Today is Father's Day, a day in which we honor and offer gratitude for our fathers, in whatever form or fashion they come into our lives—biological fathers, stepfathers, adoptive and foster fathers, grandfathers, spiritual fathers, and all of the uncles, brothers, and friends who, whether they know it or not, have helped to fill the role of father in someone's life.

We are shaped by their presence and their absence, by how they choose to act and when they abstain, what they say and when they remain silent.

Let us remember today and always the impact that these people have on us as individuals and as a community. And let us also remember that this relationship is not one-sided and that we, as a community, are called to support and empower the fathers of this world—no matter how they came into their roles and regardless of their relative successes or failures. Let us raise up their triumphs and let us have the grace to forgive them their all too human failures. Let us love our fathers and each other. Come, let us worship together.