October 13

The Hidden Singer, by the Farmer-Poet

Wendell Berry was born the first of four children to John Marshall Berry, a lawyer and tobacco farmer, and Virginia Erdman Berry, in Henry County, KY in 1934. Both of his parent’s families had farmed in Henry County, just northeast of Louisville, for at least 5 generations. 

He completed a BA and then MA in English from the University of Kentucky in 1958. After studying and working in various places in the United States and Europe, he returned to Henry County, KY in 1965, where he has continued to farm, write, and sometimes teach at the University of Kentucky. 

Being about 100 miles from where my dad grew up, an area I got to visit frequently as a child, I can picture the foothills landscape in which the Berry farm is nestled. Wendell claims poet, farmer, writer, activist and academic as his vocation. 

I recently ran across this holy poem by him, that I thought I would share with you today. I hope you enjoy.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan
 
The Hidden Singer
The gods are less for their love of praise.
Above and below them all is a spirit that needs nothing 
but its own wholeness, its health and ours.
It has made all things by dividing itself.
It will be whole again.
To its joy we come together –
the seer and the seen, 
the eater and the eaten,
the lover and the loved.
In our joining it knows itself. It is with us then,
not as the gods whose names crest in unearthly fire,
but as a little bird hidden in the leaves
who sings quietly and waits, and sings.
+ Wendell Berry

October 6

Walking by the Light of Saints

On October 6, 1683, the first Mennonites arrived in what would become the United States. Francis Daniel Pastorius, a German lawyer and teacher, founded Germantown in Pennsylvania. After eating with a group of Native Americans, Pastorius wrote that they “have never in their lives heard the teaching of Jesus concerning temperance and contentment, yet they far excel the Christians in carrying it out.” In 1688, he wrote to slave-holding Quakers in Germantown, urging them to free the people they were enslaving — the first formal abolitionist protest by European immigrants in the American colonies.

Like to conservative Mennonite families who were a part of my life growing up, Francis reminds me that as followers of Christ, we are called to see and celebrate each person around us as a child of God, even when, maybe especially when, they seem foreign or strange to us in every way. My conservative Mennonite neighbors seemed very strange at first glance.

Let us pray throughout this week with hands, voices and heart:
Open my eyes, God of all people, to my neighbor who needs my support, not judgment in this moment. Open my mouth, Holy God, to speak up for them and with them today. Open my heart, loving God, that my speech and actions may be healing to all, and destructive of none.

Pastor Alan

September 29

World Communion Sunday

This Sunday, October 3, is World Communion Sunday. On the first Sunday in October, congregations from scores of Christian denominations and traditions all over the world celebrate communion, remembering our interconnectedness with one another through Jesus the Christ. We remember as well, the unique contributions we bring to Christ's table through our variety of traditions, cultures and experiences. Our worldwide Christian family is larger than we can begin to imagine.

In the words of Desmond Tutu, “God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, for compassion.”

May we be filled with joy, people of God, to know that we will all be at the table together this Sunday.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

September 22

Happy Birthday! Happy Homecoming!

September 28 is the feast day for Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, born in the year 907, and best known from the Christmas carol that bears his name, “Good King Wenceslaus.” He was said to have a kind, generous nature, and those virtues are memorialized in the carol: the good king wanders out into a bitterly cold winter night, bringing gifts of food and warmth to a poor peasant, pressing into the snow footprints that radiate his warmth — so that other good souls may follow.

I sometimes wonder if we underestimate the power of simple compassion and generosity. There is, perhaps, no better practice to train our own eyes to see those things that are seen by God’s eyes. There is, perhaps, no better way to work toward becoming a people reflecting, even embodying the God of Infinite Love, Healing Grace, and Radical Hospitality. You are a generous congregation, Union Christian Church (DOC). May we celebrate that among so many other things this Sunday. Happy Homecoming!

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

September 15

Living

The fire in leaf and grass
so green it seems
each summer the last summer.

The wind blowing, the leaves
shivering in the sun,
each day the last day.

A red salamander
so cold and so
easy to catch, dreamily

moves his delicate feet
and long tail. I hold
my hand open for him to go.

Each minute the last minute.

