Dear Friends and Family in Christ,
The first things to fall by the wayside at the beginning of the pandemic were my spiritual disciplines. Before mid-March, I had a robust set of practices that involved morning centering, lunchtime study, and evening reflection. When everything went sideways, these habits fell apart as I struggled to balance finishing grad school, managing my responsibilities at the church, and navigating the contours of our now-familiar reality.
This falling apart was a key motivating factor in creating Life Groups for young adults at Harvard-Epworth. Based on John Wesley’s Rules for the General Societies, our Life Groups invite young adults in our congregation to do no harm, do good, and seek ways to stay in love with God, all within a context where they can share how they are on the soul-level. Young adults in our congregation are committing themselves to pray twice a day, five days a week. They’re trying to follow Wesley’s rules of avoiding harm, doing good, and loving God. They’re doing it together.
In these days of confusion and unrest – when spiritual wells run dry and when social and political realities can lead to nihilism – there is something powerful about returning to the fundamentals of our faith. By creating space for daily prayer, we claim with our time and bodies that our identity and meaning are found in God, not in relentless cycles of production and consumption. By avoiding harm and doing good, we embody an alternative way of life that refuses to accept that the only way to construct meaning is through ruthless competition and selfish ambition. By gathering in community, we affirm that faith is not a journey we undertake alone but is best done with one another.
I’ve heard so many stories of how we are supporting one another in these times. As the election draws closer and we enter the winter months of the pandemic season, I encourage you all to lean evermore into community and the practices that connect us with one another and God. In this way, we will make real God’s Kin-dom on Earth and be better prepared to share God’s love in a love-hungry world.
In Christ,
Dominic J.S. Mejia
Director of University Student and Young Adult Ministries
If you are a young adult who’d like to join a Life Group, email me at dom@harvardepworthchurch.org.