On a Mission

"Love God. Serve Others. Welcome All."

After a period of discernment, that is the mission statement that we as a community have chosen. It has many virtues to it: it is short, easily memorized, and has punch. But more than that, those six words sum up so well what Christian faith is about.

For we start by loving God. "Love" does not mean emotion alone, though enthusiasm of feeling can be important. Rather, it means living in right relationship. And so first and foremost, we live in right relationship with God. "Love" in a Biblical sense can also mean to place foremost--so when we love God we do so by placing God first. And how do we demonstrate this love? By joyful praise. By thoughtful study. Through prayer and reflection and renewing our commitment to God and our faith.

But we also, show this love by serving others. Through actions of mercy and charity, lending a helping hand, offering a compassionate ear. Through working for justice to uproot the sinful structures of oppression and injustice. Giving a voice to those who have none. We demonstrate that we are disciples of Jesus by making ourselves into servants of everyone.

And we welcome all. Without regard to race, age, sexuality, ability, ideology, background or belief, we welcome everyone. As Christ welcomed those whom society marginalized, we welcome those whom others would reject. We engage in radical hospitality to all. By so doing we testify to the expansive, gracious love of God.

And so, it turns out that those six little words--Love God. Serve Others. Welcome All.--pack quite a theological wallop. We invite you to be a part of our community as we love God, serve others, and welcome all.

Our Mission

As a community, we have a wonderful mission statement. Its only drawback is that it's a little long and not likely to be known to everyone in the community and our mission should be something known to all. One substitute might be the tagline on our new shirts: "Think. Love. Serve." What are your ideas?

Repentance

What does repentance mean to you? How do you understand repentance in light of Christian faith. In his sermon on Sunday, Mark talked about repentance as a response to grace.

How do you understand repentance in your daily life?

---

Salvation

"Salvation" is a core concept in Christianity. Jesus' own name "Yeshua" is a diminutive of "Yehoshua" meaning, "Yahweh is Salvation."

And yet, how well do we really understand the concept? From what are we being saved? Is salvation a deliverance only after death? Or is it a present reality, too?

We invite you to read Sara's sermon on Salvation and to share your thoughts on this topic.

---

Forgiveness

Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother or sister who sins against him. As many as seven times? Jesus responds "Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times." (Some translators say it should be read "70 x 7" times.)

Jesus commands forgiveness of us. In the sermon tonight, we talked about the issues of forgiveness.  Does it make us weak?  Are we pushovers?  What about questions of justice and right and wrong?

What are some of the issues you have with forgiveness? How has forgiveness affected your life? What makes you reluctant to forgive?  How might you find it empowering?

---

Christian Faith and Domestic Violence

In March, as our The Other Six Days social justice topic, we as a community are exploring the issue of domestic violence. Tonight during the sermon, Mark talked about domestic violence as spiritual violence--a violence that harms our essential spiritual needs for acceptance and safety. What are some of the ways that we as a community can respond to domestic violence and violence against women on our campus and in the broader world?

---

Welcome

Welcome, everyone, to the AU United Methodist-Protestant Community's blog.  We hope this can be a place of discussion, sharing, and reflection on the issues of faith that we explore as a community.  

---