Democrat. Republican. Liberal. Conservative. Moderate. Independent. None-of-the-above.
These are a few of the nicer labels being tossed around right now as we head into the last month of a presidential campaign. There are many other, unkind, labels being attached to people right now connected issues in our state and national politics.
I want to remind you of a few more important labels we should be focusing on.
Follower of Christ, Forgiven, Loved, Child of God.
It is very easy to allow the terms we hear through media to shape our thoughts about people and ideas, labeling before we truly know. But the truth is, we are called to dig deeper. We follow one who crossed physical and social boundaries to share God’s love with everyone. We are claimed by God who sent Him to do those things, and we are called to do the same. We should be doing the hard work to see all people, regardless of what we think they represent, as beloved children of God and treat them as such.
This is the hard work we are embarking on for the next month and a half.
We will begin with a worship series that will help us explore if we are merely a fan of Jesus or a follower. In this series, we will hear some of the harshest words Jesus spoke, truly challenging us to reflect what it means to follow Jesus and then do it in our daily lives.
Then we will move into a worship series called Do Unto Others where we will focus on what many of us know as the “the golden rule.” This is a series that congregations across the nation are doing to ground ourselves, above all, in Christ’s command to loving as we have been loved. There will be a devotional guide for your personal devotion time available for this series. We will also have daily social media posts you can share with on your Facebook feed to share what we are doing here at UCC with your friends.
Along with this series, I am challenging us to go on a Kindness Campaign. As others focus on political campaigns, let us followers of Christ go on a campaign for kindness and allow our actions to cast a vote for building God’s kingdom here on earth. You will hear more about these details in the coming weeks.
