Community “In Christ”
Dear Caldwell Family:
This week, many of the Caldwell 4×4 Groups will hold their first gathering, kicking off a season of listening deeply to each other’s stories and talking openly about our lives, what makes our journeys the same and what makes them different. We do not come at this from a context of division, thanks be to God, but rather a commitment to enrich our life together as a diverse, multicultural community of believers and seekers.
Sometimes we preachers will say this kind of initiaive brings us closer together “in Christ.” Sometimes, we all get – or send – a letter or an email with the words “In Christ” above our signature. Those two little words get thrown around pretty casually at times. But what do they really mean?
Yesterday in worship, our guest preacher Insook Lee reminded us how distorted our relationship with our creator can get – including our attempts to reduce God to Santa Clause or to negotiate with God. To think about what it means to live “in Christ” is one way of keeping right relationships, with God and with each other.
As our 4×4 groups get started, I wanted to share one author’s thoughts on what it means to be a “community in Christ.” I hope the excerpt attached in the link below by name at bottom, from Discovering Community by Stephen Doughty, provides some helpful preparation as these wonderful conversations begin.
Yours “In Christ,”
John
Where is the goodwill?
Dear Caldwell Family:
This morning’s Charlotte Observer presented two stories that, for me anyway, prompted the question: Where is the real goodwill?
In a business story that only an accountant could love, a reporter explained how Bank of America’s net income may decrease if it draws money from an account on its balance sheet known in finance circles as “goodwill.” When one company buys another and pays more than the purchased company’s net worth, it puts the extra it paid (known as a ”premium”) in a “goodwill” account. Then, if later events diminish the value of the acquired company, the company that did the buying can draw money from its goodwill account to try to make up some its losses. Confused? I told you, details only business wonks could love.
Another, far more nationally visible story in today’s news concerns President Obama’s ill-informed firing of an African-American government official. It seems that the President did so after seeing a snippet of a speech the government official had made, a misleading snippet put together by the President’s opponents. In her speech, the government official confessed to a long-ago personal episode when she struggled with the race of a white man seeking help. The President was not informed that she was telling a story from years ago. Assuming she was talking about something she did in her current role, well, she was fired. Today, President Obama apologized to her and has offered her re-employment. By all accounts, she has handled herself with grace and composure.
In the last few weeks, we have been talking about hard issues, including race. More than 60 people are participating in the Caldwell 4×4 dialogues, small group discussions where we can talk openly about our lives and our differences. The government official made a courageous confession about a mistake she once made. Her point was she had learned from it. But our hard-edged, divided society has little goodwill left, it seems. Now her act of courage has blown up in everyone’s faces. We will hear the media chatter on about the state of race relations for the next several days, without, I expect, much goodwill of their own. Let us pray that God is in the midst of our 4×4 dialogues, so that they amount to a small step toward the day when we can have open, frank, constructive discussions about difference and race and sexuality without it become a media circus.
I am delighted that Insook Lee, a very present and close friend of Caldwell and a professor at Hood Theological Seminary, has accepted my invitation to preach this Sunday. Insook has been a wise and steady voice in our Adult Sunday School class for the last several year. We are grateful that she considers Caldwell her church home. I look forward to her message.
Our prayers go with Maggie Dougherty and Bo Jordan, who are to be married this weekend, a joyous event for us all. Our prayers also remain with others experiencing difficulty and illness. God’s strong arms lift up you all.
Peace,
John
Who Was Jesus?
Dear Caldwell Family:
The question in the title above is disarmingly familiar. In church life, we hear it addressed frequently and in many ways by preachers and teachers. We watch our children form – and be formed – in the pursuit of an answer. We see it reduced to bumper stickers and rubber bands around wrists.
But have you come to you own, personal conclusion – an answer, for now at least, that is based on serious thought and prayer and study and experience, an answer you can own?
The author of the New Testament book of Colossians took that not-so-easy question on by the proverbial horns. Colossians 1:15-20 is considered one of the clearest, purest, highest accounts of Christ’s identity in all of scripture. We will drink in the beautiful words of this “Christ hymn” on Sunday. Another packed issue of our newsletter will be hot off the presses as well, thanks to its wonderful, dutiful editor Dave Bradley.
More immediately, keep two families in your thoughts and prayers: Madison Williams, granddaughter of member Carol Williams, is due for surgery today at 3:30 at Levine Children’s Hospital to put in a stint that will drain fluid that has built up on her brain. Jessica Pistole Polk lost her aunt this week and has traveled to her service this weekend.
A number of you followed the deliberations and decisions of the PCUSA General Assembly at its recent meeting. As with all General Assembly gatherings, this one was packed with issues. I commend for your reading this wrap-up letter from several leaders, along with the links that are embedded in it that look at specific issues.
http://ga219.pcusa.org/news/2010/7/10/post-general-assembly-pastoral-letter-moderator-an/
Finally, thanks to all who made last Sunday’s worship so meaningful, by all accounts, Danny Trapp and Susan Pierson, along with our amazing choir and its leaders. It’s been a busy week but I am glad to be back in this company of believers.
Peace,
John