Our congregation doesn’t have just one theology. We are a covenantal community rather than a creedal one. This means that we covenant to seek God together, following in the way of Jesus by the Spirit. Our covenant leaves so much room for difference and diversity of thought and experience. We have as many theologies as we have people in the community! This diversity helps us to see our blind spots, consider new ideas, and challenge our own ways of thinking. Nonetheless, it might be good to know what one might expect to hear from the pulpit each Sunday. Here is, in a nutshell, our pastor’s theology:
Introduction
Hi all! I’m delighted to share with you some of the main features of my theology. Of course, a lot more could be said, but I hope this gives you a sense of what I understand to be the good news of the Christian way of life, and how I think about God.
The Divine Creator
When I talk about “God,” I don’t have in mind an individual somewhere “out there” pulling the strings. Instead, I use the words “God,” or “the Divine,” to refer to whatever is responsible for everything that exists in our universe, how it is all put together, and how it keeps going. When I’m focusing on the Divine as the Source of our life or the Ground of our being, I say that God is the “Creator.”
I accept scientific theories about the beginnings of our universe and our world, and do not see those theories as standing in conflict with a trust that there is a Source of life that is distinct from the particles and heat involved in the Big Bang itself. God is the One who is responsible for the universe and our world, regardless of exactly how the universe and world came into existence.
As Creator, the Divine is an unconditional giver of gifts. This is what I mean when I say that God is “gracious.” Everything we have here in this world and universe was freely given before we could do anything to deserve them. The divine Creator simply gives life and does so in a particular arrangement that we call the laws of nature.
Jesus of Nazareth and his Living Spirit in Christian Community
Human beings are a special kind of animal within God’s creation. We have instincts that help us to provide for our own and our families’ survival and enjoyment of life, like other animals. In addition, we have developed an inconsistent and weak love for others to whom we are not directly related. We dimly know that we are one human family and that we are in this thing together, but we don’t always care for the well-being of others.
Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish person who lived over 2000 years ago. I believe he embodied divine Love and Wisdom. In accordance with his Jewish upbringing, he taught that God lifts up the lowly and poor, the overlooked and outcast, the humble, the kind, the merciful, the peacemakers. Jesus believed that he had a special relationship to God (i.e. that he was the Christ), and that through him people could accept divine grace despite how they fall short in the ways of love and wisdom and be renewed to live a more loving life. Jesus maintained this self-understanding all the way to death.
Over the years, I have encountered the living Spirit of Jesus in local Christian communities. I have heard the teachings of Jesus spoken and interpreted, and I have seen those teachings lived out. Though Jesus has long been absent from this world as an individual human being like one of us, his Spirit nonetheless lives on in Christian communities that keep telling his story, that keep reminding us of his teachings, and that call us to act in loving ways in each new situation. Because I’ve been so influenced by his Spirit over the years, I have come to think of Jesus as my spiritual big brother – he came before me and shows me what it means to be part of the loving family of God.
It is because of the Spirit of Jesus in Christian community that I am consistently reminded and helped to love others, including other human beings, other animals, and all that has life on this planet. Because of the Spirit of Jesus, I have come to trust that the Creator is not simply the giver of life, but the Divine is Love and Wisdom.
The Trinitarian God
In fact, I believe these are the three essential names for the Divine One: Love, Wisdom, and Source of life. These three names describe who God really is at God’s heart. I also believe God is just and holy, everywhere present, all-knowing, and all-powerful. But I don’t think that these divine attributes could be taken by themselves to describe the very heart of God. God is powerful, but divine power is not simple might; divine power is the power of love. God is just, but divine justice is not the opposite of loving care; divine justice is wisdom that carries out love. And so on.
Another part of my trinitarian understanding of God is that God is related to the world in three ways and times. God is related to the whole world as its Creator. God is related to humanity as its Redeemer. And God is related to Christians as our common Spirit. (By the way, I also believe that God is related to and active within people who are not Christians! But here I’m just describing my own understanding of the good news, without making any judgement about other traditions.)
Community and Action
In response to divine gifts of life, wisdom, and love, graciously given, I feel thankful and joyful, reverent and humbled. I am part of a Christian community that meets together regularly for worship, prayer, and reflection because I want to express my gratitude to the Source of all life and being. I want to be reminded about what love really means and be encouraged to live a life of love and wisdom. And I want to practice loving well with others who are similarly inspired by the life and activity of Jesus of Nazareth. In other words, I want to be part of a group that embodies the Spirit of Christ in our little corner of the world.
I also want to be part of a community that looks outward, taking care of those who need the most care – those who have been marginalized by society, those who have been overlooked and cast out, those who are seeking wholeness, those who are not satisfied with a weak and inconsistent love of humanity. When we care for the well-being of others, we seek justice, just like the Jewish prophets from whom Jesus learned. As I see it, doing justice is an integral part of what it means to be a Christian community, because justice is love in action. By working toward justice for the most vulnerable within our human family, we are participating in the divine project of bringing wholeness and renewal to humanity and all creation.
Again, so much more could be said about how I think about the Christian way of life. Hopefully, this nutshell version of my theology will give you a sense of what kinds of things you might hear from the pulpit at Little River UCC.
--Rev. Dr. Shelli Poe