All the People

I am a member of a Christian denomination called the United Church of Christ. We have a promotional advertisement that is being aired currently in St. Louis that is a 30 second spot that starts with a girl doing a finger play to the words, "Here is the church (fingers intertwined with the knuckles up), here is the steeple (index fingers pointing up), open the doors (thumbs move apart), and see all the people (hands invert to point the fingers upward)."

I remember learning this as a child and the spot has poignancy in part because of that memory and in part because it focuses on the phrase "all the people." As the visual images make plain, the thrust of the message is one of radical inclusivity...of extravagant welcome. "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."

As important and obvious as this message is, there is another message imbedded in it that is less obvious but even more important. What makes the church the Church, and what gives the Church vitality, is not the people, but the relationships between the people.

We can have beautiful buildings, we can have many members, we can have creative and effective programs, but unless we have vibrant relationships, we are not being a vital church.

My purpose in this blog series is to explore what it might mean to be a worshipping community that takes seriously the relationships we have. I hope to grow in my own capacity to describe the potential for intentional relationships and to discover others who wish to join me in this community.