Greetings beloved people in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut,
Bishop Jeff and I have been in regular conversation about wanting to speak to you directly about some of the many challenges facing our world at this time.
Our shared conversations have led Bishop Jeff to put down in words what it is we wish to say to you.
While the words are Bishop Jeff’s, based on his own lived experience, the sentiment behind them is shared. We, as your Bishops, have come to the conviction that we do not wish to be silent on these critical matters.
+Laura
Silence Equals Death.
As pictures of Pride celebrations have filled my social media feed with spirited and joy-filled pictures of joy from the LGBTQIA+ community claiming their place in this world as beloved children of God, I have been reflecting on the early years of attending those celebrations. It was a time when few churches or businesses would be seen aligning themselves publicly with this community of which I was a part.
It was also early in the years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic when the government would not speak the name of this insidious disease that was claiming the lives of those the government found expendable.
The chant that filled the streets was “Silence equals death.”
Today, as the supports and assurances on which the LGBTQIA+ community have come to depend to live our lives are no longer certain, “Silence equals death” seems once again an appropriate rallying cry.
But silence equals death for everyone. Everywhere.
And so today, Bishop Ahrens and I wish to break any perceived silence by us as individuals, as your Bishops, or as the Church, and say that our silence as a nation has equaled the death of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. The Israeli government is bombing hospitals, creating mass starvation, blocking humanitarian aid, and shooting those seeking that critical aid. It must be condemned and it must be stopped.
Here in Connecticut, our refugee and immigrant neighbors live in constant fear. Under the guise of ridding the United States of “dangerous criminals,” raids are carried out at local Home Depots, and a young man from Meriden is detained and sent to Texas the day before his high school graduation.
Our continued silence equals death.
This past Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. That day, the Holy Spirit shook the disciples out of their fear, locked in that upper room, and sent them into the world to spread the Good News of God’s transformative love.
The disciples’ continued silence would have been their death.
The miracle of Pentecost was that each one listening could hear the Good News in their own language. The miracle was that the Good News of God in Christ was no longer silenced but spoken into a world in chaos.
There is so much at work to keep us silent;
The fear that our support of our Palestinian siblings could be interpreted as hatred of our Jewish siblings – a false and dangerous dichotomy.
The fear that we will say the wrong or imperfect thing.
The fear that what we will say won’t effect change, that it isn’t enough, or that it won’t change the hearts of those in positions of power.
But remaining silent is not an option. Silence is not an option if we take our baptismal vows to respect the dignity of every human being seriously.
Our silence equals death: for members of the LGBTQIA+ community; for Palestinians; for immigrants and refugees here in the United States; and for us.
But if silence = death, then speaking the truth of the Gospel Love = life.
Jesus came that we might have life and have it in abundance.
As with those first disciples, may God give us the words to speak into a world in chaos, that all might have life, and have it abundantly.
+Jeff
Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello
Bishop Diocesan
The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
Bishop Suffragan