Dear People of God in Central New York,
Alleluia, Christ is risen! Because Jesus is risen, you are called to live a life immersed in the sure and certain hope that God’s life is always wrapped up in yours. This truth is to be born in your faith community, in your apartment, in your college dorm or office, or even in line at the grocery store. We are called to witness to this truth, point to it, live it and be it, for the sake of all God’s people, especially the poor, disenfranchised and marginalized.
The great Easter truth is not so much that we are to live anew after death, but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the Resurrection. God’s love, a love that defeats death and everything that leads to death, invites us now into life as God’s new creation.
The proof of the Resurrection is when we ourselves live into God’s invitation. Our life is to be one that matters and makes a difference—a life that challenges and resists the words of fear, division and anxiety all around us; a life that is generous and grateful; a life that knows we have been given all we need to be a passionate people in love with a passionate God who is wildly in love with us.
You are to be a sign, a sacrament if you will, of God’s new creation. May the Great Fifty Days of Easter be a new beginning for you.
With love and in thanksgiving for the privilege of being your bishop,
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