+ Denise Levertov

I wonder if maybe this is something like what it means to “live eternally” here and now, to embrace each moment as if it were the most important moment, as if it were both the Alpha and the Omega, as if it were an eternal moment, as eternal gift. May this poem be a blessing in your day.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

September 8

Hands, Feet, and Heart of Jesus

If you find Week of Compassion on Facebook, or online, the first thing you will see are “Thank You’s” in response to Hurricane Ida relief. Week of Compassion helps to make this work possible through partnerships with local congregations and non-profit partners. In other words, this work is made possible by you. Here are a couple I saw:

Northshore Disciples and FCC Sulphur, Louisiana are working to provide and distribute water, food, generators, and gas in needy neighborhoods on the Northshore. Many remain without power and others are unable to return home. Meeting immediate needs is making a big difference.

Park Avenue Christian Church in New York: On my way to deliver lunches and communion for those without power. I have gift cards for ride shares for those without transportation and Whole Foods gift cards for the hot bar for those who will be without power longer than today. HUGE shoutout to Week of Compassion for helping make this possible.

Week of Compassion is active throughout the United States and worldwide. The best way to help those affected by Ida right now is to “Stay, pray, and give.” Designate Week of Compassion gifts to “hurricane” to support Ida recovery.

How to give:
-Give online - https://www.weekofcompassion.org/donate.html
-Text WoC to 41444
-Mail checks to: PO Box 1986; Indianapolis, IN 46206

Designate your gift
"Hurricane" - goes to Ida relief
"Earthquake" - goes to Haiti

All gifts go directly to disaster recovery.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

August 25

Dear Friends,

It is time to share a quick COVID update. While the wide availability of vaccines has offered significant protection for our community and congregation, with the continued mutation of the virus, we are going to be living with this virus for the foreseeable future. With the Delta Variant, the virus continues to spread very rapidly in our community and beyond. So I wanted to share a few of my concerns and a few things offering me encouragement with you all:

Concerns:

• In the Athens Area, ICU wings have been full for the last week, and hospitals are creating new ICU beds as needed.

  • It is my understanding there are 70 ICU beds available in the Athens Area. Since mid-August, the Athens Area has had between 72 and 75 ICU patients daily.

• 94% of regular hospital beds in the Athens Area are currently occupied.

  • The number of beds used changes daily, but has generally trended upward throughout the month of August.

• Today there are twice as many new COVID cases among our children, in all age groups, than there were in January.

  • The number of cases among children has more than doubled over the last two weeks, most of which are too young to be vaccinated. There were 13,020 new cases among children up to age 17 over the last week.

• Active Union members are sick with COVID, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, both at home and in the hospital.

Encouragements:

• We estimate 80% of those attending Sunday worship at Union Christian Church are vaccinated.

• Vaccination continues to offer strong (though not absolute) protection against the COVID virus.

The following statistics are from the Northeast Georgia Health System, including 4 hospitals and 3 other facilities in Lumpkin, Hall, Jackson & Barrow counties.

• Fewer than 1 in 10 patients in the Northeast Georgia Health System have been vaccinated.

• Only 1 in 25 patients in the ICU have been vaccinated.

Each day I ask prayers of protection and healing from COVID-19 for our congregation and our community. Each day I wrestle with the response to this pandemic that I should recommend to our congregation. Please continue to consider your own health conditions as you make decisions about attending locations and events in our community, and in our congregation. And most of all, please continue to consider the health conditions of the most vulnerable among us as you choose mitigation measures (distancing, masks, attention to viral symptoms, etc.) in the community and at church. We continue, always, to respect one another, and trust one another as a part of the Union Church family.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

August 18

Dear Friends,

Over the next few weeks, our scripture readings will come from the Gospel of John, chapter 6. This chapter begins with The Feeding of the 5,000, followed by Jesus Walking on the Sea. The rest of the chapter is a discourse; a conversation, sometimes heated, about Jesus as The Bread of Life.

The author of John draws on Moses and the Exodus to help those gathered understand who Jesus is, whether they be the crowds, the religious leaders, or the disciples. Written generations after the resurrection, the author also weaves in ancient Passover themes, as well as an understanding of the Lord’s Supper, regularly practiced in even the earliest church gatherings, into the conversation about who Jesus is.

