So I have come to realize that I may have just issued my most political sermon of recent memory, cushioned in the 'excuse' of theology. In an attempt to demonstrate our need to think about our God, about our faith, in consideration of our love of neighbor, I read back and realize I took a 'stand' on transphobia, child-rearing, white privilege, capitalism (our basic economic principles), and poverty.
It probably won't be difficult to discern how I would tend to vote.
But up until this week, our topics have been pretty straight forward.
Prayer? Talking to God, there is nothing that is off limits. It is easy to drop that kind of a comment and then stay well back from the borders of what we, as humans, may feel to be off limits in communicating with the Almighty. And that works in both directions, staying away from the hard subjects we may bring to God and the hard subjects God may bring to us in return.
Contemplation? Thinking about God? It is a beautiful thing, an aesthetic thing. It is 'mystic', therefore separated from reality? Maybe? That God created absolutely everything and called it good? Are there a few things in 'everything' that is 'good' possibly taking our contemplation into some...interesting places?
And Missions? Doing for our neighbor. I came to that with a consideration of 'what is' in our church, not what could be. How do we reach out to help our neighbors? We do some pretty amazing things. It is to be celebrated, it is to be strengthened. That was not the place to ask the tougher question, is it nearly enough?
But now it gets hard. Theology, thinking about God, coming back around to prayer, there is nothing off limits in our thinking about God. But unlike prayer, this is applied faith, about how it affects our neighbors. There is an intersection between our congregational existence and our 'rest of life' existence there. Yes, God is love. There is no sweeter starting point. But now let us intersect what we believe with what we do...
I thought Evangelism, talking to our neighbors in the love of God, was going to be the one that really clogged my pores. Do not misunderstand, it is a hard subject, one that has some precedents in the popular culture that are, quite frankly, rather cringe-worthy. But if God is love is the beginning of our thoughts on the Divine, it certainly provides a starting point to where we speak of our faith. But like theology, do we speak for ourselves or let others (even me) speak for us? In theology, the question is whether we think for ourselves or let others think for us in Christ.
The conclusion to this sermon series is on Mother's Day, where we will consider what we do for God. Where we will consider Worship. If nothing is off limits in our Prayers or our Theology, how might that play out for Worship?
These are the 'activities and actions' of faith, how we 'do' our Christianity. The Church has a mission, the church has values. These are ways and means to live into them.
Peace,
Pastor Peter
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