"The Marks of the Church" Monday Moment - March 28, 2022

Happy Monday, Friends!

Continuing with the creed: “We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” The first sentence of this passage of the creed is known as the four marks of the church. The Church is one. The Church is holy. The Church is universal (“catholic” being from the Greek meaning universal). The Church is apostolic. For the Church to be the hands and feet of Jesus, for the Church to be valid in its ministry, and for the Church to express the fullness of its ministry, the Church must be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. The Church hasn’t always lived up to its call.

Before we get too far down the rabbit hole of calling out organized religion, we need to remember that the Church is the people of God. Rather than think of the institutional church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic; let’s think of the people of God as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.

The People of God are one. The people of God struggle to be one. Martin Luther King, Jr., called 11am on Sunday morning “the most segregated hour in Christian America.” We allow racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, xenophobia, aporaphobia (fear of poor people), and many others separate us on Sunday morning and throughout our lives.

The People of God are holy. The people of God struggle to remember that they are holy. We are holy. Let that sink in: we are holy. Between our own self-doubt and external messages about what is beautiful and successful, we often forget that we are holy and beautiful beyond all measure.

The People of God are universal. The people of God struggle to be universal. As humans we are part of a magnificent, interconnected network of existence, but our focus only on ourselves, our families, our communities, and, ultimately, our comfort, rather than recognize the harm our actions cause each other’s existence.

The People of God are apostolic. The people of God struggle to be apostolic. Many of us simply don’t know what it means to be apostolic particularly in a world where sectarian protolyzing is rarely welcome. But apostolic need not only be religious, we can be apostles of our values and of the world we want to create.

How can you be one with others? How can you be holy? Where can you be universal and a part of the web of existence? How can you be apostolic?

Let us pray: God, we are your people, but we struggle to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Give us the grace to live out each of these calls throughout our lives. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who gave us an example of being all four. Amen.

Blessings, friends, on your week! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben

#AskingForAFriend Ep.39

In today’s episode, our panelist John Backman (she/her), a bigender Christian, helps us to understand what pronouns are and why LGBTQIA+ people, especially gender-nonbinary folks, use them. In addition, she shares about why she encourages all people, queer or otherwise, to consider sharing their pronouns as well!

To submit your own questions for our panel & see what other questions we've answered, visit www.loveboldly.net/askingforafriend

"Commas" - Monday Moment - March 21, 2022

Happy Monday, Friends!

You probably guessed that I would be continuing my theme of using the Nicene Creed as inspiration and the creed continues: “With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.”

Some years ago, the United Church of Christ (UCC) launched their “God is still speaking” campaign signified by a comma. The UCC urged people to resist the temptation to put a period where God puts a comma. As Christians, we often have the temptation to box Jesus and his death on the cross into a static moment in history. As if the creator of heaven and earth is limited to one precise point in history at one particular location. We further have the temptation to regard Jesus’ work as finished. The work and effect of the Cross was not simply limited to first century Palestine, and it was not limited to salvation. It was a model for the continuing work of justice which has not been completed.

Paulo Freire said that “No one can be authentically human while he [sic] prevents others from being so.” Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection three days later are important moments in the story of justice, but they are not the end of that story. We continue the story of justice every day when we witness against evil done by others, evil done by us, and evil done on our behalf. If we hope to be fully human, if we hope to be like Jesus, we must cease standing in the way of the full humanity of every other person.

The creeds are meant to tell the story of salvation just as much as they are meant to express belief. Therefore, it is unsurprising that only the last line of the creed speaks to the future. But the story of salvation, the story of grace, and the story of justice are not just about the past, they are fundamentally about the present and the future.

How will you be part of the story of justice this week? How will you help yourself and someone else be more fully human?

Let us pray: God who died on a cross to bring salvation and to advance justice, give us the grace to lay aside whatever we are doing which prevents other people from being fully human. Forgive our faults, the faults others have done to us, and the faults done by others on our behalf. Bring all of us to the perfect human flourishing that you always envisioned in your creation. We ask this for our sake and your glory. Amen.

Blessings, friends, on your week! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben