With divisiveness–and anxiety about that divisiveness–at an all-time high, our new Fall worship series beginning the Sunday after Labor Day will consider How does our faith equip us to survive, and perhaps even thrive spiritually, in this moment? From everyone’s viewpoint (diverse to be sure), there is a lot at stake for the wellbeing of our lives, our families, our communities, and our world. I believe that it is an important time to be talking about “doing unto others” in ways that we hope will foster kindness, compassion, humility, peacemaking, respect, and love in the world.
As Christians, we have enough humility to know that we don’t have all the answers, but thankfully we do have the teachings of Jesus, who lived in his own turbulent times. And there are lessons for us in them – in the ways that he invited us to focus on treating others in generous ways – because we know first-hand what it’s like to receive that kind of love.
You are invited to reflect on these topics by joining us in worship and in a variety of different Christian Education opportunities (see page 2) – where we gather together in the fragility of a time that feels challenging. We gather and remember how Jesus called together friends and foes and offered the grace and love of God indiscriminately. We’ll take a look at how the church could model coming together to care for one another in the midst of what feels like so much hate and distrust.
