Saint Joseph’s, the parish church where I worship, is one of the oldest in Minnesota. It has distinctive walls made of local rocks, quarried or found as fieldstone by the German immigrants who settled in our area in the 1800s. The wall behind the altar is a stone-by-stone testament of the community of people who raised these walls, and whom the Spirit gathered and continues to gather in this place.  

I also worship on occasion at nearby Saint John’s Abbey, where the abbey church also speaks of community. Its massive stained-glass wall of hexagons brings to mind a beehive, and the importance of people joining together in this sacred space and in this monastic and academic community.  

In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs us about trusting in God in our moments of being scattered. Scattering here brings to mind exclusion, isolation, feeling of abandonment or even persecution. Being scattered and set apart from others is a painful reality for many, especially in a culture that values and seeks belonging. In the Gospel, we are asked to take care and trust that there is always community in God. As Jesus was never alone, we too are held in community by the Spirit. T his is a reassurance and also an invitation: as the Church, gathering as one is our identity.