A Posting from Pastor Lindy
Hello Pilgrims,
One of the rabbit holes I’ve scampered down this summer as we’ve leaned into our book of beginnings is my discomfort with some of the language we use as church. Let me give a few examples for you to ponder. As we planned our summer series, which is moving toward its endpoint, Greyson and I imagined culminating the series on the last Sunday of August to coincide with our biannual congregational meeting to affirm the slate of officers for the coming year. We had hoped to couple this act with perhaps a “new member” Sunday. Immersing ourselves in the relationship scripture reveals the Holy seeks with us, language of membership just does not seem to convey the belonging I read in our texts between God and God’s chosen. God’s faithful covenant with humanity transcends the notion of “joining,” be it a group, a club, a church. Greyson happened to mention that the church he served in Los Angeles called the decision to become part of their beloved community, “a covenant of belonging.” I love this term and feel no qualms about appropriating the language to reimagine what it might mean to choose Pilgrim as the community with which we want to journey in faith. So we are looking with care at the ritual and language we have used to see how they might better convey the commitment we are making: church to people and people to church. I’m excited about the possibility!
As I pursue this language “carrot,” I wondered also if we need to be leery of appropriating familial language in describing a church community, especially but not exclusively, given the ancestral view we’ve had these past three months. There are a host of reasons that church as family can be problematic for folks. Worth unpacking as we hold those who find their way to Pilgrim with love, compassion and care. Without question, families in scripture can be as complex as those within the body of Christ, and none more so than our story for Sunday about Joseph and his brothers. Our text ends with a cliff hanger of Joseph being sold for enslavement, rather than the alternative fratricide imagined by this jealous brood. How might we look deeply at this text without jumping over to next week’s surprising conclusion. One of our invitations this summer is to sit with the discomfort that arises in these troubling stories, or to borrow a title from the esteemed Phyllis Trible, these texts of terror. This close read of Genesis offers a praxis that can teach us Christians to not shy away from, nor gloss over our own story in and with Jesus as we move through the rhythm of our calender–Ordinary Time to Advent to Epiphany to Lent to Holy Week. Easter’s joy that magnifies the depth and breadth of Divine Love diminishes unless we commit ourselves to every step of our journey. A journey that can be (and will be) at times confusing, disquieting, challenging, even painful. But through it, we learn that we are never alone–the God who calls and covenants with us, accompanies us along the way, illuminating our path– we sages and shepherds.
Any other way wouldn’t be real, would it?
gratefully, Pastor Lindy
(she/her)Pronouns matter