Love does not look like the harm being caused by some police or some protesters in our cities. Violence against any person is violence against a child of God, created in God’s image. And that ultimately is violence against God, which is blasphemy — the denial of the God whose love is the root of genuine justice and true human dignity and equality.

Love does not look like the silence and complic-ity of too many of us, who wish more for tran-quility than justice.

“What does love look like? Not like this.” These words — spoken Thursday night by my friend Craig Loya, the newly elected Episcopal bishop of Minnesota — haunt me. I look at searing im-ages of racialized violence across our country — against the backdrop of the disproportionate number of covid-19 victims who are black, brown and native — and I cannot help but no-tice love’s profound and tragic absence.

So what is the path of love? In times like these, how can we find it and follow it?

When I think about what love looks like, I see us channeling our holy rage into concrete, pro-ductive and powerful action. In this moment, love looks like voting for leadership at the local, state, and federal level that will help us to make lasting reform. Love looks like calling on officials and demanding they fulfill their duty to protect the dignity of every child of God.

Love looks like making the long-term commit-ment to racial healing, justice and truth-telling — knowing that, without intentional, ongoing intervention on the part of every person of good will, America will cling to its original, rac-ist ways of being.

Love looks like working with local police

A Message From Our Presiding Bishop, Michael B. Curry

I am an African American man, blessed to serve as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. In my 67 years, I have seen our coun-try change a great deal. But what happened to George Floyd, Breonna Tayor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Paul Castaway, Melissa Ventura, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and countless others has been a sad constant.

Back in the 1960s and ’70s, my father ran the Human Relations Commission for the city of Buffalo. He organized sensitivity trainings for the police department, many of whose mem-bers he respected and liked. He also warned me to be careful whenever I interacted with the police, because he knew the dangers for a young black man were real. As events in Min-neapolis have revealed, that danger has not changed. What has changed is technology: Today, cellphones document racial terror. That is why we see frustration, pain and an-ger rippling through our streets today. We should all feel the same.

But that frustration must not lead to fatalism or despair. We are not condemned to live this way forever. I recommend a different path — the path of love.

Our nation’s heart breaks right now because we have strayed far from the path of love. Because love does not look like one man’s knee on another man’s neck, crushing the God-given life out of him. This is callous disre-gard for the life of another human being, shown in the willingness to snuff it out brutal-ly as the unarmed victim pleads for mercy.

departments to build relationships with the community and develop mechanisms that hold officers accountable. It means ensuring that no police officer with a history of unau-thorized force or racialized violence is shield-ed and allowed to endanger the lives of those they’ve sworn to protect and serve.

Love looks like all of us — people of every race and religion and national origin and po-litical affiliation — standing up and saying “Enough!

We can do better than this. We can be better than this.”

What does love look like? I believe that is what Jesus of Nazareth taught us. It looks like the biblical Good Samaritan, an outsider who spends his time and money healing somebody he doesn’t know or even like.

What America has seen in the past several days may leave us wondering what we can possibly do in this moment to be good Sa-maritans — to help heal our country, even the parts we don’t know or like. But we have the answer. Now is the time for a national renewal of the ideals of human equality, lib-erty, and justice for all. Now is the time to commit to cherishing and respecting all lives, and to honoring the dignity and infinite worth of every child of God. Now is the time for all of us to show — in our words, our ac-tions, and our lives — what love really looks like.

Th is Week a t Go od S heph erd June 6th to June 12th

Trinity Sunday June 6 & 7 Sunday 6/7 - 10 AM Holy Eucharist via Zoom Tuesday 6/9 - 9 AM Morning Prayer via Zoom 9:30 AM Caring Hands Wednesday 6/10 - 10 AM Contemplative Prayer via Zoom Thursday 6/11 - 9 AM Morning Prayer via Zoom 9:30 AM Thursday Study Group via Zoom

Pentecost 2 June 13 & 14 Sunday 6/14 - 10 AM Holy Eucharist via Zoom Tuesday 6/16 - 9 AM Morning Prayer via Zoom 9:30 AM Caring Hands Wednesday 6/17 - 10 AM Contemplative Prayer via Zoom Thursday 6/18 - 9 AM Morning Prayer via Zoom 9:30 AM Thursday Study Group via Zoom

CARING HANDS Caring Hands is now meeting every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. on Zoom (ID 867 3220 8700). All knit-ters, crocheters or other needlework people are wel-

come to join us!

FOOD PANTRY

Next week, June 13th & 14th we are collecting Cereal for the

Pitman Food Pantry. All donations are greatly appreciated

and accepted. Since we are not at the church on the week-

ends you could bring your donations directly to the pantry or

Sue Burkhard's house. Pantry hours - Tuesdays 6 to 7,

Wednesdays 4 to 5, Thursdays 12 to 1.

EVENING STUDY!

EVENING STUDY with Fr. Don and Mel continues

this week Wednesday, (June 10) on Zoom. The top-

ic will be "Thinking Theologically". We meet at 7

p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Zoom ID is 870 6705 8188.

T h e E p i s c o p a l C h u r c h o f t h e

G o o d S h e p h e r d

The Rev. Susan Osborne-Mott, Rector 732-759-4358

revmomott@gmail.com

The Rev. Carl Dunn, Deacon 609-868-7102

carl@carldunn.com

Parish Office 315 Highland Terrace

Pitman, New Jersey 08071

Phone: 856-589-8209 / Fax: 856-582-2306

Email: goodshepherdpitman@gmail.com

Http://www.goodshepherdpitman.org

Sunday School led by Brad & Jaclyn Davies

VESTRY

Len Clark - Sr. Warden

Beth Portocalis - Jr. Warden

Chuck Lezenby - Clerk of the Vestry

Mel Caron – Assistant Clerk of the Vestry

Steve Mackay, Lauren Kaltwasser, Amanda McNally

(Class of 2020)

Diane Wall, Len Fedullo, Aimee Burgin

(Class of 2021)

Jeff Bathurst, Brad Davies, Dana Szilier

(Class of 2022)

Lee Braidwood - Treasurer

George Funk - Asst. Treasurer

Trinity Sunday

June 6 & 7, 2020

Pastoral Emergencies

If a Pastoral Emergency should come up for you, hospitali-

zation, death in the family, please call the Church Office

856-589-8209 or after Office hours please call Mother

Susan at 732-759-4358.

Parish Office Hours

Monday through Thursday 8:30AM to 2:30PM. Friday - 8:30AM to 1:30PM