Pastor's Corner
However you get the news, I am confident you hear messages that no matter the issue one side is right and the other is wrong. Too often we hear one side loves the Bible and does what the Bible commands. The other side ignores the Bible and hates God or denies the existence of God. Lawmakers pass laws that deny medical and emotional care to those most in need of it because their theology denies reality. As a step toward finding common ground, we need to rediscover Shalom. To rediscover it means that we must turn our backs to the radical voices and demands the popular culture calls us to embrace and turn toward God. We must gather about the Lord’s Table and seek that which God has promised us…shalom.
Shalom is not ignoring conflict, pretending that which is present among us is not. Shalom is the well-being of wholeness. Wholeness comes from spiritual practices and Christ-like behaviors. A short list of these practices includes: Bible reading and study, worship, fellowship, prayer, attention to the health of yourself, your neighbor, and the body of Christ.
Sadly, in our conflict riddled society we take practices, which are supposed to heal and bring abundant life, and transform them into vehicles of hurt. Too often we use Bible reading and prayer not to spend time with God, rather we use it to find ammunition to be used against our “enemies.” We come to worship not to praise God and commune with our neighbors; we use the time to build alliances for later use during arguments. Our fellowship time becomes time to whisper and withhold love. The time we spend in prayer becomes the time we tell God what is wrong with those “other people.” Our health and the health of the body of Christ reflect our brokenness. To return to health and find shalom means turning our backs on those parts of the culture which breed hate and mistrust against our neighbor.
In today’s culture in the U.S. we are encouraged to be unhealthy. Conflict and sensationalism is the lifeblood of today’s culture. It is what drives television, radio, and the Internet. It sells magazines, generates “likes” and “clicks” and is on the front page of newspapers. Conflict, angry words, staking out the extreme positions on all matters of current events, is required if you expect to be heard. Seeking understanding of other beliefs and opinions is for losers and the weak. The dramatic, the headline gabbing phrase denouncing the other is required to be taken seriously today. “All-or-nothing” is what makes the world turn, ideological pureness is the only acceptable place to be today. To succumb to the popular culture, to do what the culture wants, is mighty tempting.
Rejecting the negative, hurtful and hate filled parts of the popular culture is done by coming to and staying at “the table.” This table is not the negotiating table of political bargaining. This table is the Lord’s Table. At this table we recall that we were delivered from bondage to the culture and economy of Egypt. We struggled with each other and with God in the desert thus delaying the entrance to the Promised Land. When we became a nation we followed the popular culture and demanded judges to rule over us. We got judges and kings. We also got political assassinations, renewed slavery, economic oppression, and the splitting of the nation. In the fullness of time we received the Messiah whom we promptly killed, partly because he rejected the popular culture. Coming to the Lord’s Table is more than remembering.
Coming to the table means that today we recognize that while we live in the culture we are separate from it. We live beyond the conventional wisdoms. We live, shaped by our past and hoping into the future, to be servants. Masters want what is best for them. Masters shape the world for their interests. Servants live for the other. Servants live to love the other. Being at the table means remembering but it also means serving and loving in the present.
Coming to the table means that we acknowledge that we are just like the disciples and apostles of old. We see dimly. We think we have all the answers and then we stumble. We stand firmly beside the Messiah until we are asked to acknowledge him when confronted by the culture.
Coming to the table means we stand against the evils of the popular culture. We seek to: love others even when they look different from us, seek the welfare of those we don’t know, remember where we came from, and seek to become servants.
We can begin to find shalom if we repent from our acceptance of the worst of the popular culture’s teachings to see our neighbor and our neighbors’ ideas as something to be rejected and demeaned. We move toward shalom when we come to the Table and live toward love.
Shalom,
SHALOM
S – Submit to God. Repent: Move away from those deeds and words that harm, or belittle people. God claims all parts of our lives both personal and communal. God is with us beyond the front door to our homes. God has something to say about our personal and political behaviors.
H – Hold hurtful thoughts and deeds away from your heart. They will poison your heart and soul and prevent you from having personal shalom.
A – Allow yourself to love your neighbor. Keep your eyes and ears open: look past the twig in your brother or sisters’ eye and see the log in your own.
L – Lower yourself before God and others. Be humble by admitting you don’t have all of the ‘TRUTH.’ Theologies different from your own have their strengths and weaknesses just as yours has strengths and weaknesses.
O – Open yourself to God’s presence in other people. Engage in daily Bible reading and prayer, not to justify your beliefs over the beliefs of others. We are not to use the Bible as a weapon against our friends. Be open to the Holy Spirit’s presence in everyone’s lives.
M – Mend relationships. Allow grace to overcome your pride; admit when you have been wrong.
What We of the UCC Believe:
We believe in the triune God: Creator, resurrected Christ, the sole Head of the church, and the Holy Spirit, who guides and brings about the creative and redemptive work of God in the world.
We believe that each person is unique and valuable. It is the will of God that every person belong to a family of faith where they have a strong sense of being valued and loved.
We believe that each person is on a spiritual journey and that each of us is at a different stage of that journey.
We believe that the persistent search for God produces an authentic relationship with God, engendering love, strengthening faith, dissolving guilt, and giving life purpose and direction.
We believe that all of the baptized ‘belong body and soul to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ No matter who – no matter what – no matter where we are on life’s journey – notwithstanding race, gender, sexual orientation, class or creed – we all belong to God and to one worldwide community of faith. All persons baptized – past, present and future – are connected to each other and to God through the sacrament of baptism. We baptize during worship when the community is present because baptism includes the community’s promise of ‘love, support and care’ for the baptized – and we promise that we won’t take it back – no matter where your journey leads you.
We believe that all people of faith are invited to join Christ at Christ’s table for the sacrament of Communion. Just as many grains of wheat are gathered to make one loaf of bread and many grapes are gathered to make one cup of wine, we, the many people of God, are made one in the body of Christ, the church. The breaking of bread and the pouring of wine reminds us of the costliness of Christ’s sacrifice and the discipleship to which we are all called. In the breaking of bread, we remember and celebrate Christ’s presence among us along with a ‘cloud of witnesses’ – our ancestors, family and friends who have gone before us. It is a great mystery; we claim it by faith.
We believe the UCC is called to be a united and uniting church. "That they may all be one." (John 17:21) "In essentials–unity, in nonessentials–diversity, in all things–charity," These UCC mottos survive because they touch core values deep within us. The UCC has no rigid formulation of doctrine or attachment to creeds or structures. Its overarching creed is love. UCC pastors and teachers are known for their commitment to excellence in theological preparation, interpretation of the scripture and justice advocacy. Even so, love and unity in the midst of our diversity are our greatest assets.
We believe that God calls us to be servants in the service of others and to be good stewards of the earth’s resources. ‘To believe is to care; to care is to do.’
We believe that the UCC is called to be a prophetic church. As in the tradition of the prophets and apostles, God calls the church to speak truth to power, liberate the oppressed, care for the poor and comfort the afflicted.
We believe in the power of peace, and work for nonviolent solutions to local, national, and international problems.
We are a people of possibility. In the UCC, members, congregations and structures have the breathing room to explore and to hear ... for after all, God is still speaking.
-Pastor Mike-
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