You Build A Society One Life at a Time

Society is built on each individual life.

Each society is built on the worth accorded to every life.

Every life highly valued and supported in tangible and intangible ways builds the strength of the society.

 Poverty in Honduras
(courtesy of ElHogar.org)

Every life devalued and judged unworthy of support robs the society of strength and merit and worth in itself.

‘Society’ is not equivalent to nation.

The borders of a society are set not by law nor by stone or metal walls, but by culture, by what is shared among people, by what is given value and ultimate value by individual and shared human lives.

If the life of a poor family is of less worth than that of a wealthy, then the society is not richer, but poorer.

If the life of a child on the way to birth is worth less than that of a child already born, then society’s understanding of what it is to be human is wounded.

If the life of a child on one side of a humanly-determined border is judged worthy of food and shelter, possibility and education and future, and the child on the other side is judged only as refugee or invader, then the society is on the run from the beliefs that make life together possible.

The society that judges against individual human lives judges itself.

The society that embraces each individual life as worthy of effort and cost and discussion, of time and money and inconvenience, of stopping to think through the law to the human depths beyond, is built up and becomes more truly itself, more truly human, more completely home for every human life.

Choosing Exclusion or Unity: a matter of life and death

July 16, 2014

Dear Friends,

In the "Stories" section of today's Open Gates (www.mercerdaily.org) you will find the story of the Reverend Charles Moore, the 79-year old Methodist minister who self-immolated and died late in June.  His motivation was his intense and lifelong feeling that our nation and his denomination as well have never adequately come to terms with the terrible heritage of slavery and racism that we all share.

Our first temptation - which likely explains why this very unusual event in the USA was so little reported - is to proclaim Reverend Moore crazy from afar and leave it at that.  But think of this.  For this very particular reason, and out of a profound sense of our corporate refusal to address it, this husband, father, grandfather and pastor ended his life.  At the very least this act must call you and I to some measure of serious consideration.

For me, the issues that pained Charles Moore so deeply - a pain that at last took outward expression in the agony that was his at the end - are issues of exclusion, of insisting that the humanly-concocted divisions among us are of greater import than the divine call to unity.  A present-day expression of the same, as I see it, is the spectacle of citizens of our nation nose-to-nose near the southern border confronting one another.  A number of those people are proclaiming with their own bodies and voices that the borders humans determined in history are more fundamental than the humanity our children share with the thousands of Latin American children who have arrived at that border alone.  Do we dare to think that assertion through deeply?  The memory of an immolated minister of the Gospel calls us to engage in that hard work together.

In Christ,
John+

The Very Reverend Canon John P. McGinty
Dean, George Mercer Jr. Memorial School of Theology

Messy Summer, and Art!

July 11/12, 2014

Dear Friends,

This is the time of year I set out to clean the desk (yes, about once a year!) and to try to take seriously again all I have read and heard about time management and getting things done and all the rest. Sigh.

It is also the time when things around the school here are renewed.  We have recently put summer furniture on our Mercer veranda, giving the possibility for meetings, conversations, meals to take place in that inviting bright space.  Pack your sandwich and come on over.

We also, with the able and skilled assistance of Christopher Provenzano, have hung a new exhibit on Mercer's Vision Wall.  These are a series of mostly numbered prints of paintings by He Qi on a variety of moments in the life of Christ.  These are on loan to Mercer by the generosity of Christ Church in Garden City, NY.  You can learn more about the artist and the exhibit by copying this link into your browser - http://www.mercerschool.org/mercer_art.html

If you are nearby, please come and visit during business hours Monday through Friday this summer.

Blessings,
John+

The Very Reverend Canon John P. McGinty
Dean, George Mercer Jr. Memorial School of Theology

July the 4th

July 4, 2014

Happy Independence Day to all!

Today is the perfect 24 hours to reflect on what is the best of these United States.  In these years of increasingly profound disagreement and division, not only between the political parties but between neighbors and within families and congregations, what are those fundamentals that unite us, that draw us together, that make us one - albeit complex - nation under God?

Each one of us answers this question individually, though it is imperative that then we go on to share our thoughts with one another in a spirit of mutual respect and dignity.  

For me, while the courage our nation shows is commendable, more fundamental yet is our compassion.  While the knowledge we hold as a people is vital, yet more is the wisdom that lives in our hearts.  While our national wealth is of constant interest, our generosity as a people is ultimately of more worth.  While our strength is measured and assessed from day to day and year to year, it is the trust that allows us to be vulnerable before one another that in the end joins us together in lasting relationship,  While it is our liberty to believe whatever we want that we often hear lionized, it is that in which we place our faith that determines who we become.  While our freedom is celebrated this day, and indeed it should be, it is how we choose to use that freedom that decides what kind of nation we are on July 4, 2014, and what kind of people we will be in years to come.

Happy Independence Day to all!

John P. McGinty
Canon for Formation

Summer is for "Calendaring" - well, thank God, not ONLY for that!

July 2014

Dear Friends,

Entering into this new month, a major segment of summer, we are working here at Mercer to put in place a program of learning and enrichment for the next academic year.

The fruits of our labors are being added over the summer to the Mercer School of Theology's online calendar. You can find and are welcome to explore the calendar by visiting on the MST website (http://www.mercerschool.org) and clicking the Coming Events/Register link on the on the left-hand navigation bar.  Once there you will see the next several events planned.  To see further into the future, click on the small arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the calendar itself.  

For most events online registration will be both possible and encouraged.  Click directly on the title of any event to see further details and to access registration information.

It is my hope that our programming for the new year will renew in you a yearning to continue to learn and to deepen your faith.

Blessings,

John P. McGinty+

Canon for Formation