Facebook told me that I posted the words below one year ago today. I can still become hopeless about the church and American Christianity. But all that I know and see and hear and lament over really is just one teeny tiny slice of the church. There’s so much more that I don’t see or know or hear, so much that has come and gone and now remains within eternal time. So much that will come and go and return to eternal time.

Many things have changed over the past year, but this hope and prayer continue.

From September 19, 2020:

Sometimes God intervenes when you feel pretty hopeless. Here’s what’s giving me hope today, right now, in this moment: ⁣

⁣The Body of Christ is SO MUCH BIGGER than the white American church. ⁣

Let’s not narrow our vision. Let’s not be moved away from the call or hope of the gospel because of a tiny sliver of the Church Universal. ⁣

May God guide us and lead us. ⁣

May God enable us to forgive others and love others and not lose heart. ⁣

May God move us toward confession and repentance. ⁣

May God show us how we belong to the whole Church.

Charlotte Donlon helps readers and clients notice how they belong to themselves, others, God, and the world. Charlotte is a writer, a spiritual director for writers, and the founder and host of the Our Faith in Writing podcast and website. She’s also the host of the Hope for the Lonely and A Writer’s Diary podcasts. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Curator, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Catapult, The Millions, Mockingbird, and elsewhere. Her first book is The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other. You can subscribe to her newsletter and connect with her onTwitter and Instagram.