On Monday, August 28, people of different religious backgrounds are planning to gather and march together as part of the Ministers March for Justice. The march is taking place to demonstrate a recommitment by people of faith to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and all that it stood for. Specifically, we are marching for healthcare, economic justice, voting rights, and criminal justice reform. The march begins at 10am at the MLK memorial and will make its way across town to the Department of Justice on Pennsylvania Avenue. You can find out more details here.

There have been so many marches in Washington this year; for Leila, my nine month old, and me this will be our third march. I'm not someone who has been on millions of marches. It isn't a form of public expression that I have felt particularly drawn to in the past, but this year has been different. For some reason I find myself called to march and after some reflection I think I'm coming to realize why. 

I am more and more convinced that a strong part of the Christian calling is to be with people. As disciples of Christ we take Jesus Christ as the inspiration for how to be and one thing that Jesus did a lot of was being with people (Jesus was 33 when he died, the Gospels focus on the last three years of his life when he was teaching, traveling and healing. That leaves thirty years in Nazareth just hanging out with people). Inspired by Jesus' presence amongst his people, an Anglican missionary, whose work with Muslims and Christians has been an important influence in my own vocation, suggests that our role as disciples of Christ is to be  'Christ bearers'.  Christians are called to be the hands and feet of Christ for other people and if we are to do that well we need to spend some time being with them rather than simply seeking to be for them (those from our parish who heard the Revd. Dr. Sam Wells speak at Epiphany last Lent will recognize much of Wells' writing in what I am saying). Christians are called to be with people and that framework for understanding our Christian vocation spills out into all the different forms of encounter and relationship we experience. 

It is, it seems to me, particularly true of the ministries we offer at Epiphany. In our encounters with people of other religious faiths we are called to be with them, to be present with them, because then and only then will we begin to understand what makes the other tick. And I would venture that in being with one another (and as a Christian therefore 'bearing' Christ to the other), we learn more about ourselves and more about God. Our relationship with the members of the ADAMS community who pray at Epiphany is an example of this kind of 'being with'. 

Being with is equally significant in the ways in which we seek to serve the members of our Epiphany community who are struggling with poverty and homelessness. We don't claim to be able to fix all the problems, but we do offer to be with people, spend time with them, listen, converse, pray, enjoy fellowship and offer friendship. We seek to learn and to remember people's names, to remind them that God loves them unconditionally and that God's church, God's table is open to all. This is all part of being with people. 

And it strikes me that marching is another form of being with. I don't personally suffer from issues with healthcare, economic justice,  voting rights, or criminal justice reform, but I care deeply about them and I am very sad and very frustrated that so many people do suffer due to injustice in these areas. Marching with thousands of other people who care as much as I do about these issues is another form of being with. It is being with the people on the march in a very physical and tangible way which is powerful in itself. It is also a form of being with people on the receiving end of these injustices. And finally, we believe in the communion of saints and so marching on the 54th anniversary of Dr. King's speech and march on Washington is a form of being with Dr. King and all those who have gone before us; those who marched and those who were martyred for these issues. Jesus spent a lot of time being with people, let me encourage you to think this week about when you might find some extra time to be with someone who could use your time and attention. And if 'being with' in the form of the Ministers March for Justice speaks to you then join me and Leila on Monday! 

With my prayers,

Catriona