Greetings family and friends of First Christian Church (DOC) in the Name of the One who Saves! May His Peace be a part of your life, His Light a part of your mission, and His Love a part of your gifting to others!

Brrrrrr! Just a slight chill in the air and jackets and electric blankets are already starting to come out of the closets. The trees are rapidly moving to full autumn blossom of colored arrays; and the weather is oscillating between those beautiful deep blue skies with rich vistas of agriculture preparing for harvest, and the gloomy grey, rainy days and blustery winds just before winter begins its insistent march across our comfort zones.

Joyce and I experienced all of these descriptors as we attended the Regional Assembly in Manhattan, Kansas this month for two days. We went as representatives of our church, but also with some anticipatory delight of seeing old friends, engaging in a large, diverse congregational setting of worship, song and praise, inspirational commentary, insightful learning, and uplifting messages that both challenged and encouraged; and watching the dynamic flow of denominational church life search out identity and purpose through a thorough discernment, discussion and voting process. We were not to be disappointed.

Churches from across the wide expanse of our state were represented, and youth, laity, and clergy were well represented. Several workshops were available to edify participants in a wide variety of areas, and numerous display tables were brimming to capacity and briskly searched by participants. There was even a temporary Cokesbury store available with the latest Disciples’ materials. The accommodations were excellent and the atmosphere was charged with joy and high expectations. Smiles abounded and the feel of open friendliness was pervasive.

It would have been more productive and useful to have had lay membership from our church attending. This is an area for which we are woefully neglectful, and one that can so easily be remedied. We have a great chance to demonstrate our commitment to our denomination coming in March of 2009 when Disciples Home Missions will be offering a wonderful event in St. Joseph called the Conference on Congregational Transformation. The other locations for this event are: Fullerton, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Oklahoma City, OK, and Atlanta, GA. So, it is just amazing that such an event could be this close to us.

We also had a mission. Many of you will remember that right in the middle of Emily’s baptism service, we extracted some water from the font in a stoneware pitcher shaped like a water jar from ancient times. That water was carried in the opening ceremony during a procession of churches bringing water in a variety of different shaped jars as the names of our Kansas churches were announced. Each took a turn of pouring the water into a common active fountain that was centerpiece to the whole assembly area and around which all the activities of common interest took place (including the installation service of Dr. Paxton Jones, Ken Marston, and Renee Bridwell).

Envision this: water being brought from all over Kansas, water used in each community of origin, poured into a common source. It does not take a lot of imagination to work out the symbolism of that act—nor its meaning to each of our congregations. We all might be “independent” churches, conducting the business of church life together, worshipping in our own individual styles, meeting the issues that confront us separately, taking care of our congregants in so many different ways, even speaking in different languages, and yet, there is a common core that binds us together.

That core is a reflection of our common identity, our common integrity as Disciples of Christ, but more so, an even deeper reflection of our identity as disciples of Christ, our Lord and Savior. As observed during our own installation services, we read in First Corinthians 12:12-13 “12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Further, “We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.” I am sure that our discernment could go even further, but you get the point.

It is important for each of us to be cognizant of the changes that are occurring within our denomination, changes for the better, and the changes and challenges that confront the church universal—many of which are not for the better. Harmony requires unity (“unity is our polar star”) and unity requires that we put division and derision to rest: both within our own respective communities of faith and that of the larger “church.”
Something to think on until next time.

Shalom, Pastor Bill