The work of our lives: A video message from Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe

Hello friends. In the Diocese of Central New York we’ve been engaged in a year of listening, learning, and responding to racism. It’s been a good year of learning. It’s been a hard year of deepening understanding of the horrors of what racism has done to all of us. And that work continues. It does not end with 2021, and it will be the work of our lives, because it is Gospel work.

It is the work of our baptismal covenant: that we seek and serve Christ in all persons; that we love our neighbors as ourselves; that we honor the dignity of every human being. And perhaps most notably, that we repent of evil, especially the evil of dehumanization, of seeing others as somehow less blessed, less loved by God.

In this Pride month when we celebrate LGBTQ+ persons and their dignity as God’s people, it is an important time to remember that this work is our Gospel work.

As we live out that baptismal covenant, the world may tell us we are not enough, that the Gospel message of Jesus isn’t relevant anymore. That hate, division are much more interesting. But we know, because we’ve experienced the transformation ourselves, that forgiveness and love and healing and grace and mercy are what we desire most both as people and as a community.

So let us be brave in this new year of living into our baptismal covenant, honoring one another. And as the Diocese moves from one shared understanding of how to live in pandemic to standing together as we each make different decisions, let us affirm that all of us are about the same vision, mission, and rule of life. That we’re praying, connecting, listening, learning, responding, speaking truth, sharing our stories of God, and using all of our resources for the good of all people.

In this time may you know that you are loved. May you be blessed and be a blessing in this sacred work.

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