Meditations with Pastor Tom (7/31/20)

"... on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’" ~ Mark 8:27           

            When I tell people I'm a pastor, I almost always get asked what church I work at.  Of course, I tell them the Bloomville United Church of Christ, and I find that few people are familiar with the UCC.  I generally have to clarify that we're not the same thing as The Church of Christ (which most people have heard of), and I always add that we're nothing like them.  In fact, I've begun to notice something.  When I'm talking about our brand of Christianity, I too often find myself talking in terms of what we're not.  

            We're not anti-woman.  We don't tell women to be subordinate to men, and we don't tell them that they can't be pastors.   

            We're not anti-science.  We don't say that the Bible is an entirely accurate book of scientific fact, and we don't say that God and evolution can't co-exist. 

            We're not anti-environment.  We don't say that the Bible gives humans the right to treat the earth any way we want to.   

            We're not anti-gay.  We don't say that if you're not heterosexual, you're defective or going to hell.   

            We're not anti-other religions. We don't say if you're not a Christian you're doomed. 

            I need to start turning that around.  I need to speak more about who we are than who we not.  Like this: 

            We believe Jesus gave women total equality and lifted them up in spite of the cultural norms of his day.  There are plenty of Biblical examples of that. 

            We believe the spirit of the Christ moves through all creation, that there is nowhere where the Christ is not.  That means all of God's earth is sacred and needs to be treated that way. 

            We believe that Jesus consistently and relentlessly advocated for the outcast, the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized - what he called the least of these.  So, he definitely wouldn't turn his back on a person who is gender different. 

            We believe that Jesus was the decisive revelation of the character and will of God, but we can't imagine that Jesus would have scorned the Buddha or Muhammad or any other person like them.   

            There is no doubt that Christians of another stripe dominate the general public perception of our religion.  So, it's understandable why we might want to differentiate ourselves by saying "We're not that."  But, we need to go farther and proclaim The Good News that is really good news - the Christ we follow is not anti-everything. Rather, the Christ we know is life-affirming, peace and joy creating, and all about unconditional love.  That's who I say Jesus is. 

The Sermon this Sunday: 

Something Amazing, Astonishing, and Completely Mind-Blowing