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“The Church is a ‘called’ people with a mission. This is a needed reminder for these days in which local congregations have become introverted and self-centered; concerned with buildings, busyness and big memberships. Too many of us judge a local church to be successful or unsuccessful by the same standards used to judge a business. The fact that a so-called ‘successful’ church has presented no real opposition to the community’s social problems. . . is conveniently overlooked. How to turn congregations away from this preoccupation with building up local clubs to the task of serving the world, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, is the question with which concerned Christians the world over are wrestling.”

This quote comes from a sermon. Can you take a stab at when it was delivered? What decade? Do you think it sounds current?

In going through some old papers recently, I found a sermon that my father preached at the first Annual Meeting of the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ in June of 1965. By vote of the delegates, the sermon was printed and distributed to those present and to the churches of the Conference. In the next few devotions, I will share some of the insights from that sermon because I believe they are still relevant today.

The church has always been called to serve the world. And there is always the conflict between perpetuating the institution and meeting the needs of the world. We all know of churches that are self-absorbed. The focus is on those who are members and those they want to be members and how to meet the needs of those people and keep them happy. As for the needs of the wider world, that’s barely considered in many churches.

But the church, the body of Christ, is called to always be focussed outward: To be looking at the world and the needs of the world and addressing those needs. How often we cite the verse, “God so loved the world.” The church is to express God’s love for the world, the whole world, all the people of the world, and the creation itself.

It is interesting to note this challenge to the church to serve the world. At Lakewood UCC last fall we had conversations about the topic, “What does the world need from the church?” We surfaced many ideas and suggestions that are guiding what we do as a church. This is exactly what my dad was referring to in this sermon from 1965 though I had not yet found it and read it. But this is not surprising because the mission of the church never changes. The context changes. The issues of the moment change. But churches of every age should be asking that same question: What does the world need from the church.

The “magic” of the Christian way is that when we are serving the world, when we are seeking to meet the needs of the world, we find that we, ourselves, are fulfilled, made whole, and we experience joy. When we concern ourselves predominantly with the needs of ourselves, our group, our particular congregation, we never find the joy and satisfaction that comes from serving the world in the name of Christ. I invite you to think about the ways your church is serving the needs of the world. I hope the list is very long!

Prayer: The church exists to express the love of God to the world. May the church be ever true to its calling. This involves paying attention to the world. Sometimes that can be painful. May we have courage and risk what we must to truly embody divine love in the world. Amen.

What to do about Williams Park? This has been a topic on the front burner in St. Petersburg recently. The park is in the heart of downtown and has become a gathering point for homeless people, drug use, and other less than savory activities.

A church in the vicinity mentioned paying $30,000 a year for security because of the risks posed by those who are currently using the park. In a letter to the editor published in the Tampa Bay Times, Bruce Fournier of St. Petersburg responds: “I thought the work of churches was to minister to the needy. I feel badly for the state of organized religion when it has to pay to keep the riffraff out of their churches by hiring security instead of helping these lost human beings. . . It’s a sad commentary when a Christ-driven organization is so un-Christlike in how it handles the less fortunate.” [Feb. 25, 2013]

Well, organized religion got a lift from Pope Francis yesterday at his inauguration. He called upon government leaders as well as the church to “protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important. “ [Tampa Bay Times 3/20/13, “Pope Shares vision of caring, hope,” p. 3A] This is something for the whole church to hear, not just the Catholic Church. The church exists to serve the poor. That’s what Jesus did and that is what we are to do.

This is what I feel our church was doing in our involvement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers as well as our support of Operation Attack, the mission trip to the Dominican Republic, as well as the youth mission trip to California. These are just a few of the ways we are ministering to the poor.

We also want to take to heart the words of the pope encouraging us to treat the poor, the weak, and the least important “with tender affection.” In our personal encounters with people, may we always treat everyone with respect, dignity, and, yes, tender affection.

Prayer: The church has always been called to carry out the ministry of Jesus. May we never loose sight of our calling, as a community and as individuals. There is no one beneath the love of God. May we seek out the needs around us and not avoid the ministry which is needed from us. Amen.

This week marks the 10th Anniversary of the start of the war with Iraq. It is a time to remember the ruse of WMD. It is a time to remember the many lives lost of service men and women as well as civilians. Can we ever forget the toppling of Saddam Hussein?

