I was still a block away from St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Pico Rivera, where Sunday’s service wouldn’t start for another 45 minutes. But the sidewalks were crowded with 45 confirmation and first communion candidates, the latter in their brilliant white dresses and snazzy suits, and their family members and padrinos. Our procession into church looped halfway around the building.
It is ever thus with the Rev. Juan Barragan, the beloved vicar, and his team at San Bartolome. Volunteer Odalys Garcia had prepared the confirmation candidates, who ranged in age from nine to 45; longtime member Petra Barragan is the devoted first communion teacher. I was privileged to have the bishop’s warden, Leticia Santos, a brilliant forensic accountant, as my chaplain.
The church was overflowing for the two-hour bilingual service. Cesar Franco and Maria Mercedes Carachure, who is discerning a call to the diaconate, led the spirited music. I was along to preside and preach and offer a few words of encouragement to each candidate, telling them that God desires nothing more than their happiness and safety and that if they took good care of themselves, they’d have energy and resources left over for the vital gospel work of taking care of others.
Almost each candidate brought a Bible, candle, cross, or image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to be blessed. A moment I’ll never forget was the seven first communion candidates lining up in front of my chair and reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
As we waited to enter church, Warden Santos told me that St. Bart’s people were worried about the U.S. government’s harsh policies toward immigrant workers. Did our church stand with them? This was the opposite of what sometimes occurs — parish leaders warning the preacher to avoid politics. It was the least a preacher could do to assure the congregation that The Episcopal Church stood with Pope Francis (and, one hopes, Pope Leo) in abhoring politicians’ cruel, unjust scapegoating of hardworking, tax-paying immigrant workers.
But my audience was also those confirmation candidates, now my fully fledged fellow laborers in the vineyards of the risen Christ. It was Mother’s Day. I had discerned in the readings a unifying theme of maternal, parental, pastoral love. This, the living Word of the risen Christ, is now diametrically opposed to the prevailing civic canon. These days, our politics rewards cruelty. Perhaps future elections will change that reality. But lifting up the dignity of every human being is our work right now and forever, whether the slogan from the baptismal covenant we repeated this morning in Pico Rivera wins the popular vote or not.
