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Congregational Support & Development |
Reverend Rita's Reflections
Choose Life! "I refuse to lead a dying church!" That protest, complete with exclamation point, is the title of a book whose author was the keynote speaker at our conference's annual meeting in June. Now, I've read many books about evangelism and church growth over the years, and they often strike me as very gimmicky. This title failed to inspire much confidence in me, but as a good, dutiful minister, I read the book before the meeting. Much to my amazement, the book was not only filled with great ideas, but it inspired many great ideas of my own as I read it. For the first time in a long while, I felt excited about new possibilities for ministry. The author presents six choices that every church needs to make if it wants to grow – and he means spiritual growth as much as numerical growth. These choices are: Life over Death Consider just that third choice: fun over drudgery. We wouldn't admit it, but honestly, many church tasks seem more like drudgery than fun. We might even see something wrong with the idea that church ought to be fun. After all, the word "fun" doesn't even appear in the Bible. But a similar word appears often: joy. What might happen if we chose to make church as joyful as it possibly can be? At our annual leadership retreat in September, we will be discussing this book and what ideas it inspires in us. The retreat is open to all members of the congregation. If you would like a copy of the book, just let me know and we will get one for you. Let's choose life! July 2008 Our Father In Heaven June is the month for Father's Day, but it is a sad fact that fathers are all too often strangers to their own children. Studies have found that fathers spend an average of 2.5 hours per week with their own children. But the good news is that not all fathers are so uninvolved. My own father always put his family first. He left his work at the office, and would come home and play with us girls while my mother got a break. I learned only a few years ago that my father was passed by for promotions because of his commitment to his family, but he has always felt that he chose the better part. More and more dads today are choosing as my father did. They share equally in caring for their children. They are 50% as likely as moms to take off from work to stay with sick kids. They choose jobs based on how flexible they are for family life, and some of them even forgo careers altogether in order to stay home and raise their children! And it's not just dads who are important. Children need other positive male role models in their lives, and church is an important place where kids form those relationships. Mothers tend to carry the heaviest burden and get the most credit when it comes to parenting, but men are just as important! Fortunately, we have a good model for fatherhood in God. God is not some absent, workaholic father whose main purpose is to enforce punishment. The image of God as father that we see in the Bible is a father who loves his children tenderly. A father who patiently teaches and instructs his children in the right path, who provides good things for them to eat and safe shelter to protect them. A father who cherishes each and every one of his children by name, and who always has time for them. So this Father's Day, let us give thanks for all the men in our lives who have shown the kind of love that our heavenly Father feels for us. These men are truly worthy of praise! June 2008 O, for a Thousand Tongues! In the beginning, so says the Bible, all people spoke the same language. They became ambitious and vain, so God "confused their language" so they could no longer understand one another, and they were scattered over the face of the earth. Why would God do such a thing? It's not very clear in the story. One way to interpret it, however, is to look at the human reality behind "what God does." People come together. They embark on a great plan to build a city and a mighty tower. But soon they begin to disagree and argue among themselves. Instead of working together, each person thinks their way is the right way, the only way. They cease to listen to each other. They can't even hear each other, and in the end it is as if they were all speaking different languages. For Christians, the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost reverses the damage done by the people of Babel. Tongues of fire descend on them, a fire that purifies rather than burns. They begin to speak, so that everyone who hears them understands them in their own language. Now the confusion of Babel has vanished. The arguing and squabbling have disappeared. Now people once more listen to one another and understand. The modern Christian church, however, all too often looks more like Babel than that gathering of the faithful on Pentecost. How often do we argue with one another, refusing to listen, and insisting that our way is the only way? It can be very hard to listen to others, especially when they have a very different perspective than us. They may have values or beliefs that seem to be opposed to ours, and we become more interested in winning the argument. But what might happen if we truly listened? Contrary to what we might think, listening does not mean we agree with them. When we listen to others, we show that we value them as people. We develop compassion for who