Work from consensus
Dear United Church,
The thing that hurts the most is how we have neglected Christ. We rarely refer to him, in our purported national magazine. We dilute his credibility and authority by diminishing his role as a touchstone in our churches. We ignore Father God and Jesus by not asking ourselves in whatever we do, “What would Jesus have me do?” or “What would God have me do?”
In our deliberations about church business, be it management of funds and physical resources, programs, activities or theological stances, it hurts that we do not seek the Spirit’s direction, or again, what Father God or Christ would have us do. We fall back on ego and pride and take direction from that instead. If we acted with humility, listening for direction instead of acting from self-interest, and worked from consensus—unanimous and altruistic—today’s exercise of an Iridesce workshop would not be needed.
It hurts that this is not a “United” Church. It hurts that this is not a church that lives on the whole by the creed it professes.
The only consolation is that we each are the sole authors of our salvation, each of us as individuals in charge of our own internal progress.
~ Written by Robert at an Iridesce workshop at Emmanuel United Church in Peterborough, Ontario
(Shared with permission. Photo credit: Wix stock photo.)
