Statement of Faith ~ Week 2

 

We are not alone; we live in God’s world.  New Creed from the United Church of Canada. 

 

Part of what I love about the New Creed from the United Church of Canada is that it begins with a statement of trust.  We are not alone.  Even in a world with phones dinging, Zoom meetings, overflowing calendars, constant connectivity, and instant communication, we can still feel isolated on an island in a sea of people.  This is a tension of today's world.  We are more linked and lonely at the same time.  This is confusing and confounding.  Imagine just a few short decades ago, there was no email, no texting, no FaceTime, no airplanes.  So, when you wanted human interaction, you traveled to a town from your farm or went to church.  Or you wrote a letter and then waited for a response.  Now we are exasperated by a few seconds' delay from someone.  Ever have that moment of anticipation with three dots appearing on the screen, knowing that the other person is writing, but then the individual doesn’t send anything back?  We gather week after week as a church not just for prayer and praise, but for community.  In fact, given the world today, perhaps our prayer and praise need new forms so that we can feel more connection than sitting in straight pews facing forward can provide.  You see, pews can isolate us, especially when the other person is behind us or has his/her/their back to us.  Pews can be a barrier.  Sometimes, we need to form a circle where we can see each other’s faces.  The second part of the opening sentence of this creed is an equally important affirmation ~ this is God’s world.  Not yours or mine, even though we act like it.  Plus, creation is God’s first testament to God’s holy way.  It is not only fellow featherless bipeds that provide meaning to our lives.  So can dogs whose bellies we scratch, waves we watch crash on sandy shores, or clouds that float above our heads.  Creation is preaching and teaching; are we listening?  Creation is calling us to relationship; are we responding?  Today, find ways to practice this part of the Creed.  Creeds are not meant to be lifeless words on a piece of paper we recite in a monotone voice in church.  Creeds are meant to both awaken our sacred imagination and then let these words shape our lives.  Who might you connect with to embody the truth that you are not alone?  How might you nurture your relationship with nature, honoring all you see, smell, and sense as God’s world?  Creeds can be expansive and inclusive because how you will practice/embody the above words is different/distinctive from the way I will, but this is the beauty of God’s world we call home; this is the beauty of learning from each other in realizing we are not alone.  Amen.