they are, even if we still disagree with them. And sometimes, we just might learn a thing or two. I believe that we as Christians are called to listen, not to judge. Only God alone is judge. We can't hurt anything by listening, and we might just be inviting the Holy Spirit to enter the conversation and work wonders we never dared to dream of. May 2008 A New Dawn Religious and political leaders use their power to crush a man who dares to question their authority. A trusted follower hands his teacher over to the police. A community gathered in hope falls apart when times get tough. A beloved friend denies knowing his mentor. We may recognize these events as belonging to the Holy Week leading up to Easter, but these events also occur in our own lives and in the lives of the people around us. Holy Week is about the depths to which human beings will sink, denying and betraying one another even to death. All of us have been so wounded, and all of us have wounded someone else in the same way. In a world of so much hurt and betrayal, how can there be any peace? But on the cross, Jesus spoke these words, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And when the crucified Christ was resurrected on Easter morning, the first word he spoke to the very disciples who abandoned him was, "Peace." This Lent our theme has been forgiveness, something which we all aspire to, yet which we often struggle to live out in our lives. But Jesus points the way. He shows us how to forgive, and the light of Easter morning reveals the awesome power of that forgiveness, a power that can transform our lives as completely as Jesus himself was transformed in the resurrection. Forgiveness can bring love out of hate, hope out of despair, peace out of violence, wholeness out of betrayal. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! March 2008 "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." We say these words in the Lord's Prayer every Sunday. We know that as Christians we are called to forgive one another, but forgiveness can be very hard to live out in the real world. Does forgiving someone mean we have to "forget" the wrong done to us? Must wrongdoers repent in order for us to forgive them, and do we then have to reconcile with them? What if the person we need to forgive is dead? Are there some sins that are so terrible that it is impossible to forgive them? We tend to think of forgiveness as something we do for others, a kind of gift or grace that we offer. Perhaps that is why we have such a hard time forgiving people who don't appear to be sorry for what they have done. But it would be more true to say that forgiveness is something we do for ourselves. Robert Jeffress says that the opposite of forgiveness is bitterness. We forgive others in order to free ourselves from the chains of anger, resentment, and the desire for revenge. During the season of Lent, my sermons will look more closely at this question of forgiveness: what it is, what it is not, how to do it, and how it can set us free. We will explore what it means to forgive one another, to forgive society for injustices, and even what it might mean to forgive God. February 2008 We all could use such friends. The other night I was listening to a program on the radio about a liberal and a conservative who are friends. It was part of a series about "crossing the boundaries," on how people can get along even when they disagree on almost everything! The two friends were entertaining to listen to. When they tried to discuss politics, it was as if they were speaking two entirely different languages. They couldn't resolve their differences, and neither of them convinced the other of his point of view. But that wasn't the point. The point was that these two men genuinely liked and respected each other. Their debates may have gotten a little heated at times, but they never became hateful. They both said they were glad to have the chance to hear from someone who held "those" views. They began the program as friends, and they ended it as friends. We all could use such friends. These days we tend to isolate ourselves from disagreement, hanging out only with people who see things the way we do. It becomes easier for us to think that folks who hold "those" views are crazy or stupid, or even evil. But they aren't. They're people just like us, who happen to see things differently. That's why I'm so saddened when I hear of churches splitting because people don't all agree on a certain issue. There may be times when it's good for a congregation to split, or for folks to leave, if it's a situation where they can fulfill their mission better elsewhere. But that, then, is what denominations are for. Denominations remind us that we are part of a larger church family, full of liberals and conservatives and everything else besides. We are part of a church not so that we will all agree or change anyone's mind. We are part of a church so that we don't demonize folks who see things differently. We really can all get along, because in church it is God who calls us. That's the important point, and everything else is just icing on the cake. Immigrants and Boomers On my rounds of visits to hospitals and nursing homes, I've often been struck by how many doctors, nurses, therapists and other staff people were born in another country. If you want to travel the world without leaving home, just visit your local hospital! But it never occurred to me that this