Pastor's Pen - July 2008

Dear Friends in Christ,

What does it mean to be a part of a community? This question has implications not only for the community of faith but also for other communities of which we may be a part in our lives. Is one a member of a community just because one's name is on a list? Is one a member of a community if one does not participate in that community's gatherings and celebrations? Is one a part of a community just because one was a member at one time?

We live in a culture that elevates the individual and diminishes the community. Each person gets the idea that he or she can do whatever is wanted without regard for the greater community and its good. The request of the community is weighed upon what it can or cannot do for the individual as opposed to its merits for the benefit of the whole. This is not to suggest that the community has the power or privilege to run roughshod over anyone. On the other hand to belong to a community is to subscribe to its purpose and to be a part of those endeavors that would help it to reach its stated goals and purposes.

What then might it mean to be a member of a community of faith? It might be expected that a member would know the basis of the community and its teachings. It might be expected that one would participate in the community's gatherings and celebrations on a regular basis. It might be expected that such a member would be available to the community for witness, for service, and for the sharing of God given gifts and talents. It might be expected that the individual would do everything that was faithful and possible to build the community up in the world. It might be expected that the individual was a resident of the community to be able to be a part of its daily life and mission.

To be sure, none of these things are the crux of salvation. However, they are the fruit of knowing that one has been redeemed by the love of God as a free gift in the Savior, Jesus the Christ. Knowing that gift and promise leads one to desire to belong to a community of faith that worships, celebrates, and witnesses to that love and grace. In these summer days of growing as disciples, consider what it means to be a member of the community of faith for you.

Across the Pastor's desk June 20th, 2008

Human beings have, it seems, an innate ability to make idols of almost everything in life. Perhaps there is something inside that makes it easier to accept and worship many gods as opposed to one God. The Roman Empire was for the most part quite open to a variety of faiths and worship experiences. However, it did find suspect any faith that only worshipped one God. To worship one God was to be seen as being unpatriotic and against the community because such a belief meant that one did not worship the god of the city or the state or of the harvest or of the "whatever". To worship one God was to be set apart, to be different than one's neighbors and fellow citizens. As a result one would have found oneself to be suspect in terms of one's commitment to the world in which one lived.

The worship of many gods is grounded in the understanding that each one only asks the person for a little. Each is willing to share the individual with others. To worship one God is to find oneself in an exclusive relationship. Here that one God expects the whole of the person who worships and has faith. Such a God is a jealous God, who really is unwilling to share the individual with even the best of causes or competing demands.

The culture in which we find ourselves today is a culture that encourages the worship of many gods and affirms the idolatries of human beings. Nation, flag, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, sports , entertainment, even the Bible, can each in its own way become an idol in the hearts and minds of proponents. To blindly follow because it seems to be the thing to do is the most dangerous of activities in which one can engage.

Like many other times in the history of humanity, it is time for renewal. It is time to once again hear the call of that one God. It is time to set aside false gods and idols that do not give life and to trust with all of one's heart, soul, and, mind, the One who gives life in fullness and abundance now and always.