“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you.” 3 John 5. (New Revised Standard Version – NRSV)
“I BELIEVE THE WORLD AIN’T HALF AS BAD AS IT LOOKS. I BELIEVE MOST PEOPLE ARE GOOD.” Luke Bryan – lyrics to “Most People are Good”
My First Thirty Days as Conference Minister for South Dakota Nebraska Iowa UCC Conferences.
Iowa Nebraska South Dakota covers lots and lots of miles. Which means lots and lots of driving over those miles. I get so many opportunities to do lots of reflection, listening, and singing. Often, I belt out those contemporary Christian songs that I dare never do in church, because no one wants to hear an out of tune singer. I also listen to other musical genres like disco, oldies of the 60’s and 70’s, Spanish tunes of my youth, and of course country. It is funny how much country lyrics resonates with this Mexican American barrio boy of the city. Who knew that there are country ballads that seem to mirror my life in comforting and familiar ways.
When I accepted this call as Conference Minister, I made a commitment to get out there to meet as many people as possible and congregations that make up the South Dakota Nebraska Iowa Conferences of the United Church of Christ. Motivated by both my love of the church and curiosity of who makes up the UCC in our three conferences, I gladly take the drives to be present, listen, learn, eat and worship with the pastoral leaders and laity to share what we mean in being church together.
In my first thirty days, I have found that regardless of what we hear in the media, I believe, as Luke Bryan sings, “the world ain’t half as bad as it looks”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally cognizant of the anxiety and concerns we are facing in our communities, country, and the world due to changing political and social-economic conditions occurring, for me though the question is how we respond to them. Are we committed to working together or against each other?
The United Church of Christ was created almost 70 years ago in the hopes that “the UCC [be] called to be a united and uniting church. “That they may all be one.” (John 17:21) “In essentials–unity, in nonessentials–diversity, in all things–charity,” (UCC.org website). It hasn’t been easy, yet it is so needed more today than ever before.
As I make my travels and visits, our UCC churches and pastoral leaders find themselves navigating through uncertainties in their communities depending on their historical roots of identity and missional understandings. Some within our churches are seeking immediate responses to the current national climate and others are more inclined to dig in and seem to say, “hold up” and push back. What can we do as Conferences, Associations, congregations and pastoral leaders in all the settings of the United Church of Christ to bring people together for thoughtful and prayerful conversations and actions that demonstrates the teachings of Jesus Christ in our world? How can we honor Jesus’ prayer that we may all be one, especially in his commandment to love one another as he loved us?
These are questions I ask myself, and those I meet on my travels. What can we do together to manifest the love of Christ and to transform lives?
In the coming months, I have asked conference staff to set up forums to have these important conversations. During lent we will be setting up three online zoom gatherings for churches looking for pastoral leadership, so that we can have an opportunity to listen and learn what the local state of search and call is, and what we can do collectively to better assist in the search and call process.
We will be offering opportunities to gather the Members in Discernment of the conferences to hear their stories and experiences firsthand to attain authorization of calls in their various settings and find ways to better support them in their ministries, as well as working with Committees on Ministries.
We will be inviting pastors and pastoral leaders to gather, so we can find ways to better support and equip our congregations and each other for missional work we feel compelled to do together. And I pray for so much, much more opportunities to gather for holy and sacred conversations of what it means to be the Body of Christ.
And finally, if there is anything we can do as Conferences staff, we are committed to respond promptly to your questions, concerns, and feedback. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or to any one of our conferences staff members. We are here to serve you, dear sisters, brothers, siblings in Christ.
In the meantime, I will be driving to a church near you…belting out those tunes!
Like the passage in 3 John 5, even though I come into our churches in Nebraska Iowa South Dakota Conferences as a “stranger”, I have been received and treated like a brother in Christ by everyone in our three conferences. For that I am grateful, and that is my current testimony to you all…the UCC is made up of good people and we can get through this, together.
Bendiciones/Blessings and Paz/Peace.
Rev. Roberto