I'll begin by stating the obvious.  I believe we have the answer to the world's hurts and ills, and that answer is found in the person, message, and kingdom of Jesus Christ.  That belief is at the core of who I am.  But ... so what?

Years ago, when I became editor of our Methodist newspaper for Georgia, The Wesleyan Christian Advocate, I wrote a column reflecting on the "heat" an editor can feel from every side of every issue.  I decided that it was not so much the heat but the fear of the heat that tends to cow us and weaken our message.  "It's not the heat; it's the timidity," I wrote, and I've been haunted by my own words ever since.

Now I seek God's truth and healing in an age of roiling strife and horrendous violence.  I ask you to join me as we look for the most powerful and transforming responses we can offer as Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church.

This much I know: What we do will be shaped by who we are.

So, who are we?

We are sinners saved by the grace of God.  We are wanderers welcomed home.  We are saints empowered by Jesus Christ's own Spirit.  We are mortals serving an eternal kingdom.  We are, together, nothing less than the Body of Christ in the world.  We are loved and called to love.  And love, lest we get too sentimental, is to seek the good of the other.

Now, how do we do that?  The answers we desire will not always be obvious in the world; Christ's way is definitely less-traveled.  But make no mistake: the answers and the way are there to be found.  To live as people who dare to claim the name of Christ is to live prayerfully, worshipfully, and intentionally in God's Word.  It means study and thought.  It means listening.  It means stepping beyond our own natural inclinations and assumptions and seeking mindfully and faithfully the truth that is light in the darkness.

I know I'm saying nothing new; there's nothing radical in these thoughts; but I do believe that if we seek to serve Christ, the Spirit will empower us to serve Christ.  If we seek to be a force for the kingdom of God, we will be a force for the kingdom of God.  If we desire to speak Christ's hope and healing to a hurting world, we will find the words.  "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you" (Matthew 7:7).  I have no monopoly on wisdom, and neither do you, but when we come together in Christ, it's amazing how wise and gracious we become.

We are doing good things as a church.  We are serving and welcoming; we are growing and building.  But what's next?  How best can we serve the present age?  Let us seek Christ's answers.  If we do, and if we give ourselves to the Holy Spirit, neither "heat" from without nor timidity from within will stop us from fulfilling God's will.