Shiloh Church is breaking new ground in accepting and affirming persons who have traditionally been excluded, rejected, subtly, and not so subtly, judged and criticized. Several recent events witness to the fact that Shiloh is charting some previously unexplored territory.
In March, Shiloh held its third annual Black History Celebration. Out of that series of events has come Shiloh's new Task Group for Racial Issues. This group, headed by Justin Sierschula, will recommend to the congregation and community direct actions, behaviors, programs and projects that improve racial relations in, to, and for the congregation, neighborhood and community. The initial meeting of this task group will take place on Monday evening, April 18, starting at 7:00 p.m. in the Shiloh Chapel. If you would like to participate in this group's work, contact Justin or Carl Robinson.
This past weekend, Shiloh conducted its sixth same-gender wedding. Dale and Jerry Engel were married here on April 9, in a wonderful ceremony and a great celebration. It should be noted that, of the six such weddings conducted, the average length of relationship has been over 25 years. These are people whose relationships have enhanced the meaning of marriage. It is much harder these days to get differently gendered couples to the altar, let alone the difficulty of keeping persons married. While there has been significant turn around in the statistics, still about 37% of first marriages end in divorce. The energy, enthusiasm and obvious joy that same gender couples have brought to the altar, since last year's Supreme Court decision to force States to legalize such marriage rights, has been palpable. I have officiated at each of these ceremonies and can tell you first hand that each same-sex married couple celebrates in a very different way than those who had been granted marriage rights all along. It is thrilling to see a revival of the joy of marriage!
Also this past weekend, Shiloh Church hosted a summit on transgender issues. This event broke new ground in two ways. Firstly, it broke new ground for the transgender community. Shiloh received a number of telephone calls from members of the transgender community who wondered if it was safe for them to discuss their issues in context of a church. Would they not be opening themselves to the kind of rejection and ridicule that they have historically faced in relationship with religious organizations? Secondly, the event broke new ground for the radical welcome and acceptance that might be exhibited by religious communities. The speakers, and the ensuing panel discussion, brought the crowd to new heights of openness and honesty about the transgender community. Can such a discussion take place in a religious context? Can we be so frank in the church? Sunday's event was a sign for both communities that we can indeed love, accept and affirm one another.
Wait, we are not yet done. Also on Shiloh's agenda this season is a discussion and determination about the congregation's Open and Affirming Status within the United Church of Christ. The congregation entertained the proposed status as early as 2002, but rejected it on the grounds that it was not a universally applicable statement. It did not welcome all persons. Shiloh's interpretation may have kept the congregation from opening itself to persons in the community who may have been seeking an ONA congregation, gone to the UCC national website, and seen that Shiloh was not so designated. Therefore, the leadership of Shiloh Church determined that it is time to revisit ONA standing.
The process will include four consecutive Wednesdays in April at Boston's Bistro and Pub, 6-7:00 p.m. The first session was held this past week, with JoAnne Orihood presenting on the theology of hospitality and Rick Holmes offering a proposed statement of welcome and affirmation. This Wednesday, we are thrilled to offer the insights of Jill and Karyn Sleppy, who will speak on openness to persons of a range of disabilities, limitation and challenges, both physical and mental, and how Shiloh might offer hospitality to these brothers and sisters. Rick Holmes will then continue our discussion of Shiloh's proposed ONA Statement. That statement currently reads:
Shiloh Church United Church of Christ celebrates diversity.
We celebrate who you are as much as we celebrate who we are.
We recognize that we may not be or believe exactly alike.
To accomplish God's will on earth...
God relies on each of us to respond to God's call in our own ways.
We invite you to bring to the Lord's table
your talents, your gifts, your energy and your uniqueness,
joining with ours, in "Living the Word by Serving the World."
YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!
Each of these avenues of ministry and mission breaks new ground in Shiloh's openness and the congregation's radical welcome to persons in our community. Join us in reflecting Christ's love by taking part in each of these initiatives. See you at Boston's!
8 comments:
Yet you push people out who don't confirm with what you say
I do not know to whom you refer, but I regret anything that I may have done to "force people out."
I do not know to whom you refer, but I regret anything that I may have done to "force people out."
Not sure what Bible you all use ...
Likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not futting. Romans 1:27-28
I welcome any conversation regarding faith and how I live my life. But it concerns me that those who cannot share their name feel free to condemn people they do not know. My question is to that person is this what they believe christ-like behavior is
Lets continue what Paul has to say:
"Romans 1:29-31 New International Version (NIV)
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
God’s Righteous Judgment
2 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
This is also in the same letter to the Romans:
"Romans 13:8-10 New International Version (NIV)
Love Fulfills the Law
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
And isn't this the message that Christ brings to us? Isn't this the way that we are to bring peace and hope to the world...the intended purpose of his ministry? Our world is not much different from the world Christ lived in. Full of divisiveness, hate, bigotry and persecution. The expectation of the inclusion of all within the body of Christ has somehow been lost. Forgiveness, patience, love, kindness...these are the qualities that Jesus focused on and promoted in his teaching. Maybe we should focus on them too.
You should continue to read in the Book of Romans a few more lines down, this would help to a further understanding of what he was speaking to; and to finish this letter Paul writes of Love is the command that sums up it all in Romans 13:8-10. I would hope after all of the years of this belittling it would be done, with the body of the church being able to follow the simple commandment of Love. We are not here to judge or be judged but to learn to live in love with one another. It seems simple enough but yet as humans we have been unable to get pass the simplest of differences let alone tackle the hard ones, thus God is still speaking to all of us. In all things I do in love for the glory of my God not for me, Tami Rhoads.
Romans 2:1-3 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” 3Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God?
Romans 13:8-10
8Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
Dick, Jerry and Stephanie were all but forced out.
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