When I first entered seminary, two people whom I love dearly – my husband John and our friend Jeff, both United Church of Christ (UCC) ministers – gave me incredible amounts of advice about what I could expect:
- Be ready, one day when you are reading or are in class, something you wholeheartedly believe will get turned upside down. This isn’t necessarily bad – it’s just going to happen. Check!
- Be ready to learn a brand new way of writing. (Both John and Jeff had Masters Degrees in English prior to entering seminary – I took their word on it.) Check!
- Be ready to read more that any human possibly can and still lead a productive life. Check!
- Be ready . . . .
Every piece of advice that they gave me was right on. They didn’t offer suggestions about how to handle such things, they were just preparing me to get ready. The past couple of weeks I have realized that there was one thing they did not prepare me for – the number of times that something I am reading, or hearing, will immediately cause something to stir within my soul, positively and negatively. Quite often what caused the stir would seem to be fairly incidental – something that really doesn’t require much thought. But still I am stirred, and sometimes shaken. At times I am able to process the thoughts by talking with friends and classmates. Other times, however, I can’t find the exact words to describe what I am thinking or feeling and I need to write . . .
This is one of those times.
While preparing for one of my classes I read a one page article that discussed United Church of Christ (UCC) polity. (Polity, for those who are not immersed in the lingo refers to forms of church government. And, for all my non-UCC friends who understand polity – YES, the UCC has a polity.) Briefly put, the polity of the UCC goes like this – there are four representations of the UCC (local church, association, conference, national setting) and no one entity can tell another entity what it can or cannot do. Each church decides what works for them. Other entities can make recommendations but churches do not need to accept them – they are just asked to prayerfully consider them. All entities within the UCC are bound in covenant with one another. We are called into a relationship of reciprocal love, support, and care. (OK – I know that is really simplistic but it gets to the heart of it.)
In this article titled God Does Not Coerce, God Invites I was struck by three statements in particular:
“God invites and does not coerce a people to be in covenant with God and each other.”
“Every unit of the church . . . while in covenant with the other units, has a non-transferable responsibility to discern and respond to the call of God to it – God’s will and way for it – in its time and place.”
“Hospitality is crucial given the multifaceted presence of diversity within the unity of the body of Christ. Instead of “you can’t tell me,” hospitality looks forward to considering and learning from and with each other.”
Now, yes, this article is specifically referring to UCC polity but I cannot help but think about how these statements apply to the big “C” church – the Church universal. As members of any church we are called into covenant with God and with each other. Each church needs to discern how they are being called to respond to the needs of the world. And, we need to understand that there will be great diversity in thought and action and we should remain open to all we can learn from others.
Pretty simple, huh? I wish it were. I see far too many examples of people (and churches) picking up their toys and leaving the sandbox. Things get difficult, and people leave. Or, things simply don’t go exactly how they want them to and they leave. I know this, too, is a simplistic description of the problem, but, you know what I am referring to, right?
How have we gotten here? How have we become a society that would rather leave than to talk through the difficult stuff. How has society learned that it is more beneficial to retreat than to sit and talk and learn. I know it is human nature for us to surround ourselves with people who think like us but, if that is all we do, how can we grow? If all we end up doing is sitting and agreeing with each other how do we expand our horizons? Some of my best insights on topics have come from discussing them with people that do not agree with me. But, I have had to work at the art of coming to the discussion with an open mind, ready to hear pieces of wisdom. If I want to be listened to, then I first must listen.
How can we change this reality? Can it be changed? Can we help people learn the art of listening? Can we help people learn the art of mutuality? Can we help people learn that it is okay to disagree without needing to leave? Can we help people see the beauty in being pushed beyond our self-made comfort zones? Can we help people see that by being open to hearing another view point (especially one that we do not agree with) we just may gain more insight on God’s will for us?
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
Grace is a good place to start.
- Be ready, one day when you are reading or are in class, something you wholeheartedly believe will get turned upside down. This isn’t necessarily bad – it’s just going to happen. Check!
- Be ready to learn a brand new way of writing. (Both John and Jeff had Masters Degrees in English prior to entering seminary – I took their word on it.) Check!
- Be ready to read more that any human possibly can and still lead a productive life. Check!
- Be ready . . . .
Every piece of advice that they gave me was right on. They didn’t offer suggestions about how to handle such things, they were just preparing me to get ready. The past couple of weeks I have realized that there was one thing they did not prepare me for – the number of times that something I am reading, or hearing, will immediately cause something to stir within my soul, positively and negatively. Quite often what caused the stir would seem to be fairly incidental – something that really doesn’t require much thought. But still I am stirred, and sometimes shaken. At times I am able to process the thoughts by talking with friends and classmates. Other times, however, I can’t find the exact words to describe what I am thinking or feeling and I need to write . . .
This is one of those times.
While preparing for one of my classes I read a one page article that discussed United Church of Christ (UCC) polity. (Polity, for those who are not immersed in the lingo refers to forms of church government. And, for all my non-UCC friends who understand polity – YES, the UCC has a polity.) Briefly put, the polity of the UCC goes like this – there are four representations of the UCC (local church, association, conference, national setting) and no one entity can tell another entity what it can or cannot do. Each church decides what works for them. Other entities can make recommendations but churches do not need to accept them – they are just asked to prayerfully consider them. All entities within the UCC are bound in covenant with one another. We are called into a relationship of reciprocal love, support, and care. (OK – I know that is really simplistic but it gets to the heart of it.)
In this article titled God Does Not Coerce, God Invites I was struck by three statements in particular:
“God invites and does not coerce a people to be in covenant with God and each other.”
“Every unit of the church . . . while in covenant with the other units, has a non-transferable responsibility to discern and respond to the call of God to it – God’s will and way for it – in its time and place.”
“Hospitality is crucial given the multifaceted presence of diversity within the unity of the body of Christ. Instead of “you can’t tell me,” hospitality looks forward to considering and learning from and with each other.”
Now, yes, this article is specifically referring to UCC polity but I cannot help but think about how these statements apply to the big “C” church – the Church universal. As members of any church we are called into covenant with God and with each other. Each church needs to discern how they are being called to respond to the needs of the world. And, we need to understand that there will be great diversity in thought and action and we should remain open to all we can learn from others.
Pretty simple, huh? I wish it were. I see far too many examples of people (and churches) picking up their toys and leaving the sandbox. Things get difficult, and people leave. Or, things simply don’t go exactly how they want them to and they leave. I know this, too, is a simplistic description of the problem, but, you know what I am referring to, right?
How have we gotten here? How have we become a society that would rather leave than to talk through the difficult stuff. How has society learned that it is more beneficial to retreat than to sit and talk and learn. I know it is human nature for us to surround ourselves with people who think like us but, if that is all we do, how can we grow? If all we end up doing is sitting and agreeing with each other how do we expand our horizons? Some of my best insights on topics have come from discussing them with people that do not agree with me. But, I have had to work at the art of coming to the discussion with an open mind, ready to hear pieces of wisdom. If I want to be listened to, then I first must listen.
How can we change this reality? Can it be changed? Can we help people learn the art of listening? Can we help people learn the art of mutuality? Can we help people learn that it is okay to disagree without needing to leave? Can we help people see the beauty in being pushed beyond our self-made comfort zones? Can we help people see that by being open to hearing another view point (especially one that we do not agree with) we just may gain more insight on God’s will for us?
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6
Grace is a good place to start.
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