Dear St. Paul’s Family,
I usually don’t read a ton of science fiction books, but yesterday I finished a fun novel called Time’s Eye, by the famous Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The plot’s central event is a rupture in the time-space continuum that dramatically disrupts the earth’s civilizations. In an instant, the past and the future collide with the present, and the earth becomes a disjointed piecemeal of the 4th century B.C., and the 13th, 19th, and 21st centuries A.D. The resulting climax is an epic battle involving (are you ready for this?) Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Rudyard Kipling, and some cosmonauts from the future.
Like all good sci-fi works, the power of the story is not in its ability to imagine the future, but in its critique of the present. Time’s Eye poses some interesting questions about the nature of time and human progress. Are we really much more advanced than previous generations, or just more technological? What makes us think we’re better than those who lived in the past? Where is human civilization headed? What makes us essentially human? And is there more to living than just the present moment?
As I closed the book yesterday and thought about this Sunday, I pondered the same questions about the church. We not only live in a culture that is increasingly individualistic; we tend to have a very egocentric view of time. We disregard the past as “old-fashioned” and “stale.” We make decisions without considering what kind of future this will leave for others to handle. And this cultural narrow-mindedness affects our ecclesiology.
We must remember that the church is not localized in one congregation, in one denomination, or in one time. We are part of a sweeping mystery, a cosmic connection in which the past and the future are not distant, but are ready companions today. My favorite contemporary theologian, Marjorie Suchocki, envisions the church as standing in a holy collision of the past, the present, and the future:
Consider the unity that is created if many people share in an identity formed through faith in Christ. The unity we see in a family group stems from its past: brothers and sisters, by sharing the same parents, share the same family identity. Their common past, whether by birth or adoption, defines them as family. For the family that is the Christian church, unity comes primarily from a shared future. Just as the sharing of a past creates a real kinship, even so the sharing of a future creates a real kinship.
This Sunday, our Living Proof sermon series on the seven Christian virtues offers us a look at the timeless and eternal nature of the Christian church, with a sermon titled “Faith: From Generation to Generation.” Just how is St. Paul’s a living kinship forged out of a shared past and a shared future?
- This Sunday, we are celebrating the confirmation of 19 young people, a new generation to whom we have conferred the faith of the church. They will be making a public profession of their commitment to Jesus Christ and acknowledging the vows that were taken on their behalf in their baptism.
- We will conclude the service with a burning of the church mortgage, observing the end of 12-year renovation of the sanctuary and other campus projects. We celebrate the sanctuary facilities that we are leaving for future generations, without the burden of indebtedness.
- After the service, members of the church are invited to join the 20/20 Vision Team for a briefing on its progress in its long-term strategic planning process. Come hear about what we have learned through your congregational surveys, conversations with community agencies, and discussions with civic and business leaders. Mostly, we want to listen to you dream about where God is leading this church in the next stage of its life together.
- Starting today, we lift up in prayer the 1,000 clergy and lay delegates from around the global connection as the United Methodist Church holds its quadrennial General Conference in Ft. Worth, TX. Bishop Palmer begins the proceedings tonight with an address to the delegations, and we pray for God’s spirit to move throughout the Conference as it discerns matters of mission, ministry, polity, stewardship, justice, and doctrine. You can follow the events with daily blogs and audio/video clips through the conference website at www.iaumc.org.
- The church’s History Committee has been busily working on preparations for this August’s Sesquicentennial Celebration (our 150th Birthday!) There is now a bulletin board downstairs in the dining hall that will be changed regularly to feature items from the church’s history. This Sunday, it will have numerous photos of previous confirmation classes.
Wow! What a privilege it is to be part of this grand, cosmic family! It’s still great to be the church!
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
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