The Gospel of John’s “Bread of Life” discourse gets really dense at points. It is a challenge to follow and try to pull out the vital points he is trying to make in this particular episode. I look forward to exploring this story with you in worship. As we do so, let us continue to pray: Holy God, open our ears to hear your Word. Open our eyes to see your truth. Open our hearts to share your love, in all that we do. Amen

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

August 11

The Regathering Committee met Sunday evening for a COVID-19 update as summer draws to a close and the highly contagious Delta variant becomes the predominant strain throughout the United States. Regathering does not currently recommend any universal changes in church activity.
We ask each person to consider the actions they should take to protect the health of our most vulnerable members (those unable to get vaccinated and/or those with compromised immune systems). For example:

• Stay home if you have experienced any of the following COVID-19 symptoms during the last several days, even if you have been vaccinated.

  • fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle/body aches, headache, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, diarrhea, maybe loss of taste or smell

  • COVID-19 symptoms are very similar to common cold, flu, or respiratory/sinus infection symptoms

• Consider wearing a mask at church and around others if during the previous several days:

  • you have spent time, even a few minutes, with someone with COVID-19 symptoms, or

  • you have been with large groups and do not have knowledge of the participants' COVID-19 status.

If you would like more details about the Delta variant, contact the church office. As we printed in the bulletin, “We respect one another, and trust one another as a part of the Union Church family.”

The Regathering Committee and Pastor Alan will continue to pay attention to the impact of COVID-19 on our community and the church, so that we may continue to maintain a safe worship environment. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

August 4

I Really Don’t Want To, But…

I really don’t want to, but I am digging my masks back out. Like many of you, I am fully vaccinated. I am confident that I am safe. If not quite as protected from contracting COVID-19 as I felt a few weeks ago, I am confident that I am safe from becoming dangerously ill. If that is the case, why am I digging out my masks?
I am sure you have already heard many of these reasons, but here they are.

• The Delta variant is much more contagious than previous mutations and may lead to more severe illness.

• There are several cases of vaccinated folks contracting and shedding the Delta variant.

• The Delta variant appears to pose a significant, dangerous health risk to those of us who are immuno-compromised, whether it is due to a particular health treatment or medical condition, even if vaccinated.

• COVID cases are becoming more prevalent and more dangerous among younger folks. (Vaccination rates are very high among older folks).

• Emergency vaccination is not yet approved for many of our school aged children.

• 68 cases of COVID were identified in Oconee County the last week of July, up from 25 the week before. (CovidActNow.org)

• COVID hospitalizations in Georgia rose from 1,596 on Monday, July 26, to 2,416 on Saturday, July 31. (CovidActNow.org)

I am afraid I could find more, but that is all that my head can hold at the moment. In short, it is time to once again, think about those around me, especially those who are more vulnerable than me. So, even though I really don’t want to, I am digging my masks back out.

Union's regathering policy currently remains the same, but we are monitoring the situation closely and will update our mask and distancing protocols as needed.

Before I sign off, I want to point out that not all of the news is bad. I give thanks for the continuing good news.

• Vaccines offer a very high level of protection, even for the Delta variant, for the vast majority of people.

• Vaccines offer an extremely high level of protection against hospitalization, even for the Delta variant, for most people.

Union Christian Church, sometimes I feel like a broken record when I say again how much you love and lookout for one another, the local community, and all of God’s creation. I keep saying it, because you keep showing it over and over again. I give thanks for you, and your commitment to the needs of the whole community. You inspire me and give me hope. May we continue to promote the healing of our community and all of creation in all that we say and all that we do.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

July 14

Thank You to the Regathering Committee
In late Summer 2020,  the Regathering Committee came together as Union Christian Church (DOC) sought possibilities for getting together regularly and safely, especially for worship.  The Regathering Committee guided the development of Outdoor Worship and has helped the congregation navigate reopening the church to the congregation and the community. 

The Regathering Committee has recommended our facility be considered fully open and available for use by groups in the congregation and community, as it was pre-COVID; we are excited to be sharing our facilities with the community once more.  Union remains cognizant of COVID in our community and are asking groups using the church to do so as well.  The Regathering Committee will remain intact but does not currently anticipate meeting unless called together in response to a COVID concern.  Pastor Alan and Peter Cook will continue to monitor pandemic conditions in the community. 

I don't know if we can say a big enough "THANK YOU" to the Regathering Committee for all they have done.  Their work, commitment, and leadership has been an example of God's life-giving presence in the world.  It has, indeed, been a gospel light held high. 

Thank you, Regathering Committee, for everything!
 
