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Faith Practices for the Life of Your Church
The Penn West Conference Partners in Education (PIE) recently had the opportunity to gather with our colleagues from around the country at the National Partners in Education Event in Nashville, TN. A substantial portion of the event centered on a new resource from the United Church of Christ called Faith Practices. As a Partner and, more important as a pastor and teacher, I am excited about the possibilities of this resource for my congregation, my association (Juniata), our conference, and the whole UCC. One Faith Practice on tap for exploration in 2010-2011 is hospitality. Hospitality isn’t just about welcoming people in the doors. It’s about how a community includes people throughout their lives, which begins with learning about each other. How well do we really know each other? How often do we share our faith stories with each other at a level which acknowledges the daily struggles and triumphs we all encounter? That sharing is an anchor of hospitality, which goes beyond being welcome to truly knowing each other so we can help each other grow in our faith. Could you write and share your spiritual biography with a small group? Could you mentor a young person or a person new to the Christian faith comfortably? Can you really listen to the point of view of someone you truly disagree with when you’re talking about difficult issues, without judging? (It’s hard for me, too!) Another Faith Practice focus for the upcoming year is stewardship. Our Stewardship Associates here in Penn West have been teaching that stewardship isn’t about money per se but about living life in a way that recognizes all of Creation as a gift from God. Faith Practices reinforces this message and adds to it. Time, talent, treasure, our natural resources – all that we have to manage in our lives falls under stewardship. How does your faith in God help you to portion your time? Your talent? Your treasure? What would help you to better conserve and protect the consumables we use every day, such as petroleum products, wood products, and food? How can we be better stewards of energy? All of these are questions that fall into the realm of stewardship.
What does it mean to keep Sabbath? Once upon a time, blue laws prevented us from doing much of anything but attending church and watching sports on Sundays, but in my lifetime, almost all the Sunday shopping and sales laws have gone by the wayside in pursuit of profit and convenience. Is Sabbath only a Sunday concept, or can you find moments of quiet rest and rejuvenation any day, any time? If you could bring back one tradition from your childhood that reminds you of the importance of downtime and moments to connect with God, what would it be? Keeping Sabbath helps us answer those questions and many more through Scripture, tradition, experience, and even reason (which those of you who grew up in the Methodist church might recognize as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral!) And this one is my favorite, I think. Living and Playing Joyfully explores the importance of fun and laughter as an integral part of our faith lives. Does it disturb you as much as it does me to see so many dour, unhappy Christians? I mean, seriously, there are parts of our lives that bring pain and sadness, but if we truly believe what we’re taught, that there is hope for tomorrow and for all eternity, then how can we be sad at the core of our being? (Please note that I’m very much aware of the power of clinical depression to cause that kind of core sadness, and that I would never want anyone who is depressed not to get medical and therapeutic help because they think they can overcome it with faith alone – it just doesn’t work that way!) One of the activities for children in this component is joyful dancing; it’s as though the writer had been with us here at the United Church of Schellsburg UCC one Sunday morning to watch our sacred dancers spin God’s joy around the sanctuary. Another activity for adults takes us out into the church building to explore it with our faith in mind rather than with structural concerns. The whole study asks us to turn our heads 90 degrees to see things differently – and maybe 180 degrees sometimes, too – so that we can encounter God through Christ with joy and hope.
I hope that many of you will be at Annual Meeting to see Faith Practices in action and that you will consider calling upon us as Partners to come to your congregation, a group of churches, or an association gathering to share more about Faith Practices. Once you’ve experienced it, I think you’ll see it as a valuable tool for ministry over the next several years, either by itself or in combination with other resources that you’ve found to be blessings for your church. Rev. Ruth Shaver, Pastor and Teacher United Church of Schellsburg UCC PWC Partner in Education |