curious phenomenon could be a solution to our nation's immigration situation. I belong to a pastor's group that has been reading a book called "Immigrants and Boomers" by Dowell Myers. Perhaps you are like me, a bit sick of all the hype and hysteria over the whole immigrant "problem," but Myers' book looks at the issue from an angle I have not seen anyone else explore. He points out that as Baby Boomers retire and begin to need more medical care, there is simply not enough of the next generation (ahem, MY generation) to pay their social security benefits, nor to work in all the areas of senior care. Therefore we face a growing crisis of care and living for seniors. But Myers says that immigrants can help meet both needs. The biggest concern of many people is that immigrants will be a drain on our resources, working low-paying jobs and unable to contribute much to society. But studies have shown that immigrants are hard workers, and are eager to receive training that places them in better jobs. If we offer job training, then these newcomers can enter fields that will care for our future seniors. And their increased income from these jobs will help pay those social security benefits. Americans have not yet seen the potential good of the immigrant situation because we tend to divide ourselves along lines of race and age and class. But Myers argues persuasively that we really are all in this together. The elder generations depend on upon well-educated younger generations. Whites need Hispanics, and Blacks need Asians. This book is well worth reading, and could indeed hold the key to future benefit for all. August 2007 I'm writing this the day after the shooting on the Virginia Tech campus. It is the latest and most deadly example of mass murder/suicide that we see all too often these days, and I wonder what kind of despair and sheer resentment of life can drive a person not only to kill himself, but to take as many with him as he can. Meanwhile, it seems Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church is determined to picket the funerals as a sign of God's wrath against homosexuality. (Don't even try to look for logic in Phelps' reasoning. You won't find any.) Pundits are already debating the issue of gun control laws. It seems to me, though, that gun control wouldn't have prevented this tragedy. Nor, for that matter, would arming the student body solve the problem either. I don't think guns are the issue here. Rather the issue, both for Seung-Hui Cho and Fred Phelps, is a sense of hopelessness so bleak that it drives you to acts of violence and hatred. What is Jesus' answer to this question? We know the standard answer, that he was the Lord of Love, the Prince of Peace. The answers, though, sometimes seem out of touch with the harsh realities of the world. But Jesus hardly had his head in the clouds. He knew the reality of violence. He lived in brutal times, under an oppressive regime that thought nothing of murdering its own people by the thousands. Crucifixion is one of the most horrific ways humanity has ever devised to kill another person. Jesus' answer to this violence, this soul-crushing hatred? He took on the worst that human beings were capable of giving out, and he met it with love and forgiveness. That might seem weak in response, but it transformed the world. The work isn't finished, though. It is up to each of us to continue what Jesus started. May 2007 Let It Shine! The Monday after Jesus' crucifixion, most people would have said that the disciples had no reason to celebrate. Their leader had been killed, and even though the tomb was empty, that didn't prove anything. Their leader was still nowhere to be found. The disciples were few in number, just a rag-tag bunch from the boondocks. Men who had left their jobs, women who had left their families, all to chase after an impractical dream that hadn't come true anyway. Sure they said Jesus had been resurrected, but how was anything really different? Today many people would still say the UCC has no reason to celebrate. Fifty years old? That's not long compared to other denominations. The congregations are getting older and smaller. They don't have much money. Sure, they say that another world is possible, but who needs more idealistic dreamers? Nothing has changed. But we in the UCC do see a difference, as did the disciples all those years ago. We see with eyes that have been opened to God's truth, a truth not like what the world sees. A truth of endless possibilities, of abundant life, of a love that will never die. Christ is risen! How do we know? Because we are the body of Christ. This light that we have – the world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away. Let it shine! April, 2007 What Matters Last year during lent, I preached a sermon series on what I saw as the Christian values of Spirit of Peace Church. They arose out of a small group study and were rooted in Biblical concepts while expressed in contemporary language. They also tied in to some of the values that are often talked about in the UCC. Those values were:
This year, the national UCC has done some work on its own to express their values, which they are calling "What Matters." Some of these values look very familiar! They are:
None
of these values is new. They ought to all sound familiar to us,
and we probably take some of these for granted. But it's amazing
what a difference it makes when we put those values into words!
