By David Paulsen
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, speak on the first day of Executive Council’s Jan. 22-25 online meeting.
[Episcopal News Service] Reactions to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and this week’s inauguration of President Joe Biden dominated the opening remarks of The Episcopal Church’s presiding officers on Jan. 22, as Executive Council gathered online for the start of a four-day meeting.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, both mixed expressions of hope for the future with acknowledgments that the church has much work to do in affirming Jesus’ way of love and rejecting the divisive threat of Christian nationalism. Curry quoted Biden’s inaugural address – “‘we must end this uncivil war’” – and then connected that political imperative to the Christian call to love one’s enemy.