Category: Focus Columns

Recently at a formal event I found myself seated at a table for eight with seven folks I’d never met before.  Aside from two couples at the table, most of us did not know our dinner neighbors.  So for ten minutes we leaned across the table and shouted our names loud enough to be heard over the music and we played the culturally-accepted practice of Do-you-know-so-and-so?   One couple shared that they just had a baby and were still unpacking from a recent move to Athens.  They asked me (remember that we were close to shouting to be heard), “Is there a church in Athens that you recommend?”  I used the back of a business card to jot down the names of some Disciples churches and pastors in the area, and then asked (bellowed), “Where did you move from?”  “We moved from Decatur!”  “Oh, my church is in Decatur!”  “We lived on Northern Avenue!”  “Oh,” I said, “that is across the street from First Christian Church!”  They responded (hollered), “You know, we were looking for a church when we lived there, but we never thought to visit you.  Now we wish that we had!”

My friends, here are a couple thoughts I’ve gleaned from that conversation (shouting match).  I’d love to hear your insights.  No need to yell; just write or call or drop by for a (quiet) chat.

1. We have neighbors across the street and across the city who hunger for community.  Families want a faith-based community in which to raise their children and to be fed and sustained.  We as the Body of Christ are hereby challenged to do better to reach outside of ourselves in order to create and foster relationships.  Remember that faith is relational.   How hard can it be to walk ten steps and invite a neighbor in?  The worst that can happen is your neighbor says no.  However, imagine the best, and you may discover a new hope.

2. Neighbors, you have access to a vibrant, affirming, and hospitable faith community.   Within easy reach of your doorsteps, fingertips, and wheels is a loving, service-oriented congregation whose folks would like nothing better than to simply get to know your name and needs, and see where the Spirit of all that is Good and Just leads us.  You would be — and already are — welcome just as you are.  Please know that we are life-giving, permission-giving, and forgiving.  Some folks find visiting a new church a scary experience.  I can relate.  What is the worst that can happen?  You waste an hour and learn a lesson.  However, imagine the best, and you may discover a new home.

Think about inviting your neighbor; consider visiting this neighborly church.  I wish you would.

As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor.   Shalom, James L. Brewer-Calvert

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  I have a dream today!” — The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

You and I were not there the evening that Mr. Trayvon Martin and Mr. George Zimmerman encountered one another on a residential street in Florida. We do not know everything that was said, or done, or what transpired.  Our information is limited to news reports and the “he said, she said” of the media and social network rumor mills.  But there are some things that we do know.

We do know that wearing a hoodie is not a crime that is punishable by death.  We do know that walking down a street after returning from a store with a package of Skittles is not just cause for being shot and killed.  We do know that when harsh or fearful words are exchanged, when a scuffle breaks out, when a punch is thrown, when a shove is delivered that such actions are not offenses which justify murder.

We do know that we should “not be judged by the color of [our] skin but by the content of [our] character.”  We do know that too often we allow prejudice and misunderstanding to impair our judgment and unity; too easily do we give license for our fears to erupt in violence.

We do know that there are alternatives to violence.  We grieve as one nation because two families are in turmoil and pain, and needlessly so. Two lives need not have been so drastically changed and damaged that evening in Florida.  Alternative means for resolving conflict, disagreement, and fearful situations were – and are — available.

As a matter of fact, one could make the point and choose to live life with the belief that there is always an alternative to violence.   John Lennon said, “What is so funny about peace, love, and understanding?”  Later Lennon sang, “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”  Let’s put an end to senseless violence by beginning with the only people we can control: ourselves.  Do everything in your power to give peace a fighting chance and to actively pursue and learn alternatives to violence; only then will we ever learn whether true peace is possible.

These are violent times; they need not be so.  Our Holy Week experience of the saving, reconciling love of Christ is intermingled with mind-boggling senseless violence and mind-blowing sensible love.  On Maundy Thursday, our community of faith will gather together as Jesus did with his followers in the Upper Room.  We’ll break bread together; we’ll sing psalms and pray together; and then we will sit together while contemplating the choice Jesus made for our sake:  to allow himself to be cruelly crucified so that we might be redeemed and experience the hope of salvation. On Good Friday we’ll remember that he was, indeed, crucified an innocent martyr at the hands of people who used violence in their effort to control and oppress.  We’ll sit at the base of the Cross and weep in sadness for our loss; we’ll weep in joy for our blessings; and we’ll weep for our own actions that may contribute to a culture of prejudice and a climate of fear.  On Easter morning Christ will rise and so will we, grateful and joyful for the fresh start and the new life we have through the love of God.  God in Christ overcame death with life, despair with hope, and evil with love. Thanks be to God, we shall overcome.

We know that we are called by all that is Holy and True and Just to take our place alongside the victims and perpetrators of violence and proclaim, “Enough!”  We live in the shadow of the Cross; in its cool darkness we take a stand together for “doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.” (Micah 6:8 adapted)  If we do not stand together, then we will surely fall apart.  This we do know.  Praise God that there is an alternative way to being.

As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, I am delighted to be your pastor.  Shalom, James Brewer-Calvert