It gives us a clearer sense of who we are and what we are about,
and it can even help us talk about our church to others. In my own
experience, I tend to talk most about that third point, being a
covenantal and uniting church. That is usually very different from
other people's experience of the church, and they always find it
interesting that we are a church based on covenant, and not on dogma
or doctrine. March 2007 The Holy Family The Gospels don't really tell us anything about Jesus' growing-up years. They skip from his birth and go right to the beginning of his ministry as an adult, with a brief stopover at the Temple when he was twelve. Other than that, we don't know anything of his life until he was around thirty. So when I traveled to Spain several years ago, I was amazed to discover many images of a young Jesus, from toddler age up to eight or ten years old, all before his trip to the Temple where he wowed the high priests. And in all of these images, he was accompanied by Joseph. Joseph holding the hand of a toddler Jesus as he takes his first steps. Joseph sitting with a five-year-old Jesus on his knee as he reads to him from the Bible. Joseph teaching a ten-year-old Jesus the tools of the carpentry trade. He looked like any proud and loving father as he helped his son to grow up. We don't often think about the role that Joseph played in shaping Jesus' young life, the influence he had on the Messiah. And it is all the more poignant because Joseph was not Jesus' birth father. He was Jesus' adopted father, some I've thought about a lot this year as I prepared to become a foster/adopt parent myself. I'm in good company with Joseph! It's a shame we don't know more about the years when Jesus was growing up, but we know much about the man he became, and we know much about good families. While God is Jesus' "father," it's Mary and Joseph who changed his diapers in the night, who fed him and took care of him when he was sick, who lit the Sabbath lights and took him to the synagogue and temple so he could learn about his Jewish faith. Joseph and Mary both were the hands of God as they raised the holy child to adulthood. This is how God cares for us, too, by bringing people into our lives who will show God's own love for us. We have all been "adopted" in this way into the Christian family, and as we grow to spiritual maturity, we must in turn adopt others and care for them as God does. January, 2007 This I Know The theologian Marcus Borg likes to say, "I don't know whether or not it happened this way, but I know this story is true." We could as well say that of our Christmas story. Only two gospels say anything about Jesus' birth, and they do not at all agree on how it happened. But the stories they tell us are nevertheless true:
I don't know if it happened this way, but I know this story is true, that long ago God's messengers came to tell us that God's mission had begun: Do
not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news December 2006 Spirited Ways Spirituality is one of those things that is hard to define, but most of us know it when we see it. If religion is the outward structure – sacred texts, rituals, creeds – then spirituality is something inward, our personal relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, the ineffable, the sacred. We tend to associate that relationship with prayer or devotional Bible reading. But that's not the only way to be spiritual. We have to be careful about not thinking that our way of being spiritual is the only way. Paul said that there are many gifts, but the same Spirit gives them, many forms of service, but the same Spirit is served. So it is with spirituality. I knew a man who exhibited what you might call "churchmanship." He probably never said a prayer in his life, but if you asked him to serve on a committee or do something for the church, he'd always say yes. He tithed faithfully and gave in support of special church projects. He was in church every Sunday. His dedication to the church community was his spirituality. I knew a woman who was always involved in social justice issues. You couldn't get her to come to a bible study, but she worked tirelessly to make the world more like the kingdom of heaven that Jesus described. Her activism was her prayer. I knew another woman who expressed her spirituality by caring for people. If anyone got sick, she made them a casserole. She volunteered every month at the homeless shelter. She knew the name of every child in the church. She didn't talk about God much, but she constantly expressed God's love to others. How do you express your spirituality? Don't say you don't have one! We are all spiritual beings, even if we don't think of ourselves that way. What is the most important, meaningful, sacred work you do? The Spirit moves in us in different ways, but it's the same Spirit that moves us! October 2006 With all the pressures on families today, you'd have to be crazy to choose to be a parent. Well, I'm going to join the ranks of the insane: I have decided to adopt. I've always loved kids, and I've been interested in adoption from when I was a wee tyke myself. The idea of providing a home to a child who did not have one appealed to me. Even if I got married and had kids the conventional way, I still wanted to adopt at least one child. The problem is, I never got married. I guess I'm too picky. But the lack of a spouse meant I never made a decision about children. Instead I scratched my maternal itch by being a youth minister and volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters. But as we say in the UCC, God is still speaking! God started sending a number of hints my way about a year ago. It all came to a head in early January of this year when a friend of mine was showing off pictures of the son he adopted from China. I was filled with envy. I wanted to be the one foisting pictures of my cute kid on innocent bystanders! So I decided to give the matter serious thought and make a real decision, rather than decide by default. Of course, from that moment on, I was doomed. I read up on adoption, talked with adoptive families I know, discussed it at length with a friend who counsels adoptive families, and I decided to adopt a child age three or under, through the state Child Protective Services. I've got all my paperwork in, I went through my training and have had my home study. By mid-September, I expect to be licensed as a foster/adopt parent. That means that the first child who is sent to me might end up going back to his or her parents. It will be hard to say goodbye, but I have loved many children who have passed in and out of my life, and soon enough I will receive another child to care for. (By the way, I'm told I should expect to get a child right away, probably a newborn.) Eventually, one of these children will stay with me forever. In the meantime, I can provide a safe haven to a child who really needs one. This
will be a huge change, but I am ready to take the plunge. Life is
a journey of faith, after all. At some point you have to take that
first step. My future child is probably already out there in the
world, and God will bring us together in time. Please keep me and
my future family in your prayers as we await that coming day! Be What You Is All churches want to grow, but we don't always know how to do it. So of course a whole crop of experts have popped up claiming to be able to help churches grow and flourish. I've read a lot of those experts over the years, and while they offer many great ideas, they seem to take a cookie-cutter approach. To read these books, you'd think the only churches that are worthwhile have at least 1500 members, a praise band, a gymnasium, and a day care center. Those are all very nice things, but they certainly don't describe our church. More to the point, do any of us really want to belong to such a church? It seems to me that it doesn't do much good to try to get a church to become something that it's not in order to grow. After all, no matter how much fertilizer you pour onto a rose bush, it's never going to produce tomatoes! By contrast, the great theologian Satchel Paige said, "Be what you is. 'Cause if you be what you ain't, then you ain't what you is." I think that's excellent advice for churches. Perhaps the folk in our national UCC offices have heard it, too, because they've created some new resources to help churches be better at what they is. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.uccvitality.org. They have stories and bible studies and thought-provoking articles to help churches get to know themselves and their neighborhoods better, so that rather than become something they're not, they can bloom where they're planted. They're calling it "church vitality" rather than "church growth." The word "vitality" means "life," echoing Jesus' statement, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly" – vitality! This is not to say that churches don't need to change and grow, but there is a big difference between something growing into more of what it is, rather than changing into something that it's not. God has promised us abundant life. All we have to do is live it! August 2006 The Fuss about Mary Magdalene As much as I enjoy bashing Dan Brown's book, there's one thing he got right. Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, though that might be as much of a surprise to people as the "fact" that she was married to Jesus. All the gospels really tell us about Mary is that she was from the town of Magdala on the shores of Galilee; Jesus cast seven demons out of her; she is always listed first among Jesus' female disciples; and she is the only person, male or female, named by all four gospels as being present at the empty tomb on Easter morning. Given the paucity of facts, it is no surprise that tradition has embellished what we know of her. She came to be known as a prostitute, because in one of the gospels she is mentioned just before the story of the unnamed prostitute who washed Jesus' feet with her tears. There is a second century gospel attributed to her, in which she received secret information from Jesus that was withheld from the male disciples – not unlike the recently discovered Gospel of Judas. And yes, there is a long-standing, though not much credited, tradition that she was married to Jesus. And she might very well have been. You can make a pretty convincing argument based on circumstantial evidence. But I have to confess that it's not one that appeals to me. For one thing, I'm single myself. I prefer a non-sexualized version of Mary, in which her importance lies not in her personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, but in her commitment to his message and movement. As a female minister making my way in what has historically been a male job, I like to look at Mary as my model. After all, the early church called her "the Apostle to the Apostles" since she was the one that the risen Jesus sent to tell the good news to the disciples cowering in their room. Mary was