Dear friends,
On September 20, we celebrated Rev. Dr. Karen Nell Smith’s installation as our associate pastor for faith formation and outreach. It was a joyous, memorable occasion on many levels: the Stewart-Morales-Aguirre family’s altar-scape, dramatic scripture readings by Ava Walker and Robert Mitchell, children running all over campus searching for treasure hunt clues. The joy of the day matched our joy in the covenant we made to share in ministry with Karen Nell.
One memorable part of the service, for me, was Rev. Kelly Gallagher’s inspiring sermon. She preached on two glorious texts that promise new life and new creation. My recollections of her sermon are based on the ways her words spoke to my heart; I hope they are faithful to her intent and reflect the Spirit at work in that complicated mix of hearing and remembering.
I was grateful for Kelly’s honesty when she quoted Isaiah, “Behold I am doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it?” She admitted that there have been times, in these past few months, when her answer was no. Most of us have moments when the racism, injustice, destruction, loss and uncertainty are all we can see. She expressed gratitude for the church, which holds the vision of hope even when we as individuals cannot see it.
Kelly challenged us, as a church, to be a lens—a prism through which the world can see the new thing God is doing. The metaphor captures my imagination. It gives me a fresh and compelling way to understand our role in the wider community.
What does it mean to be a lens that reveals God at work in the world? Certainly it is about the words we say: our spoken, written, sung and videoed message that God is love and that God’s love is more powerful than hate and fear and despair. What we proclaim matters.
Even more, it is about what we do and how we live. When we choose to continue our services via Zoom even when we long to gather in person, we offer a glimpse of God’s love at work. God’s love is expressed in our concern for how our actions affect the well-being of our neighbors; God’s love is reflected in our commitment to be as inclusive as we can in our Sunday morning worship.
When we offer our Mindful Anti-Racism class and our Active Bystander Training through Open Spirit, we are a lens that reveals God at work changing hearts and minds and inspiring courageous action. When we show up for our neighbors—holding signs at a rally or bagging groceries for distribution or sharing stories of pain and hope—we shine a light on God’s call to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we call each other up, when we Zoom in for shared prayer and conversation, when we send sympathy cards, we bear witness to the promise that the realm of God’s love—God’s kin-dom—is breaking in.
This image—the church as a lens that reveals God’s love at work—is a rich one. In the coming weeks, I invite you to reflect on the ways you experience the church as a lens. Even more, I invite you to reflect on the ways you are part of that lens, bearing witness through your words and deeds and relationships to God’s love breaking into our world.
Peace, Debbie