The risen Christ couldn’t have been clearer about the Church’s mission. He tells Peter, “Feed my sheep.”
It’s still true. Research confirms that churches are healthy, and churches grow, when lay and ordained teachers and preachers feed God’s people with the living word, properly interpreted.
People of faith advocate more effectively for justice and the dignity of every human being when they root their witness in the living word, properly interpreted.
To rule out cruelty for cruelty’s sake and violence for violence’s sake, which applies to you and me as well as to Trump, Putin, and Xi, the golden rule, the law of the universe, shared by all faiths and philosophies, more than suffices — when it is properly interpreted.
Christians’ understanding of the law of self-giving love comes from Matthew 7:12, where Jesus says the law and prophets add up to treating others the way we wish to be treated.
To teach expertly how every word of the Bible can be subsumed under the golden rule takes careful study and discernment. Say someone asks us in Bible study or the receiving line, if we claim we take the Bible seriously, how did Noah get his hands on pairs of koala bears and rhinoceroses and get them into the ark?
We need to be prepared to say that scripture discloses that when people asked Jesus such questions, he didn’t get bogged down in truth claims and proof texting — other than to reply that the whole Bible means that if we want love, something to eat, and companionship, then we should find someone else who needs love, a hungry person to feed, and someone who’s lonely and lay waste to their loneliness.
Doing our bit as teachers and preachers to build up the church and save the world requires a commitment like a seminary education or EfM. Thank you for equipping yourselves to feed the people of God. Thank you for stepping up to save the church and the world. Thank you and congratulations to our 2026 EfM graduates.
[A portion of my welcoming remarks at today’s Education for Ministry graduation ceremonies at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park. We recognized 28 Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles graduates from the classic four-year curriculum and the new one-year “Wide Angle” introductory program. EfM offers laypeople a strong foundation in scriptural criticism, church history, and Christian ethics. If you are interested in taking EfM in your mission or parish, please speak with your priest in charge or reach out to diocesan coordinator Gary Leonard.]
