“Contracts, Laws, and Sacred Promises: What the State of the Church Meeting is Really About”
Read this week’s issue of The Weekly Liberal email newsletter.
“Contracts, Laws, and Sacred Promises: What the State of the Church Meeting is Really About” by Rev. Justin Schroeder
On Sunday, Feb. 7, immediately following our second worship service, we’ll hold our annual “State of the Church” meeting. Everyone is invited!
At this meeting, the Board of Trustees and the staff of the church will share updates on our goals for this year (the goals come from our Strategic Plan, a document created by the congregation and monitored by the Board of Trustees.) This meeting will be a time to celebrate accomplishments, to outline emerging opportunities, and to provide a preview of things to come.
As you know, less than a month ago, President Obama gave his final State of the Union Address; in addition to casting a vision for our democracy moving forward, he also laid out a number of legislative proposals – new laws or changes to current laws that he’d like to see in our country.
As I reflect on our upcoming “State of the Church” meeting, I am reminded once again that as a faith community, we do not live in a religious community guided by a set of laws or other legal agreements (though we certainly have bylaws and live in a country with a set of laws); rather, it is a covenant, a set of sacred promises and practices, that binds us together.
In this regard, the practices of our faith community are somewhat similar to a marriage; a marriage does not succeed because the couple makes a legal agreement with one another. A marriage succeeds because a couple makes sacred promises, committing to walk together, as best they can, through the ups and downs of life. Over the course of any marriage or committed partnership, promises will be made, broken, and re-made. A marriage, or committed partnership, isn’t made strong because of legal requirements; it’s made strong by showing up, by giving your heart to another person, by being willing to take risks and be vulnerable.
It is much the same in a faith community. Our strength comes from how we are together; how we love and care for one another; how we encourage each other to spiritual growth; how we serve the wider community; how we embrace discomfort as a place to learn and grow; how we work for justice.
It is our faithful living out of these sacred promises that ensures our faith community is strong, vibrant, and vital long into the future. It is in this spirit then, that we gather for our “State of the Church” meeting this Sunday.
I’ll see you in church,
Justin
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.