[Vision2020] Curiosity Question

keely emerinemix kjajmix1 at msn.com
Sun Nov 28 00:37:40 PST 2010


Well, my church, Rock Church, isn't listed.  

And yet I have no doubt that the spirit of offering thanksgiving to Yahweh, the Allah of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- and genuinely loving every person that God created, without exception -- is utterly consistent with my church family's commitment to demonstrating and offering Shalom/Salaam/Gospel Peace to our world.  

It's not that I feel the need to defend my church; it doesn't need my defense.  But while I know there are a lot of good people of faith who didn't, for whatever reason, attend the dinner, the current climate of what passes for Christianity on the Palouse does raise questions about whether a church group's non-attendance is innocuous, meant to send a message, or was an intentional rejection of the event's purpose.  I think that our church -- a dozen very diverse people intentionally without a pastor, led by two women and two men, all imperfect but committed to worshiping Christ together and living out the Gospel in the homes, church, community, and world we're in -- very likely wasn't aware of the gathering.  

But maybe some were; I don't know.  I do know that at Rock, we tend to equip, encourage, and expect  our sisters and brothers to do whatever it is God has called them to do in the world, and do so as individuals; we don't "do ministry" as a church  as much as we "do equipping" so that our people use their gifts, influence, and passion to serve their neighbors.  As I imagine is the case with all of the faithful, we want to focus on being and not simply on doing.  Our people collect Christmas presents for kids overseas, sponsor other children, practice and preach gender equality, work at the Food Bank at St. Mary's, minister at Good Sam, develop genuine friendships with people who feel unloved or outcast, volunteer with the disabled, pray consistently and fervently for peace, march in the LGBT Pride Parade, and seek out ways to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.  We assume that other Christians do the same, and so do non-Christian faith-living people, and so do those who reject religious belief but give to their community.  

As I said, my point isn't to defend my church, although I'm always happy to introduce to others these people I love so dearly, and who, amazingly, love, respect, and support me -- that's not something I've ever had before in church.  And I think Tom raises in his question some important issues, given the bigotry permeating the Palouse in the name of Christ.  So I've answered his question, speaking only about my church as a part of it and not officially representing Rock here or anywhere else.  As always, i appreciate Tom's profound and demonstrated concern for injustice, intolerance, and incivility -- in Moscow and elsewhere.  I'm interested in what other Visionaires think.  

Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com




> Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:44:06 -0800
> From: thansen at moscow.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Curiosity Question
> 
> Hi, V-peeps -
> 
> I know that there are lots and lots of churches located here in Vandalville.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, can anybody "in the know" identify any local
> churches NOT listed at . . .
> 
> http://www.tomandrodna.com/MoscowCares/interfaiththanksgiving/InterfaithThanksgivingProgram_111810_04.jpg
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
> 
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
> 
> - Unknown
> 
> 
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>                http://www.fsr.net                       
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20101128/41bca7f9/attachment.html 


More information about the Vision2020 mailing list