The General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada happens every other year.  This year, the Disciples gathered in Orlando, FL.  Tim and I, along with my father, Traverce Harrison were there from First Christian Church of Ames.  It was a week of worship, prayer, singing, hearing about the work and challenges of our denomination, and considering the business of the church.

We heard reports from Higher Education and Leadership Ministries, the Council on Christian Unity, Division of Overseas Ministries, Disciples Historical Society, Disciples Home Missions, and many more.  We passed resolutions on such topics as Clergy Parental Leave, Continuing our commitment to starting New Churches, Open Meetings Policy, Removing Racist Language from our Governing Documents, Encouraging People to Work for Equal Access to Voting for All, and many more.

One resolution passed by a large majority was on “Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All.”  Disciples have always professed an open table where all are welcome.  This “all are welcome” can be difficult to really live out at times when you have people with differing points of view.  That’s why we always say it is Christ who unites us, not our thoughts or opinions or even specific beliefs.  At the table we all gather in the love and grace of God.  So the question has arisen whether we really mean all are welcome.  This resolution seeks to say, “Yes!”  From the resolution:

“the General Assembly meeting in Orlando, Florida, July 13-17, 2013, calls upon the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to recognize itself as striving to become a people of grace and welcome to all God’s children though differing in race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective…”

Also in this issue of The Call, you can read a pastoral letter from Disciples General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins expounding on this topic further.  First Christian Church in Ames has been and will continue to be a “people of grace and welcome to all.”  Our tag line is, “Come as you are, you belong!”  And we add, “And we mean it!”  We do not have to agree to gather around the table and share the bread and cup of Christ.  And, as a matter of fact, we are better people because we dare to meet people “as they are” and offer welcome and hospitality and to treat each person as part of God’s family, our family, and trust that we all grow deeper in relation to one another and God when we don’t limit our interactions to people with whom we agree.  So this resolution, passed by the General Assembly, simply states what we already practice.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has a commitment to being a “pro-reconciling/anti-racist” church.  We have a historic and living commitment to building bridges between black and white people in this country.  While we were meeting in Orlando, the verdict of not-guilty in the George Zimmerman – Treyvon Martin case was announced.  That was a solemn moment to be gathered as church across racial lines and to see and feel and hear the experiences of African American brothers and sisters in Christ.  One of our African American Ministers shared that his son asked if what happened to Treyvon Martin would happen to him.  It was a sobering moment.  Whatever the “facts” of the case, the verdict has put a people in touch with how much reconciling work we have yet to do as a nation.  As Christians, and as Disciples, may we do what we can to be “pro-reconciling/anti-racist” in our language and our actions.  May we truly be a “movement for wholeness in a fragmented world” as our identity statement proclaims.

If you’d like to read more about the business of the General Assembly, you can go to:

http://www.disciples.org/GeneralAssembly/Business/tabid/511/Default.aspx#Resolutions

Mark your calendar!  

The next General Assembly will be held July 18-22, 2015 in Columbus, OH. 

                                                                                                

                                                                                                    Pastor Mary Jane

The Language of Love in a Time of Terror

The title of my sermon for the joint Maundy Thursday Worship with First United Methodist Church and Church of Christ – Congregational was, “The Language of Love.”  On the eve of Jesus’ execution, he ate with his closest followers and told them, “I give you a new commandment… to love as I have loved.”  By this love others will know we are Jesus’ disciples.  In my sermon I quoted a line from the hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”:  “What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest Friend, for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?  O make me thine forever; and should I fainting be, O, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.”  The language Jesus desires is the language of love.  Even in the midst of his own suffering, execution and death, Jesus spoke the language of love.  And by our love - that deep abiding, long-suffering, unconditional love that we have received and offer to the world - Christ lives on and brings healing and hope to a broken and hurting world.

This week brought with it another tragedy of violence and suffering and death, this time in Boston, but also in places around the world that we are unaware.  All of us feel shaken by the senseless bombing.  Fear and emotions are high.  And it is precisely in times like these that we need to call upon our faith as we add our words and actions to the vast array of words and actions in response or reaction to the tragedy.  Times like these we are at a loss.  We, like the hymn writer, may ask, “What language shall I borrow?”  Our faith tells us the answer:  the language of love.  “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples.”  Love is what we proclaim in faith is stronger than hatred and violence.  Love casts out fear.  Love is what heals and saves and brings “wholeness in a fragmented world.”  And, as the writer of I John says, “love casts out fear.”