Reverend Alan Cloar, 
on behalf of Union Christian Church (DOC)

Regathering Committee

JR Beckwith, Julian Beckwith, Patti Clark, Alan Cloar, Peter Cook, Angie Eades, Earl Elsner, Holly Green, Alan Hickerson, Patsy Orr, and Gary Wall 

July 7

The Books of Samuel, Uniting the Children of Israel with David

As we spend the next several weeks with David in worship, I will offer at least a couple of articles offering some basic background to Samuel. This week, I thought I would share a general outline. Samuel was composed as one book, that was divided in "later publications" because of size. The books of Samuel carry us from the time of the Judges, when Israel is being led by tribal leaders through the establishment of a dynastic kingship under Saul, and then David. It begins with the story of the birth of Samuel, the prophet, and takes us through the rebellion of David's son, Absalom.

There is a lot that happens. Through the majority of these stories, God is in the background, rather than the forefront. Still, God is there; God is active.

Here is the bird's eye view of the books of Samuel:

1. Samuel is chosen as God's Prophet The story begins with Samuel's mother, Hannah, and the birth of Samuel, followed by his apprenticeship under Eli. (1 Samuel 1:1 - 4:1)

2. The Philistines and God's Covenant Chest The Covenant Chest is captured by the Philistines, and returned. (1 Samuel 4:1 - 7:2)

3. Samuel Leads Israel (1 Samuel 7:2-17)

4. Saul Becomes Israel's First King Samuel acquiesces to Israel's clamoring for a king, Saul is chosen, and finally acclaimed. (1 Samuel 8:1-12:25)

5. Saul's Battles, Saul is rejected by Samuel Saul has early success, but also displays bad judgment, and lack of trust in God. (1 Samuel 13:1 - 15:35)

6. David, the Future King David Is Chosen as the future king, spends time in the royal court, and flees. (1 Samuel 16:1-31:13)

7. David Becomes King We follow the story from Saul's death until David captures the Jebusite city that is renamed Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 1:1 - 5:10)

8. David Consolidates the Kingdom This section details David's Kingdom and it's relationships with neighboring kingdoms. (2 Samuel 5:11-8:18)

9. David's Family and Sins In this section, the holy history of Israel pulls know punches regarding the, sometimes devastating, humanity of David and those around him. (2 Samuel 9:1-20:26)

10. Concluding Traditions about David Here we find a collection of stories that have not been already incorporated into the Book of Samuel. (2 Samuel 21:1-24:25)

Already, this year, we have shared the story of David desiring to build the Temple from section 8, when we first came back into the sanctuary. We remembered God selecting David through Samuel from Section 6, to begin our "David" series. Last week, we skipped forward to David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, also from Section 8, because it seemed a better selection for July 4th than the story of David and Goliath. We will backup to the story of David and Goliath in worship this Sunday, also from Section 6. Frankly, I'm not sure what this sermon will look like. I covet your prayers for Godly wisdom between now and then. In the following weeks, we will continue with stories from the last three sections of this outline.  

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

June 30

Celebrating our Hopes
This year, July 4th falls on Sunday. Many of us will have an opportunity for a long weekend, perhaps to travel, or gather with family for the first time in quite a while. Whatever your plans, I wish you a joyful holiday weekend.

Our story for Sunday will be the story of the Ark being brought to David’s new capital of Jerusalem. In this passage we see glimpses of the twelve tribes working to bind themselves into a “unified people,” a “unified nation.” Even in this relatively small landscape, they have different patterns daily life, different demands for sustenance in each of their particular corners of the holy land. They have, even in these relatively few generations, different traditions and practices. They are a diverse (and stiff-necked) people. They sound a bit like us sometimes.

We will also see in this passage, that David can be mistake prone and hot-headed. Can’t we all? And yet, they celebrate. They do not celebrate their perfections, but their hopes, and trust in God’s providence. I pray as we celebrate July 4th this weekend, we celebrate our hopes for this sprawling, unique nation and all who live within its bounds. I pray we celebrate the best of our Declaration’s and Constitution’s vision, in order always, to “form a more perfect union.” And may we work, always, to bring those hopes and visions into being as a Christ-shaped among our manifold and sundry neighbors.

See you Sunday!
Pastor Alan

June 23

Dear Church,

Over the next several weeks in worship, we will be sharing the story of David. Specifically, we will remember the following stories:

• God demanding Samuel continue to look for the future king of the children of Israel, until they finally bring the boy David in from the fields.

