Join Us This Sunday, April 3, 2022
West Hollywood UCC
Fifh Sunday in Lent
In person and on Facebook
You can access the service live streamed from the sanctuary at: https://www.facebook.com/WestHollywoodUCC.
Excerpts from the Rev. Cameron Trimble March 17, 2022 Commentary
Over recent weeks we watched the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. We watched the death toll from Covid continue to be shockingly high. We watched the stock market drop and listened to warnings of rising gas prices and inflationary concerns. In these disorienting times, it’s hard to hold onto hope. Seeing a future that promotes peace, equity, sustainability, and compassion seem like more of a stretch than it should be. As we wonder and wander together, I have hope. I have hope that our best days may yet be ahead. Here are four reasons why:
- We’ve learned a lot about what it means to be the Church.
We’ve been through a great deal since the spring of 2020, learning along the way about who we are, how we are, and what we need to thrive. Perhaps we have learned something of the essential value of community, how we need one another, and thrive when we feel connected. We’ve also learned that we can be the Church even without much of what we have used to define us. We don’t have to have buildings to gather, though they are nice when we need them. We don’t have to sing hymns, though it’s nice when we can. We had a clearer sense that BEING the Church is more about who we are rather than what we do.
- Creativity is on the rise.
Dara Khosrowshahi once famously said, “Desperation sometimes drives innovation.” For many of our congregations, this has been true. Covid focused us, honing our essential commitments – to do justice, love mercifully and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). We had to get creative about how to BE the Church in the midst of a global pandemic, fractious politics and radicalizing neighbors. We are dreamers of a better world and a more just and generous future. If not us, then who?
- We are curious about our future.
As a byproduct of our disorientation and rise of creativity, we are curious about our future rather than paralyzed by fear and inaction. Being curious means that we are open to learning, eager to connect with each other, generous in sharing our stories and observations, and ready to organize for local action. Rabbi Michael Lerner reminds us that, “energy always flows either towards hope, community, love, generosity, mutual recognition, and spiritual aliveness or it flows towards despair, cynicism, fear that there is not enough, paranoia about the intentions of others, and a desire to control.” What more exciting time could you possibly be than to be[in]the Church?
- We can’t go back.
Institutional religion was already on the decline before Covid became a reality. We will never again see the “Age of Mainline Congregationalism” that once shaped our culture. Perhaps that’s a good thing. That path for seeking God was only good for some of us. As Robert P. Jones points out in his book, White Too Long, “Underneath the glossy, self-congratulatory histories that white Christian churches have written about themselves—which typically depict white Christians as exemplars of democratic principles and pillars of the community—is a thinly veiled, deeply troubling past. White Christian churches have not just been complacent or complicit in failing to address racism; rather, as the dominant cultural power in the U.S., they have been responsible for constructing and sustaining a project to protect white supremacy. This project has framed the entire American story.” We’ve needed to reimagine the Church for a very long time. Now is our chance. We have every reason to hope.
