From Omid Safi’s work, “Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition”

There is certainly a way to approach Christianity where love is bifurcated: love for God can become split and apart from love of neighbor. At times, love of neighbor becomes the “good deed” we do to satisfy the provocation of James who wrote that “faith without works is dead.” But what has become quite common within the Church in America is that love of neighbor is not just detached and secondary from love of God, but an act that can even undermine one’s love of God and God’s love for them.

The White Evangelical Church in America has viewed love of neighbor and empathy for neighbor with suspicion for some time now. It rose during the cultural conversations on sexuality, marriage, and family and has perhaps peaked during these cultural conversations on immigration and gender identity and gender expression. Members of these churches (as with all churches) had and have plenty of relationships with friends and family who are gay, trans, and without American citizenship. The love that is present in these relationships say one thing. The church leadership says that God says another. The leadership in much of the White Evangelical Church demanded a choice. And when quite a few members began to follow the love for friends and family, the leadership of these churches began to question the discerning qualities of the heart. Empathy became a temptation that could lead us away from God.

Here we are in a moment when those who profess a Christian affiliation within the United States are less empathetic than those who profess no religious affiliation. And Jesus wept.

I share this to elevate how good and worthy it is that Hiram Christian Church is living into its commitment to be an Open and Affirming Congregation within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In such a barren religious landscape, every act of compassion and love is a salve and blessing.

We welcome and affirm all who come to our doors, all who come seeking to be part of Christ’s community - of every race, ethnicity, creed, economic status, age, gender, marital status, education, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and citizenship status. We invite all to participate fully in the life and ministry of the church.

This is a clear commitment to everyone who is seeking to be part of a community of faith. It is also a clear commitment by everyone who belongs to this community of faith - and it is faithful work that reconciles a love that has been divided elsewhere in the Church and world.

It is my hope that this commitment unites the love that has been bifurcated in the Church and world for others, and also for us. That in any act of hospitality and inclusion, one may sense love of neighbor and God reuniting as one. That this may become a practice to steadily trust and see that God is the love that is between any and all of us. To follow this - into care, friendship, or solidarity - is not anything apart from God and faithfulness, but the exact image of it.

God is love.

Love is God.

God is the love that is everywhere in the world and in the church and in your life. And on and on and on until we sense that it is all one and the same.

Let us continue to follow and trust in it. Delight in it. And recognize it as sacred as it is. And offering our part to be faithful, may all of Christ’s Church soon be known again for what it was and shall be again.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript to the sermon, “Theory and Practice”

The Church will honor All Saints Day this coming Sunday morning in worship. This is a time to recognize the Saints from our communities and lives, to remember and give thanks, and to continue to be present to the grief that we carry. Friends are welcome to bring a photo of their beloved(s) to be placed upon the communion table this Sunday. Names can also be submitted to the office to be inserted into the bulletin and litany of the Saints.

Our Sunday Morning Worship service on November 8 will be Camp-themed. We’ll have some camp songs, hear some camp stories from some of our young church members, and we will give thanks to Camp Christian and the many blessings it provides to our Region and Church.