This morning at 8 at Calvary UCC in NW Reading, PA, we will be gathering for the first meeting of what I have loosely termed, The God is Love Initiative. By we, I mean that I have no idea how many will be there, but that doesn’t really matter. The “we” is a non-sectarian group of people who agree that 1) God is Love, and 2) that they and/or their congregation allow any person with the necessary spiritual gifts to serve God, can do so in any form of ministry in that congregation. That means ordination, leadership, doing good works; it also means no barriers based on gender, sexual orientation, or any other thing we define ourselves by. Individuals may participate if their congregation or denomination doesn’t meet those criteria, but they can only represent and speak for themselves.
If you want in but can’t be there, I will post some notes of our discussion. This will not be online today; that can get clunky in this kind of setting, but in the future, it might be. We have a couple of things I would like for us to talk about, but the main question I want to ask is, “If God is love, then how do we live that out?” That might seem simplistic to you and me, but it seems to be, at least upon my observance of the world, not so easy to do. It also doesn’t mean that we don’t have any kinds of standards or rules; God’s love doesn’t mean that life is a free for all and we can do whatever we @#$% well please. If God is love, then…how does that lead us to make decisions, vote, spend our money, drive, etc.? If we are a God-loving politician, how does that inform the way I legislate? If I am a police officer, how does that allow me to do my job? If God is love, then am I living my life up to that standard?
I have no idea what will come out of this gathering today. We might look around and think that we are too few of us to make anything happen. We might see the Spirit of God moving among us and decide that it is time for a new Spiritual reformation/revolution/rebellion. One thing I know for sure is that we have to do something to counteract the “God is Hate” movement that seems to be running rampant all over the world. We need to speak the truth with love to those who use God as a form of execution and torture against people they disagree with. Our relative inaction in dealing with the God is Hate agenda is turning people off from God, and that is partly on us. If all they see in the media is that “believers” hate people, why would any kind, sane, thinking person ever be part of a community of faith? We can hear the death rattle of many religious groups throughout the globe, and it will get worse if we do nothing. I hope, if you can abide by the two agreements above, that you will join us, no matter where you are. This is about more than my little part of Pennsylvania. It is about how we represent God.
Prayer – God of many different people, guide our hearts and our minds and our lives as we gather this morning. Amen.
Today’s art is “Love is from God” by Freda Lade-Ajumobi.