Herald of Divine Love

Just a few short weeks ago I wrote to you about the death of Grow Christians contributor Elizabeth Felicetti. And now here I am again, writing another post about another death of one of our own. Rachel Jones died unexpectedly last week; it’s taken me ten days to find the words to write about her.

For those of you who have been reading Grow Christians since Forward Movement and Nurya Love Parish launched it into the world, Rachel Jones will be a familiar name. In the early years of Grow Christians, Rachel worked as an editor at Forward Movement and a bi-weekly writer for this community. Every other Wednesday, Rachel invited us to share her experiences as a youth minister, teacher, camp kid, counselor, daughter, and devoted friend.

She wrote with humor and candor about what she knew to be true. Even though she covered many topics in her writing, the thread of divine love certainly ran through them all. This paragraph from a post she wrote in the days after White Nationalists marched into Charlottesville, VA captures Rachel’s truth.

“I may not know much, but I do know that love wins. Always. I don’t understand the mystery of how that happens, but I know that it does. Love has never not won, so far. And it will win again. This victory starts and finishes with Jesus, and we are in the midst of it….All of us have a job to do in responding to hate with love, and we are tasked with making our response one that comes from the depths of our hearts.”

Rachel loved Jesus unabashedly and loved her people the same way. I have texts and emails from her dating back to when we first met that are full of encouragement, empathy, and concern. She wrote after doctor’s appointments asking how I felt. She wrote on anniversaries of friends’ deaths letting me know I wasn’t alone. She wrote to say she was proud of me, thinking of me, and grateful for me.

When my daughter got an iPod connected to an iCloud email address, the first phone number she requested was Rachel’s. She likely only wanted Rachel to send cat photos (which she certainly received), but what she got were regular check ins and reminders of her worth, strength, and belovedness. If Rachel had your phone number, you probably have these texts, too.

Rachel Jones was many things, but a herald of God’s love is how I’ll remember her. Whether it was a personal sadness or collective, national despair, Rachel showed up reminding folks they were loved by God and loved by her, too.

As we neared the 2020 presidential election, Rachel wrote on her personal blog, “Our work is love, and we need all of us to be love. We have all we need, even when we are empty and dry and tired and over it and afraid and cranky and damn near all the way busted. Working with that heap of mess is no problem for God. Calling our chaos to order and moving across the face of our deep emptiness is God’s oldest pleasure, done with love and profound care.”

In my grief and confusion of her death, I hear Rachel’s distinctive voice calling me to trust in God’s love and to embody that love for others. I pray you hear her calling out to you, too, and find ways to offer incarnate love in the world.

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Whether you knew Rachel Jones or not, I encourage you to read her obituary. It so beautiful captures her fire, her faith, and of course, her unfailing love. We will celebrate Rachel’s life at Camp Capers in the Diocese of West Texas tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. CST. The service will available on livestream at WWW.BIT.LY/LOVERACHIE