• David brings the Ark to Jerusalem

• The story of David and Goliath

• David is anointed king

• Nathan confronting David with Bathsheba and the death of Uriah

• The story of Absalom's rebellion

The lectionary readings for this summer contain several more stories of David. We are going to miss some of them. David is one of the most important characters in the Hebrew Bible. I am grateful the lectionary offers us this opportunity to spend this time with David during his high's and his lows.
See you Sunday!

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

June 16

The Fear of Miracles
Mark 4:35-41

Do you think the disciples were more frightened before the stilling of the storm or after?
The answer should be “the storm” of course. It was a great windstorm” and “the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.” The disciples were frightened for their lives. But the scripture ends, saying, “They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Dr. David Lose once shared a couple of thoughts from the book Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. In the opening pages of that story, Reuben Land, the narrator, tells of the apparent miracle by which his father saved his life when he had just been born. He then reflects on how often we tend to domesticate miracles, using the word to describe all manner of things that merit our attention and appreciation but that are not, finally, truly miraculous.

“Real miracles bother people, like strange sudden pains unknown in medical literature. It’s true: They rebut every rule all we good citizens take comfort in. Lazarus obeying orders and climbing up out of the grave — now there’s a miracle, and you can bet it upset a lot of folks who were standing around at the time”

Later in the book, Reuben quotes his sister, saying, “People fear miracles because they fear being changed.”

I wonder if this is, perhaps, an unrecognized part of the disciples fear, the fear of being changed.
And make no mistake, Jesus is asking the disciples to change. In this very moment he is drawing them from the familiar territory of Capernaum to the strange and foreign land of the Garasenes. And he is moving them from being fishermen to disciples. And he is preparing them to welcome a kingdom so very different from the one they’d either expected or wanted.

The change they are facing is real, and hard, and inevitable, and all of this becomes crystal clear as they realize the one who is asking them to change has mastery over the wind and see and is, indeed, the Holy One of God.

What is the change we fear? Not the kind of change we anticipate and plan for. And not even the kind of change that is unexpected and can seem life-threatening. No, I mean the kind of change that happens when we are encountered by the living God and realize that life will never be the same again. See you Sunday!

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

June 2

Let Evening Come
As we close the school year and anticipate the change of pace we will experience for a while afterwards, I offer you this poem as a regular evening blessing. It reminds me of the Margaret Wise Brown classic, Good Night Moon. I "discovered" it at the SALT website. May this poem bring you evening peace that helps you receive God's blessing.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

Let Evening Come
Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.
Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.
Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.
Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.
To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.
Let it come, as it will, and don’t
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

+ Jane Kenyon

May 26

Trinity

This Sunday of the Christian year is commonly designated as Trinity Sunday. And so, let me share with you a brief musing on the Trinity by the writer and preacher, Frederick Buechner. As is often the case, he has given us poetry written as prose. He says a lot in just a few words. I just wish he didn’t demand that we re-study formal grammar to fully get it. I hope the quick “verb definitions” help. It is a great reading to sit with as a devotional one morning. I hope you enjoy.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

"The doctrine of the Trinity is an assertion that, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, there is only one God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit mean that the mystery beyond us, the mystery among us, and the mystery within us are all the same mystery.

Thus the Trinity is a way of saying something about us and the way we experience God. The Trinity is also a way of saying something about God and the way God is within himself, i.e., God does not need the Creation in order to have something to love because within himself love happens. In other words, the love God is, is love not as a noun but as a verb. This verb is reflexive (a verb that reflects back on the subject, God) as well as transitive (a verb that act on anything, even us).

If the idea of God as both Three and One seems far-fetched and obfuscating, look in the mirror someday. There is (a) the interior life known only to yourself and those you choose to communicate it to (the Father). There is (b) the visible face which in some measure reflects that inner life (the Son). And there is (c) the invisible power you have in order to communicate that interior life in such a way that others do not merely know about it, but know it in the sense of its becoming part of who they are (the Holy Spirit). Yet what you are looking at in the mirror is clearly and indivisibly the one and only You."

— Frederick Buechner

May 12

“The World I Live In” by Mary Oliver

I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs.
The world I live in and believe in
is wider than that. And anyway,
what’s wrong with Maybe?

You wouldn’t believe what once or
twice I have seen. I’ll just
tell you this:
only if there are angels in your head will you
ever, possibly, see one.

