Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

In the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a campaign event in Arizona, two Facebook postings caught my attention.

The first, John Donne’s familiar poem, a favorite since college:

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." from Devotions from Emergent Occasions, XVII, John Donne

The second, a blog by Diana Butler Bass: “Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords: Speaking for the Soul – Christianity for the Rest of Us."

In our Baptismal Covenant we agree to ‘seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself’ and ‘ strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.’

As we know, this can be a difficult promise to keep. Diana Butler Bass writes:

“Right now, we need some sustained spiritual reflection on how badly we have behaved in recent years as Americans--how much we've allowed fear to motivate our politics, how cruel we've allowed our discourse to become, how little we've listened, how much we've dehumanized public servants, how much we hate.”

During this season where we celebrate Jesus’ baptism and renew our own baptismal vows, how can we, starting today, change this behavior? I’ve written, and deleted, several sentences declaring a commitment to opening myself up to opinions different than my own, to understand the why behind the words rather than dismiss them as wrong, and look for common ground. These are easy promises to make, difficult to keep. I know I will need the help of both God and my community to keep this promise.

How can we help each other live into our Baptismal Covenant?  What promises have you made? What behaviors will you try to change? What help are you offering?