For those who know me also know that I am constantly self-evaluating. I do this because I believe in what Paul had to say in Romans 12:2. If we are not transforming then it means that the renewal of our minds is not taking place. Which really means that we are not letting God work in us and make us what God intends for us to be. So, I like to do a self-check in with the intention of finding out how I am doing with transformation. Today, I want to do the same for us as a community.
What is the reason for The Table? We exist because we are witnesses to a few things which we believe God wants to see transformed. God’s love is for everyone. So, if someone is being excluded or made to feel less than then, it is a situation where transformation is needed. When gathered around The Table, if there is a war of ideas taking place, then, we have not learned how to live with Christ’s peace as we embrace difference – there is room for transformation in such a situation. If we constantly find ourselves putting our own interests ahead of others, then our lives need transformation. The truth is what we find in the first letter of John, that is, we all must accept that we are not perfect and that we sin – that is the truth. The good news is that God has the power to transform our lives and pull us out of our sinfulness, out of our exclusive tendencies, out of our selfishness, out of our desire to rule, control, dominate, etc.
So, how are we doing with our efforts to acknowledge the truth of our sinfulness and open our lives to God’s transformation? It has been three months or so and we have celebrated one major feast together. We have done a lot of work on organization. The basic thought in our organizing ourselves is to avoid creating a system that gives a set of people more power over others. So, our thought is to organize ourselves based on our gifts, that is, recognizing what Paul says, especially to the Corinthians, that we all have something to offer and that we should have the freedom to offer it without permission seeking and permission granting bodies that can create a sense of differentiated power. So far, I believe we are doing a superb job of organizing ourselves around gifts and not creating power differentials. Our guidelines for making decisions is a step in that direction. Our recognizing people serving certain areas of our communal life such as record keeping, finances, planning and execution of Saturday dinners, two different music bands, volunteers for Sunday Worship, ensuring the Altar and all that is needed for a Worship service is in place with elegance, prayers, keeping our minds to think spiritually through Scripture and through contemporary literature, and so much more is also a step in that direction.
More specifically, I love that all the baptisms we did this Easter were of children with Hispanic roots. We do not just say things in fancy language or make signs and headlines, we live our commitment to embracing differences. We value authenticity. In our Bible Study sessions and our prayer sessions both on Wednesdays and on Weekday mornings, we can air out our true feelings and thoughts about any subject with grace and care for others in the room. We do this with a willingness to listen as much as we wish to be heard.
And the part that makes me feel really good is that when we gather as the followers of Jesus Christ on Sundays we all have something to say about our connection with God and how we are engaging with God’s Word. This Sunday the conversation was so rich that for a moment I felt there was no need for me to share my prepared reflections for the day. You see everyone has a different take on God’s Word, and we learn its fullness when we hear it all. You never know what someone may be learning from it, here is a good example.
And the part that gives me the reason to rejoice is our Saturday nights when we, walking in the footsteps of Jesus go out into the world and serve the crowds. We feed them physically and spiritually. We, through our actions – not just words, make it very clear that we love all of God’s children. Saturday nights we do not talk about who we are, we talk about what we are here to do: to love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
So, how are we doing? We are doing really well! And we can do better! So, lets continue to hold strong the life and work of Jesus our Christ, and let’s continue to work on transformation of lives through the power of the Holy Spirit.
What is your evaluation, please share in the comments section.