Our theological topic for the night: God is OPEN
The UMC slogan is: “Open hearts. Open Minds. Open doors.” We value diversity. We want our people to think, and have opinions. There are some standards we must lay down as foundational, but once those are covered, there is freedom to think and let think. Wesley used to say: “if you’re heart is like my heart, then take your hand in my hand, and let us work together for Christ and his kingdom.” We can stand together even though we have differences. That is the strength of the UM Church. God’s love is OPEN and our Faith should be, too.
So when everyone walked into the room, they found the chairs along the edges of the space and the floor wide open in the middle. After some announcements (and Randall Franks sharing his “retro” stuff – which was AWESOME!) we moved right into some activity. I asked everyone to stand in the middle and then gave them two choices. One side of the room would be summer, the other side, winter – they had to pick a side. Next, one side was vanilla, one chocolate, etc. We were exploring our differences. We moved to weightier matters: cats or dogs? Sprinkled or dunked in baptism? Creation vs. Evolution? The air got thicker and people began moving more slowly. We talked about that fact. And that even though we have these differing opinions, and the church is ok with it, it can be a touchy situation. What if I had put up pro-life or pro-choice? What about homosexuality? What about all those subjects that divide people? Can we be ok with “think and let think”? because our church is.
We then moved from what divides to what connects. I had everyone get a partner that they didn’t know well. Their task was to find a commonality they shared that was NOT physical (not that we both wear glasses or have brown hair). It had to be something more unique than that - and I had them find some spiritual truth, some theology that they both believed was very important. After some time sharing with their partners, some volunteered to share their commonalities with the group. Even with a stranger, there is much between us that connects when we take time to get to know each other.
John then got up and shared with us some about why our church has chosen this “open” path. He talked about our Articles of Religion (which we gave copies of) being the foundation on which we stand. These are the things we don’t question. If you do, then maybe this isn’t the church for you – that’s how you would know. And he talked about the Social Principles (which we also gave a copy of) being things the UM church has taken a stand on, has a formal opinion about, but which are up for debate. He talked about why this openness is so important and how it sets us apart in many ways. He challenged us to consider if it was true – do we have open hearts, open minds and open doors? Who should be in worship with us that’s not? How have we closed doors that were meant to be open? Where have our minds been closed to new ideas or our hearts been too small for what God wanted to do?
He segued into communion – a beautiful image of God’s open invitation. We had people come forward in those pairs from the commonality exercise and serve each other, as the band played: “Communion” by Third Day, “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin and “Desire” by Phil Wickham.
It was a good night.
Here is our current prayer request list. (Anyone can ask for prayer, just let me know! You can talk to me or drop one of our prayer request cards in the worship space Drop Boxes.)
:: Jackie Anderson is still traveling a VERY rough road. Pray for the details to come together. For hope and healing and willingness to hang on tight!
:: Pray for Katie Thompson’s grandparents – her grandfather fell and broke HIS hip the day her grandmother was supposed to come home from rehab on her hip replacement surgery. He has some dementia issues and the situation is difficult. He continues to surprise them and is recovering well
:: Pray for Christa and her sons
:: Pray for Lacy Thompson – she’s serving as a missionary in Ecuador until Thanksgiving.
:: Toni, Randall and Amanda are all looking for new jobs – pray God will open up the right opportunity.
:: Pray for Jennifer K’s cousin’s family – the cousin died suddenly leaving two small children.
