimately swallows every shadow that haunts us in his marvelous light. "Awake O' sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5.14).
God Bless,
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