First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
What "Gospel" Means to Us...
The Gospels begin with a straightforward invitation: "Repent and believe the Good news!" Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark.
Theologian Thomas Barron tells us that the word we translate as "repent" is the Greek word, "metanoia". "Meta" which means "beyond" and "noia" which means "mind" or "spirit". The word we've translated as "repent" through the years could more accurately be understood as meaning something like "go beyond the mind that you have".
Go beyond the mind that you have. When Jesus invites people to repent, he's urging them to change their way of knowing, their way of perceiving and grasping reality, their perspective, their mode of seeing and acting. What Jesus implies is this: a new state of affairs has arrived but the way you customarily see or analyze or think is going to blind you to this new thing that is happening.
"Metanoia", Jesus says. When Jesus calls people to believe in God, he is talking not so much about a way of knowing as a way of being known. To have faith is to allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the power of God, to permit that love to live in you.
We find truth by allowing love to become incarnate in us. In Paul Tillich's language, "faith" is being grasped by Ultimate Concern. Faith is permitting ourselves to be turned, shaped, taken, if you will, by the inbreaking God. In other words, Jesus invites us not so much to adhere to a new set of propositions, but rather, to let go of our fears. He calls us to find the center of our lives where he finds his own center, in the unconditional love of God which sees all things, which reveals all truth, which has power even to raise the dead.
We are a community of about 300 people who have realized a special
leading in our lives, to follow after the way of Jesus. We believe in
life beyond--in resurrection.
At the same time, we believe in life here on earth. We believe that God wants justice and life for all creation, and that we are empowered by God's Spirit, to help inaugurate a new
creation where "God will wipe away every tear from the eye, and death
shall be no more, neither shall there be any mourning nor crying nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away." (Revelations 11)
We believe that Jesus called us to reach out in a special way "to the least
of these", to walk in a path that brings justice and compassion.
Experiencing the power of God's love changes us. It changes the way we
see ourselves, each other, and the world. We stop defending ourselves
and trust that God will sustain us in life. We stop living from fear.
This is a challenge because we live in a fear-driven society:
Our fear of scarcity creates materialism and greed.
Our fear of vulnerability drives militarism.
Our fear of dependence and mutuality creates loneliness and isolation.
Our fear of those who are different than us feeds racism, sexism,
homophobia and a violent nationalism.
Joining the church is a gesture against fear--a gesture towards
justice-creating love and trust.