brave enough and devoted enough to stick by Jesus through the end, and beyond. Some people are attracted to the idea that Jesus and Mary were married because they see it as modeling marital equality. But there are other, genuinely biblical models to look to. The Roman couple, Priscilla and Aquila, are mentioned in Acts and in Paul's letters as being prominent leaders in the early church. It's especially interesting to note that not only is the wife named, but she is always named first! But whether we see Mary as single or married, or even as a reformed prostitute, she doesn't need a secret gospel to stand as an enduring witness to the essential role that women played in Jesus' ministry from the very beginning. Now that's worth making a blockbuster movie about! July 2006 Meeting on the Road Some time after Good Friday, two disciples of Jesus are walking. They are perhaps a man and his wife. They are perhaps going back home after leaving it some time ago to follow Jesus. But he's dead now, so there's no point in staying in Jerusalem. Along the way, they fall into step with a stranger. They start gossiping as fellow travelers do, talking about recent events in Jerusalem. This stranger shares their interest in scripture and spiritual matters, and they enter into a lively discussion abut the Bible and theology, the end of times and the beginning. Time passes very quickly with such interesting conversation, and before they know it they've arrived at the couples' destination. The stranger walks ahead as if he were going on, but the couple invite him to stay, to dine with them and rest for the night before resuming his journey. He agrees, and when he breaks the bread and gives it to them, they realize their guest is Jesus himself. Yet even as he appears to them, he vanishes from sight. But here's something to think about: what would have happened if they hadn't invited him in? Jesus appeared to them in the breaking of the bread, but he wouldn't have done that if they hadn't insisted he stay with them. He didn't invite himself in. He didn't ask to stay. These two disciples made the move. Perhaps they first became disciples as so many others did, when Jesus appeared in their neighborhood and issued an invitation, "Come and follow me." But now everything has changed. Jesus died and then was raised again. And now the invitation comes from the disciples, "Come and stay." But they don't make the invitation to Jesus. They make it to a stranger on the road. Only then as they sit down at table together do they recognize the stranger as Jesus. Yet he vanishes again, leaving an empty space at the table. An empty space that we must fill, if we want to catch a glimpse of Jesus again. "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but...members of the household of God." – Ephesians 2:19. Welcome, stranger. Come and stay. April 2006 The Joyful Season of Lent Lent: that orphan season of the church calendar that we don't quite know what to do with. It prompts church-chat jokes, like the mock greeting, "Have a miserable Lent!" or "This year I'm not giving up anything for Lent; I'm just giving up." Being the good, solid Protestants we are, the United Church of Christ doesn't really have much of a tradition about Lent. What little we know, we picked up from our Catholic neighbors. We have a vague sense that people are supposed to give up something. We notice that the season kicks off on a Wednesday, when various co-workers and neighbors show up with dirty foreheads. We see that fish sandwiches suddenly abound on restaurant menus. So we get a sense that Lent is supposed to be somber and sober, and a bit of an endurance test. Or perhaps that the Lenten fast offers us a second chance at our new year's resolution. Didn't do so well with that dieting-and-quit-smoking resolution? Not to worry. You can give it up again for Lent. Originally, Lent was a period when converts prepared themselves for baptism on the eve of Easter. We might do well to think of it in the same way, a time of preparation for Easter resurrection, a time for deepening our Christian faith. And how best can we do that? By being all somber and miserable? Easter is about joy! They'll know we are Christians by our love! I do believe that disciplines of prayer and fasting can deepen our faith, but the goal is always joy, the purpose is always love. On the eve of his death, Jesus told the disciples, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (Jn. 15:11) The night before he was going to die, Jesus didn't talk about fasting and grief and being somber. He talked about joy! We tend to think of joy as a feeling, or as something that just happens to us. But could it be something we can learn? Imagine what would happen if we spent the next forty days practicing joy. How could we do that? Perhaps we could start by thinking of the things that make us joyful: music, friends and family, a hobby, a good meal. Beyond mere self-indulgence, what do you truly enjoy? What happens to you when you are joyful? How can you develop an attitude of joy? There is a well-known hymn that the choir of the church I grew up in used to sing for a prelude on many a Sunday. It begins, "Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known." There is another verse that, alas, I don't find too often in many hymnals, but I always loved it: "Religion never was designed to make our pleasures less." This Lent, you might try giving up sorrow, and take up joy instead. March 2006 The Body of Christ Sometimes people ask me why we