So, 10 years later, are we safer? Do you feel safer? We get robo calls at our house several times a week from security companies offering to set us up with a security system. Do I feel safer than I did 10 years ago? There was an article in the paper today about a former student at the University of Central Florida who was heavily armed and planning an attack on the campus. Do we feel safer? I love to visit Mexico. I read today that the 253,000 guns are smuggled each year from the US into Mexico. Will I feel safer on my next trip to Mexico? And what am I really afraid of? In the short term as well as long term, what I am really afraid of is global climate change and environmental destruction. So, this war with Iraq, did it make me safer? Are we less afraid?

I must say that I am not less afraid. In fact, I may be more afraid than I was 10 years ago. And much of that fear has nothing to do with foreign terrorist groups, but with policies, trends, laws, and enforcement, involving our domestic society. The resources used for the Iraq war could have gone a long way toward making me feel safer by being applied to certain domestic issues.

I am listening to the novel, The Falls, by Joyce Carol Oates. As usual for her, it is very dark. At one point in the story, it’s the mid ’70’s and a burly, gruff young man who is coming to the end of his high school career decides that he wants to take home economics. He then takes up cooking at this uncle’s restaurant. He’s very good at it. But at 6’2” tall and 220 pounds, his family wants him to be a prize fighter; make more money, bring more notoriety to the family. Reluctantly, he goes to his first Golden Gloves tournament. And though he is big and strong, he is pummeled. His coach tries to egg him on. The young man replies, “I don’t want to hit some guy, I want to feed him.” [Disk 14, section 12] The family lets him give up boxing and go back to cooking in the diner. He has won.

I don’t know about you, but I think that feeding someone is a lot more likely to make the world a safer place than hitting someone. You are not as likely to bite the hand that feeds you. I find the image of feeding a good one for us as Christians. There are images of food and meals throughout scripture and certainly woven through the gospels. Jesus was continuously eating with people and feeding them. To eat together not only meets a bodily need but it creates community. Food truly does sustain life. Think of what we could have accomplished if we had used all of the money for the war with Iraq on food. Then, we might actually be able to say that we feel safer.

Prayer – We are grateful, God, for the many ways that we are fed. May we be fed by your word, and by the teachings of Jesus. May we ingest and digest his way of peace. Help us to create security in the world through service, empowerment, and respect. Violence only begets violence. When will we ever learn? Help us to learn and grow in the ways of peace. Amen.

“Research portrays Americans as increasingly insecure, isolated, and lonely.” This comes from the book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by MIT Professor Sherry Turkle [p. 157]. This is a book I highly recommend. But this one observation is quite interesting to me. Insecure, isolated, and lonely. To me this is exactly what the church is supposed to be preventing. When you are part of a church, you celebrate that you and all people are loved. This undermines insecurity. As for being isolated and lonely, a church gives you a community in which to be yourself and be loved. Church brings people together with common values. Jesus’ ministry specifically addressed welcoming those who were outcast and ostracized into the community. In the mission statement of Lakewood UCC we commit to offering “the hospitality and inclusive love of Christ to all people.” The church should be all about combatting insecurity, isolation, and loneliness. How are we doing?

I would be interested in research that compares the rate of insecurity, isolation, and loneliness among people who go to church (or some other faith community) and those who do not. I have friends who do not go to church. And one of the reasons they do not go is because they feel church is exclusivistic, judgmental, and irrelevant. These characteristics would contribute to insecurity, isolation, and loneliness. If you feel that the church is continuously telling you that you are “unworthy” then what do you have to contribute to a relationship?

But at it’s best, at its truest and most genuine, the church should be directly countering insecurity, isolation and loneliness. We are created in God’s image to live in community. Research showing an increase in insecurity, isolation, and loneliness is but another reminder that there are many people who need the church. But do they know that church is available to them and what it has to offer? Maybe not. It is our responsibility to see that people know that at church there is an antidote to insecurity, isolation, and loneliness. Not only do individuals need this, but it will improve the well-being of our society. A culture of insecure, isolated, lonely people is a very scary proposition.

Prayer: We pray for all those who feel insecure, isolated and lonely. There is so much heartache in the world. While we have ever more ways of connecting, we can become more and more separate. We pray for hearts open to reach out and extend the love and communion of Christ to those who feel abandoned and alone. May we not be afraid to create community through shared honesty and vulnerability. Amen.