There is another line from a hymn that we can draw on in a time such as this.  “With the vision in our minds of how the world could be, and the fullness of our hearts from the suffering we see; when we make all that we are and have part of God’s destiny, we can fill the world with love.”  “Let us hesitate no longer in our doubt and our dismay; there’s a pow’r at work within us that has promised a new day.  And the time will surely come, it will not be long delayed when God fills the world with love.”  So as people of faith, how can we fill the world with love in such a time as this?  How can we be conduits of God’s healing, saving love in the midst of brokenness, doubt, violence and pain?  How does the light of God’s love shine through us? 

Next to the hymn I just quoted, “Fill the World with Love” (Chalice Hymnal #467) is the prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

May that be our prayer as we seek to live as people of faith, as disciples of Christ, in light of resurrection.  May we speak the language of love especially in such a time as this.

                                                                                                                Pastor Mary Jane

The Story of the Other Wise Man

In anticipation of Epiphany Sunday and the story of the Magi, read this from Darla Ewalt:

January 6 is Epiphany – the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem.  The biblical story only tells of the gifts that they brought – gold frankincense, and myrrh.  Tradition says there were three and named them Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar.  Published in 1895, The Story of the Other Wise Man written by Henry Van Dyke is the story of another Magi who intended to travel with his friends to see the newborn king.

Artaban, sells all that he owns to purchase a sapphire, a ruby, and a "pearl of great price”. He gathers his family and friends to his home and tells them that he will be going on a pilgrimage with his friends, Casper, Melchior, and Balthazar, to find the king who has been foretold by the prophets.  Some think him a fool and some give their blessings.  He starts off on his journey to meet his friends on his beloved horse, Vasda.

On the way to their predetermined meeting place, Artaban comes upon a dying Hebrew exile.  He struggles and prays about what he should do – stay and help the man or continue his journey.  He decides to stay and help the man.  In return for his help the Hebrew man tells him that the Prophets say that the King of the Jews will be born in Bethlehem.  The delay causes him to miss his friends but they have left a note for him.  He sells his sapphire in order to buy supplies so he can cross the desert.

Artaban arrives in Bethlehem but the streets are deserted. He locates a young mother caring for her baby.  She tells him about the strangers from the Far East who arrived but they have left and the Nazarene took his wife and the babe and fled to Egypt.  As they were talking, a loud noise of confusion and uproar comes from the streets.  The mother and her child hide in the dark corner and Artaban blocks the entryway with his body.  He tells the soldiers that he is alone and he will give the blood red ruby to the captain who leaves him in peace.  Artaban prays for forgiveness for telling a lie and now two of his gifts are gone.  But the mother blesses him for saving her child.

Artaban travels to Egypt looking for the newborn King.  First he looks in the palaces but a rabbi in Alexandria tells him that the King will not be in palaces but among the people. So he searches among the common people.

Artaban has been searching for the King for 33 years and he is tired and ready to die when he returns to Jerusalem.  It is the time of the Passover.  A crowd has gathered and Artaban is told that everyone is headed to Golgotha because two robbers and a man named Jesus of Nazareth called King of the Jews are to be crucified.  Artaban joins the crowd – is this man the King that he has been seeking?  Suddenly he comes upon a young woman who is being dragged by Macedonian soldiers. Upon seeing Artaban she breaks free and falls at his feet.  Her father has died and owes money. She is to be sold into slavery. In compassion, he gives the girl his last gift, the pearl of great price, as her ransom.  The earth shakes and a stone hits Artaban in the head.  As she cradles his head in her lap, the young woman hears a soft gentle voice speaking to Artaban.  “Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou has done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou has done it unto me.” His gifts have been accepted and he has found the King.  His journey has ended.

Think about how this short story speaks to you.  As we move into the new year, remember that we are also on a journey.  Remember the story of Artaban, the other wise man.