+ Mary Oliver

I have always been a very analytically minded person, someone who wanted to know the why and the how behind the what, someone who would be thinking, “prove it.” We learn a lot that way.

Somewhere along the way, I also learned to ask the question Mary Oliver is pointing to in this poem, “I wonder if that was God?”

Sometimes it is nice to celebrate without needing to explain. And when we finally do explain, my guess is, we will find life no less holy or miraculous.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

May 5

The Spirit of Mother's Day

During the 19th century, women's peace groups in the United States tried to establish holidays and regular activities in favor of peace and against war. A common early activity was the meeting of groups of mothers whose sons had fought or died on opposite sides of the American Civil War.

Even before then, in 1858 Ann Jarvis had organized Mother's Day Work Clubs in several Appalachian communities of what would become West Virginia during the Civil War. These clubs began initiatives to provide assistance and education to families, raising money to buy medicine and hire help for families impacted by tuberculosis and other health issues, and developing programs for milk inspection. During the Civil War, they fed and clothed soldiers stationed in the area, both Union and Confederate, and nursed soldiers during typhoid and measles outbreaks. Following the war, Ann organized a committee to establish a "Mother's Friendship Day", the purpose of which was "to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War." She wanted to expand these into an annual memorial for mothers.

There were several observances of Mother's Days in different parts of the country throughout the 1870's & 1880's. Julia Ward Howe, author of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," led a "Mother's Day for Peace" anti-war observance throughout the 1870's. In these celebrations, mothers all around the world would work towards world peace.

Mother's Day was officially proclaimed a national holiday in 1914, asking us to remember those mothers who had lost sons in war. Through the years we have, appropriately, I think, expanded those we celebrate on Mother's Day to include our own mothers, and those who have shared God's mothering love with those around them in all of the different ways we might imagine. I believe acknowledging and encouraging that active mothering love of God in one another hearkens back to the spirit of Ann Jarvis' Mother's Day Work Clubs, and Julia Ward Howe's "Mother's Day for Peace," and so many others like them through the years. When we remember and celebrate those (especially women) who have cared for and shaped us this Sunday, and when we join them in caring for and shaping other's, all of God's children all year long, we are living the spirit of Mother's Day, indeed.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan

April 28

Dear Church,

Over the next several weeks (perhaps consecutively) I would like to share with you Rev. Eric Law's framework of Holy Currencies as an exploration of missional ministry. Union Christian Church is a "missional" church. In other words, Union wants to make a difference in the life of the community, as well as the life of the congregation and its members. Holy Currencies arose out of Eric's research and work with congregations to be both "missional" and "sustainable" around the time of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Holy Currencies framework focuses on six currencies including 1)Time and Place, 2)Gracious Leadership, 3)Relationship, 4)Truth, 5)Wellness, and 6)Money.

While thinking and talking about these currencies, Eric would encourage always to remember:

• Currents Flow

• Currencies are meant to be exchanged

We are most engaged in God's missional work when we exchanging those currencies we have in abundance for those currencies that are most needed in our community and/or church. I will share a quick definition of those six holy currencies below. I see each of these currencies present in Union Christian Church (DOC). As you read through them, here are a few questions to think about along side of them. We will continue to ask these questions as we look at each of these currencies.

• Where do you see this currency in Union Christian Church (DOC)?

• Do we, as a congregation, have an abundance of this currency?

• Do we, as a congregation, need a bit more of this currency?

• Who in our congregation or community does have an abundance of this currency?

• Who, in our congregation or community, could use more of this currency?

Holy Currencies from Eric Law and the Kaleidoscope Institute

• Time and Place - Time of church leaders (paid and volunteer) offered to church and ministry. Properties owned by church and ministry and/or properties from which church and ministry operate.

• Gracious Leadership - ability to create "gracious" environments where mutually respectful relationships and discernment of truth may be shared together by drastically different people, within and beyond the congregation.

• Relationship - all of mutually respectful connections within and beyond the church, possessed by leaders and members of the congregation and its ministries

• Truth - ability to hear and articulate, individually and together, inclusive and healing truth.

• Wellness - being physically, socially, economically, ecologically, and spiritually healthy, individually and together in our church, ministry, neighborhood, creation and everywhere in between.

• Money - anything generally accepted as a means of payment or to have a measure of value.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Alan