even have denominations anymore. Isn't it just a lot of politics and complication? After all, Jesus himself said, "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." Especially in this day and age, when denominations can't seem to agree on things, it seems like it would be easier if all the churches just did what they felt was right, and we didn't even bother to try to stay together as a denomination anymore. But I don't agree. If all churches just did their own thing, if we all just split off from everyone who didn't see things the same way we do, then part of God's truth would be lost. We are not church for ourselves; we are church for God, and like the blind men with the elephant, we need to hear the testimony of others in order to hear the whole truth – even if we don't always like what they have to say. Being part of a larger denomination gives us a history and a heritage. It connects us to people who have gone long before us, and to those who will come well after us. It connects us to others throughout this country and even the world today. Being part of a denomination also gives us a responsibility. It means we have to care about what happens to our sister churches. We have to learn our heritage and be faithful to it, even as we seek to live into the future. To be part of a denomination means to have inherited a trust, a legacy that we need to pass on to our children. So over the coming year, we will learn a bit more about our denomination called the United Church of Christ. I'll be writing articles about the UCC for our web site to give all of us some basic knowledge about our church. And I want to start with our motto. When the United Church of Christ was formed in 1957, we took as our motto a phrase from Jesus' final speech to the disciples in John 17:21, "That They May All Be One." It's an appropriate phrase for a church formed by a merger of four different denominations. That motto sets forth one of the deepest values of the United Church of Christ – a sense of community and fellowship. Because of that value, we have always been committed to working, living, and worshipping with others – with churches in our own denominations, with churches in other denominations, and even with other religions. We are a "united and uniting" church. That doesn't mean we always agree on everything! As an example, families don't always agree on everything either, but they have a commitment to love one another and stick together. That is what lies at the heart of the United Church of Christ. I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. --John 17:20-21 February 2006 Dear friends, Rosa
Parks Was Only One Person.... Peace, November 2005 Dear Friends, As you know, our South Central Conference has been twice hit now by severe hurricanes. Our ability to respond has been hampered in part because church members from that area are so widely scattered that we don't always know what the status is. But we are making progress in assessing the needs, and in forming a plan to respond. At the end of November, there will be a meeting for South Central Conference clergy in Houston with the United Church of Christ General Minister and President John Thomas, and Disaster Relief Coordinator Frances Coppola, to develop a planned response. All of our New Orleans area churches were impacted by the hurricane. Beecher was the worst hit, with the most water damage. Central UCC had five feet of water, and most of their members are currently relocated in Atlanta. St. Matthew had less damage, and Good Shepherd was actually able to hold services in the middle of September. A web site is being created to post info, at www.neworleansucc.org. Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, MS, also suffered severe damage. They lost most of the contents of their buildings, and suffered severe flooding and structural damage. Fortunately they have been able to locate all of their staff people, both those who evacuated and those who chose to stay and wait out the storm. The South Central Conference is currently covering the salary of all the affected pastors for three months, and the UCC Pension Boards has waived two quarters worth of benefits. Right now the greatest need is for money to go toward the eventual rebuilding of the churches and ministries. Several conferences have already adopted particular churches to support. The Connecticut Conference is having a $1 million capital funds campaign to benefit Back Bay Mission and the affected churches. Eventually, Good Shepherd may be used to shelter volunteers who will go to the area to help in clean-up and rebuilding. People sometimes ask me if I think God sends tragedy to us in order to make us better people. I certainly do not believe that! But I do believe that God is constantly reaching out to us, extending a spirit of grace and power. It is often during times of crisis that we are most open to hearing that call. As Christians, we believe that God can take even the greatest tragedy and turn it into the greatest triumph. The devastation of the hurricanes gives us an opportunity to think about who we are and what we want to be. Do we want to be something better than what we saw on the TV in those weeks after the disaster? God is still speaking. "Behold, I am doing a new thing; do you not perceive it?" Can we see God's comma on the far side of Katrina's period? Peace, Rita October 2005 If you have comments or questions, please contact Reverend Rita Wilbur by phone (210-403-9084) or by E-mail (sopucc@sbcglobal.net). |
