Good morning, friends. This is Pastor Don from St. Johns UCC. I suppose most of you know that last Sunday was my Installation service at 2:00 pm. What a meaningful time it was for me. It was made even better by the sermon Earl Reives preached in the morning: “We Are Family.” Earl reminded us of those creation stories in Genesis where the writer clearly says it all started with God and one human being Adam. From that one creative act, we all began and so, we are all family.
The afternoon Installment service continued the theme. We all entered into a three-way Covenant between the UCC denomination, St. Johns Beloved Community, and me. You see, we are all trying to live out that family connection with an understanding that we all belong to one another in a primal and very spiritual way. In a culture of division and suspicion, we desperately need communities of covenant people all over our country who are determined to model something other than what we see lived out all around us.
Thankfully that is happening in many places if we take time to notice. People still remember that no matter the color of our skin, the nature of our facial features, our income or our country of origin, we are divinely linked together in a bond that will not go away.
Come, be a part of an interconnected group of people who are willing to act out a better way. Commit yourselves to loving. Agree to examine yourself to identify those places where fear, prejudice, and feelings of superiority rise up to replace our first and primary bond with every living human being on the earth.
LET’S PRAY: O God, your first design and great dream for us was that we would live together in peace and love. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
