by Rev. Sean Amato

Friends –

For many, the Lenten season is one of intentional reflection : one in which we sit with our faith and reflect. We reflect on how our faith manifests in the world , as I often poke and prod you to consider, but also how our faith manifests in us: how our faith intermingles with our anxieties and temptations, our private thoughts and personal dealings, our inadequacies and our successes – this is, for better or worse, a time when we gauge “where we’re at” with the God who created us and the faith His  Son handed down to us. For many, the stress of daily life and current events can prevent much reflection; other times, including
(in my opinion) the last few weeks, we’re all but forced to reflect on how we use our faith.

This particular Lenten season has been a difficult one for many in our community, both inside and outside the church – and yet, it’s also been a time in which good people have emerged as ‘guides’ in this wilderness that is our modern world . Two days before the start of Lent, a shooting at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket resulted in the loss of innocent lives; it affected a wide swath of our friends and family, too. Those on the ice, those in the stands, and those whose loved ones were present are still struggling to manage the event and the news that has emerged from it. I will admit that I was worried that day: would our community come to blows over this complex and traumatizing thing that’s happened?

The next day, we hosted a vigil at the church – and to the benefit of my soul, I saw many of you show up to be good neighbors and good Christians.

Congregants navigated past the encroaching media, bringing food and conversation; neighbors and visitors dropped by, sometimes for the first time in years, to make sure “everyone was alright.” When the vigil proper started and local families joined us, I was warmed when I saw that members of our congregation – and even friends of our congregation, like Beneficent Congregational Church’s Earnest Cox – made themselves into tools of God’s comfort for those in attendance. I heard our own Steve Wowk speak prophetically and with care for the youth he’s helped shepherd, speak with love before a wounded community that trusted our church enough to be with us in their trauma; I watched afterward, too, as the affected families found some comfort in Globe Hall – comfort supported by food you provided, by conversations you initiated, by hugs you made possible simply by extending your arms. Our congregants, lost in their own Lenten wildernesses, still showed up.

In my opinion, this is what church should be: a group of people capable of coming together to support their community when it suffers grievously, no matter their individual relations or denominations. You
might remember that in a sermon a few weeks ago, I suggested that Christianity attempts to mold us into the kind of person you’d want to run into in the wilderness: compassionate, thoughtful, graceful, and
willing to walk alongside. In a world like ours, that’s a rare kind of person, isn’t it? But because of you folks, our neighbors have at least one example of what that kind of person might look like – might worship like, might love like. Well done, my friends. Well done, by the standards of the God who created you and the Son who taught you; now, let’s see what new wilderness kindness our Holy Spirit pushes us toward
next. On that note: hope to see you Sunday!

Pastor Sean