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Matthew 25:40 – “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (NRS)
Dear Friends,
Today I am concluding my participation in the All-PA Clergy Convocation and in my last class for my executive certificate program at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. Both cohorts of people have meaning to me, anchor me in relationships that are a part of my personal and professional life. Where would I be without the kind of relationships that encourage, nurture, develop, and bless me?
Relationships are so much a part of our lives, and sometimes we forget to be thankful for all the people who touch our lives. As I pause to reflect on this, I won’t name people in this letter, but I name them in my heart. They are the people who encouraged me to go to seminary in the first place, who anchored my life when I was struggling to work out issues and problems. They are the people who work with me and encourage the development of the church and the Conference. They are the people who supported me in all the dark and difficult moments of my life. They are the people who laugh with me, dine with me, walk Tuki with me, sit with me when I need comfort, but I’m not sure what comfort looks like.
Jesus came to the earth and built a community. Surely Jesus could have taught, and healed, and preached, and wandered throughout the deserts, towns, villages, lakes, and mountains all by himself. Community was important to Jesus. The Twelve became the small community that, with others, some named and some unnamed, developed a new way of encountering God, as a parent creator who loves us, rather than judges us. Where would we be now without that community and all the communities of people that nurture and help us develop our faith lives on our journey?
Communities grow, ebb, reform, develop, and are sustained by the love of people seeking God in their lives. There are moments when we want to hold our communities, frozen in the state that is most comfortable and familiar to us. But just like organisms, that which doesn’t grow, shift and change, usually becomes extinct or dies.
We, in the conferences of PA, along with our communities in Western Maryland and New Jersey, are endeavoring to broaden our communities, to share our gifts, to nurture our faith in new ways. The support for local congregations, congregation members, associations and association members is key to the work we are doing. And all we are doing is anchored in the concepts of faith in God, following Jesus, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, and developing new and broader relationships within and among our beloved church. We are growing our community because we truly believe that “Together We Are Stronger” which is our overarching statement of why we are engaging in this work.
You have many opportunities to engage in the work the Keystone Working Group has undertaken. There are monthly newsletter articles, a website where you can read about all our work (psec.org/Keystone), and there is the upcoming Summer All-PA Conference Meeting in June. I hope you will engage with us, build new relationships, strengthen the community, which is our beloved UCC, and partner with us. We need you in our community and in our work. Welcome to the exploration of who we can become.
Blessings,
Bonnie
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