Dear Edwards Church Community,
We are at a crossroads, in every sense of the word. Our building stands at a prominent intersection, but that is only a visible crossroads. We are at a crossroads in terms of living into our vision, and we need to embrace a future that is still taking shape. “Gathering at the crossroads of ancient faith and contemporary culture, we are a Christian church asking God to open us to a new way.” The constitution of the United Church of Christ “affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this [ancient] faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression.”
We make the ancient, inherited faith our own when we reinterpret it for our time and place, filtering it through our lives and our lives through it. In the coming year, the deacons will develop a new service to offer the essence of our faith to unchurched or disaffected neighbors who may not be so likely to attend a traditional Sunday morning service. This is reinterpreting the faith: adapting what we inherit to address new situations and incorporate new learning. Offering a service unlike what we already do, to people we do not yet know, in order to share what is essential in our faith – this is opening to a new way. This is making the ancient faith real in contemporary culture.
Navigating these crossroads also requires us to become better at communicating. I know I can always improve at that, so I am signing up for the eight-week course on Heart Conscious Communication offered at the Friends Meeting House on Court Street, starting January 24. (There is a flyer in the church lobby if you are interested.) It is part of my New Year’s aspiration to pursue personal growth in the context of our vision.
Imagine how fully we could all live into the 2nd and 3rd stanzas of our vision statement just by communicating better. “Knowing that the road is long, we choose to walk together. Finding strength in our diversity, we call on all our talents to worship and serve.” Walking together and finding strength in diversity require communicating well.
Living into our vision requires more than good communication. The Board of Faith Formation has proposed a new Milestones Ministry to celebrate significant milestones in the lives of members of every age, one more way of walking together. The Music Committee has proposed a series called “Music at the Crossroads,” offering traditional and contemporary music in our sanctuary, partnering with artists and non-profits to raise money for those non-profits. “Encountering the world’s joys and suffering, we offer ourselves as instruments of love and justice.”
While some ways of living into our vision require money, others rely on contributions of time and talent. Once a month, from January through March, Linda Vincent will lead a three part series on “Mindfulness in Relationship.” We are invited to consider this series in the context of the final stanza of our vision: “Longing to find the holy in ourselves and others, we listen for God’s still-speaking voice.”
However you choose to use your time, talent and treasure in 2017, I hope it will include living into our shared vision, and I wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.
Michael
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