A Spirit of Unity

Sunday was a really long day for me. I started my day at 6:00am as I made breakfast and watched Frozen with our friends' children who stayed with us for the weekend. We munched on cereal and played with George Hairyson, the new kitten who has found his forever home with Alex and me. I then came to the church for Child of the Covenant Sunday. We celebrated at both services the more than 93 baptisms that have occurred in the past 5 years at Unity, and we reaffirmed all of our baptisms by passing around small bowls of water. I also preached my first sermon as Rev.

 

 

 

After worship, it was straight into Pasta Night preparations, the fundraiser put on by our high school youth. There we served more than 200 meals, and students shared a skit and testimonies of their own faith journeys. It went smoothly, and wonderfully, bringing in over $2500 for our high school summer trips.

 

 

From there, I came home, read a story, put the kiddos to bed, and sat down with my hubby with our freshly filled ballots to enjoy the Golden Globe Awards (each year, we place a fill out a ballot for the Golden Globes and the Oscars. The one with fewer correct answers pays for the next date night...I won for the first time this weekend.). Lots of people were looking forward to Ricky Gervais as host due to his crass and unapologetic humor, and normally I enjoy the banter that celebrities toss at one another throughout an event such as this. However, I found myself rather disappointed with Mr. Gervais. The comedy was simple and trivial, poking fun at minorities, old age, and differences in a way that was not intelligent or humorous. Instead, he kind of came off as a bully who did not prepare for his job. Very disappointing.

 

 

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Division and Discord

The Golden Globes served for me as a reminder of just exactly how tragic the society we live in can be right now. We live in a polarizing time. When Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton are the front-runners for the next presidency, both of whom seem to only have one turn-signal working in their car, we know that people passionately sit on one side of the wall or the other, and there is no interaction between the sides. The jokes floated by the Golden Globes poked fun at people because of their differences: Mel Gibson for bigoted ways that he spoke years ago, Kevin Hart for being short, Eddie Redmayne for playing a woman, Caitlyn Jenner for being transgender...and the list goes on and on. Differences, errors, insecurities, and disabilities: jokes made to make us feel different from one another, to make one way feel superior than others. It's difficult to feel "American" anymore because...well, there doesn't seem to be one meaning for that word.

 

This permeates our churches as well. A few weeks ago, I asked some of our high school youth if they feel comfortable living out their faith in their everyday lives. The response was that they didn't want to be like the "Baptists" who are always asking people if they've been saved; but they also didn't want to be like the "Young Life" kids who go to Young Life but party on the weekends. They didn't really fall into either extreme, so it was difficult to find a place. When I was interviewing for positions at churches prior to this one, I was asked my opinions on controversial issues, like homosexuality and racism, before I was asked anything about my qualifications at some interviews. It was refreshing to make it through 3 interviews here at Unity before I was asked informally my opinions on some of these issues in a way that invited conversation.

 

Something tells me that the Kingdom of Heaven won't be one-sided or argumentative. Something tells me this polarization isn't something that God desires for us.

 

We can do better...we ARE DOING better.

I was immensely grateful as I laid my head down on Sunday evening, not only because I could finally get a little bit of sleep, but because I didn't have to take Ricky Gervais at his word. Although I ended my day with a show that highlighted difference and discord, I spent a day watching unity take place.

 

In worship, we celebrated baptism and in-so doing, we celebrated our adoption into the family of God, into the family here at Unity. It was heart-warming to watch children, youth, families, older people, people with disabilities, conservatives, liberals, people of different races and ethnic backgrounds - all God's people were celebrating their unity to one another in spite of difference. All God's people brought together by the Holy Spirit because of their differences and the ways that those differences make us stronger.

 

At Pasta Night, one older couple in their 80s walked in, and spent about 10 minutes chatting to the group of high school youth checking off reservations at the door. They laughed loudly and inquired about each other's families. It was beautiful to behold. Throughout the room, multiple generations of people gathered and interacted joyfully with one another, treating each other with kindness and respect, in spite of obviously life differences.

 

This, my friends, is the Spirit of unity -the Holy Spirit at work to bring people together-, and indeed the spirit of Unity - an essential characteristic that makes Unity Presbyterian Church unique and special. I love this about us, and I look forward to witnessing this Spirit more and more.

 

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27.13-14