Empty and Meaningless

Here is another reflection which marries the Gospel with a key Landmark distinction. This time the distinction is "empty and meaningless."


Pastor’s Ponderings – Chapter One: Empty and Meaningless

Here at First Congregational United Church of Christ we are in the midst of a great undertaking. We strive to build the church. We strive to build the church not by predictable increments, but through a series of breakthroughs in church life to produce a vibrant and thriving church with several times as many worshippers and several times as many pledging units as we have today. We strive not to do this over a decade, but over the next year or two. This is a great undertaking indeed and we might not succeed. If we do succeed we can then write a book and tell the world how we did it. Today as the Pastor’s Ponderings for this month I offer the first chapter of the book.

In order to build a church in the volcanic way that we strive to build this church we will have to take many small steps. The very first two steps might be called empty and meaningless. There is an old story in which a man journeys far to meet a spiritual teacher and become enlightened. Upon his arrival the teacher greets him graciously and invites him to sit with him for a cup of tea. When the tea is ready the spiritual teacher picks up the teapot and begins filling the man’s cup. He doesn’t stop pouring tea when he reaches the top and tea runs out all over the table and soon all over the floor. Finally the man exclaims, "Stop! What are you doing! Tea is running all over the floor."

Then the spiritual teacher says, "The cup is you. You come asking for knowledge, but your mind is already full. You will have to create an empty space for anything new."
When we say we want to build a new church here in this place we must first clear the area of the church of the past. In order to create the possibility of a new way of being we will have to empty the future. Many times when people or organizations set out to do a new thing they are stymied by all of the memories of past actions and attitudes. In our church we are lucky in one way. Most of the people who attended this church twenty years ago have moved on. Those remaining must examine themselves and find completion with the past so that we don’t navigate on autopilot into a future dictated by that past. The past is a long story which has brought the church to a desperate place. Let’s complete the past and create an emptiness into which we can create a bright and shining future.

We must remember as we strive to create this new church that whether we succeed or not is meaningless. In one way this is very good news. Our goodness as people, as leaders and as a church is not at stake. If the church dies it will not mean that we are bad people, bad Christians or bad leaders. It will not mean that Progressive Christianity is lost. If the church dies it will not mean any of these things. So, the pressure is off and we can relax and accomplish the tasks that will cause the building to succeed.

The other thing is also true. If the building project is successful it will not mean that we are better people, better Christians or better leaders. When we write our book telling how we did it the first chapter had better say that we did not do it. It will be our job to invite as many people as we can, draw as much attention as possible, create as vibrant and attractive a church life as we can. God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, will use these efforts according to the plan that we see today dimly and may someday see in full. My faith is very firm that God’s plan will always succeed.

Let us begin at once to step into the empty and meaningless future in which we are co-creating with God a shining UCC church here in Forks.

Peace,
Pastor Bill

Resigned and Cynical

I recently attended the Landmark Forum and I am amazed by how the disticntions of the Forum line up with and shed new light on the Gospels. The following is a reflection on the concept of "resigned and cynical" which is a key Landmark distinction.


Pastor’s Ponderings – Resigned and Cynical

In today’s world it is easy to be resigned and cynical. Haven’t you sometimes felt that way? Our lives and the lives of those around us seem to be determined by factors outside of ourselves and the more things change the more they stay the same. I think that has always been true. Even if we decide that we are created in the image of God and placed here on Earth to co-create the people around us will continue to react to us in the ways that they have always reacted to us. In the gospels think of what happened to Jesus when instead of continuing to work in the trade of his father Joseph he began to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the poor and the hungry, the widows and the orphans. The people who heard him begin to talk this way in his hometown of Nazareth said, "Hey! Isn’t that the carpenter’s son? Where did he get these crazy ideas?" Jesus was unable to be Jesus in his hometown and so he took his show on the road. Aren’t we glad that he did? If he had stayed home the shaping current of the culture around him would have turned him into a nice young man who honored his father by carrying on the family trade of carpentry and you and I would never have heard of him. I think that people move away from their home towns in part because they want to create a life for themselves that doesn’t fit the family or town dynamic and so they go where they can be who they want to be.

The example of Jesus shows us that as much as it seems impossible for anything to ever really change it is possible. Not only is it possible to change yourself and the world the power to make lasting and real changes is vested in each of us. In our tradition, Christianity, we have a very good example of someone to follow. Not only did Jesus declare the good news of the Kingdom of God to all of us, he lived a life totally about loving God and loving each other.

Maybe the idea that things can change seems threatening to you. One of the ways that the world is shaped by the forces of evil is to nurture the belief that change is dangerous. Most of us believe that leaving well enough alone is a good plan in life. So, if our lives are pretty good we try not to see how things could be and settle for the way things are. It’s a dangerous fallacy that such a thing is possible. When we pray, "As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be," we are not declaring that nothing will ever change in our lives. Rather we are declaring that the wonderful and living dynamic of growth, cooperation and change that has been going on since God spoke and the big bang began goes on even now. The good news of the Kingdom of God to all us widows and orphans is that we can be what we imagine. Our lives can be the lives that we co-create with God. Our church can be the lively and growing place that lives in our dreams. Our town can be as vital moving into the future as it ever was in the past. All of this is possible when we take up our crosses and declare ourselves the followers of the one who showed us the way to really co-create with God. We are the people who make up the United Church of Christ. Nothing is impossible when we follow Jesus.
Peace to all of you,

Pastor Bill

Peninsula Pastor Begins

This is the first posting for my blog. My name is Bill Comfort and I am the Pastor of First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Forks, Washington. This will be a public spot for me to place writings, drawings and photos that document my life and ministry here on the Olympic Peninsula. I hope passers-by find these musings and obserations interesting and I look forward to reading comments.

Peace.