Our “business” at Christ Congregational Church is that of creating beloved community.
Beloved Community – it happens when we are living in to the annual church fair, when we are enjoying the fellowship of Wednesday night suppers, when we are hosting a collation when a loved one dies, when we greet one another in Christ’s peace.
Beloved Community – it sounds like a wonderful place to live, a place that is home, a place that is cozy – a place that is ‘already’, that has arrived, that is complete.
But we know that is not the whole story, so we added an action verb: creating.
Creating Beloved Community – it happens when things perhaps don’t go so smoothly and we have to seek paths of reconciliation, when we know that we are committed here and will have to work things out because picking up our marbles and going home isn’t an option anyone wants.
Creating beloved community goes beyond our doors too. It happens when the bags of donated groceries pile up, when the teens walk all night to raise money for cancer research, when we learn together how our own prejudices get in our way.
Creating Beloved Community – it happens when we step out of our comfort zone and stand with the oppressed, the refugee seeking a place to call home, when we welcome people of all races, all sexual identities, all classes, all nationalities.
Creating Beloved Community – it happens when we understand that we are a work in progress, that we are not only about the coziness, about OUR being beloved community, but about creating beloved community wherever we go.
We may use this congregation as a learning station, a microcosm for the world, but work inside this congregation cannot be where our work ends. We must apply what we learn here about creating beloved community in our relationships, at our workplaces, in our communities, in our nation, in our world.
Creating beloved community. That is our call. That is our holy work.
