"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?"

"I will, with God's help."

I don't remember the specific date, but it was during Zoe's baptism sometime last year, when something remarkable happened to me. I was following along in the Book of Common Prayer, reading sentences that I had ready many, many times before, but suddenly, I was struck by the text in front of me. It was a moment of unusual clarity. And the text that unexpectedly rang so loudly, that shook me, was a question: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?  I felt flabbergasted, and yet heard myself answering, along with the congregation, "I will, with God's help." I had read that same question so many times before, but this time, it struck deep inside me. Was I truly fulfilling this baptismal vow? Was I keeping this promise to God?

It is very easy to attend a church every Sunday and never grow in your knowledge and understanding of Faith. I did it myself for many years and I might have come to St. Thomas expecting to do the same. Some churches are content to let their parishioners do that. But not St. Thomas. That isn't the sort of faith that St. Thomas fosters. That's not the sort of Christianity that St. Thomas preaches. The faith advocated here is an active faith, a challenging faith, a reaching out faith, where the church's walls do not stop where your eyes think they do, but extend outwards in all directions, encompassing Washington, this nation, this world. For me, that was almost a shocking concept, and the enormity of that idea finally hit me that Sunday morning. 
 
That vow from the Book of Common Prayer comes in handy for me now. Some of you know that I work for a small agriculture trade association, whose main focus right now is passing an immigration reform bill. Part of that bill offers a path to citizenship for the estimated 70% of the agricultural workforce in this country who happen to be undocumented workers. We learned earlier this week that our bill's sponsors in the Senate decided not to offer it for debate, because of the failure of the DREAM Act, which would have given high school graduates who were also undocumented the ability to become US citizens. The Senators felt that if that bill failed, ours would surely suffer the same fate. It's times like that when my work can feel so disheartening, when people like Lou Dobbs trumpet the word "amnesty" every night on TV, when I read about Hispanics fleeing Prince William County for fear of discrimination or deportation. Sometimes I'd rather not read another word about immigration; I feel so sick of it all. But now, when I feel that way, a small voice inside me quietly asks, Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I will, with God's help.