Author Archives: Brian Donovan

Pastor’s Letter Dec. 1, 2021

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“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

  • Mark 12:30-31(NRSV)

Good afternoon Beloved,

I pray that you are all well and experiencing ALL the Love God has to offer in this blessed season of Advent. Love though, as we all know, has so many different ways that it can be experienced. It is the feeling that we have for our significant others. The feeling that we have for our children and for our friends. It can even be the feeling that we have for things like ice cream or a Baconator. Yet in all these ways, we are only describing the feeling of love in our heart, or maybe that which lies in the mind and soul. But none of these various ways truly describe the depth of love we are called to exhibit in “all (of our) strength.” To Love God “with all your strength” includes our bodies. We can understand this idea as the love we reveal through our actions and service to God’s Mission. It is like when our friends gather to help the SonShine Soup kitchen or the Beloved who are learning about Open and Affirming. Basically, it is the idea of showing God’s Love in everything we do, think, and feel. 

This Beloved is actually easier said than done. Yet, sometimes an opportunity comes along to show our love for all humankind with all of our strength. An opportunity which we did not know existed. An opportunity to be the very light of love for another human being in the midst of darkness. Our own beloved Amy Chartrain has brought this opportunity to us this week which I feel exemplifies what it means to be a Christian who loves God with all our strength.

For come to find out, there is a foster home in Lawrence for young girls (ages 13-18). These girls come from troubled homes. Many of their parents are either incarcerated or are formerly incarcerated. Rather than risk going back and forth into many foster homes, the children have chosen to live here. This location alone is a gift of care and love to the least among us as the directors are working at making this place even better. Some improvements include a home gym space so the girls can incorporate activity into their daily routine. However, their upbringing and situations have also made them vulnerable to the worst kind of predators. Those who prey on the children.

As such, these young women have been lured to parties and the subsequent sex trafficking of their bodies through the offer of a new pair of sneakers. Yes, sneakers – predators in our neighboring Lawrence are using sneakers to force children into a life of human trafficking. These horrible crimes must stop and I pray the police find everyone who is guilty. Yet, beloved this darkness also reveals the very way we – you and I – can reveal the love of God with our strength. We can help in this Advent season by taking away the lure. By making one child’s life a little safer from these predators with one 20-dollar gift card to Foot Locker.

Therefore, I hope you will join me in procuring some gift cards and bringing them to worship on December 12th where these gifts of our love will be offered and received. If you have any questions, please ask either me or Amy.

This said, revealing our love can be that easy at times . It can be that easy to give a card but it requires beloved disciples like Amy to reveal the need, to love God and people with all her strength, to bring the darkness into the light of Christ. It requires a discerning mind and the strength to step forward and lead the way. The strength to say, “NO,” when injustices are happening. So, we may end the darkness together. This is part of the love we are all called to do and one way we fulfill the Mission of God.

I feel blessed to witness a beloved disciple loving with all of her strength, thank you Amy. For, you are an example of loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves. I pray we all witness this example and seek with all of our strength to love God by loving one another throughout the season of Advent.

May your week be full of all the Love God has to offer

your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything or simply want to talk. Next week, My pastoral care hours are Mon. 8-12, Tues. 12-5, Wed. 8-4 to provide some time for visiting. However, if I am at the church please come in . Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Nov. 24, 2021

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An image of nine hands all coming together to make a heart shape in front of a white background.
Heart hands as a group of diverse people hands connected together shaped as a love symbol expressing the feeling of being happy and togetherness.

Good morning,

May today, this day, be your best day ever. May it be full of peace, joy, love, and especially hope. For, you are each a blessing and gift to everyone one of us. 

Beloved, too often, our world focuses on the negative. We see disparities in the world; injustices on the streets; and health concerns which leave us afraid or worried. These concerns are normal and ones we do have to address. However, if we let them fill our hearts too much or deal with them alone, we will forget that there are also blessings. Blessings like each and everyone of you. So today, I would like to say thank you for all the beauty and joy you bring to not only me, but to everyone in this fellowship. Thank you for your ministry and friendship. Thank you, believe it or not, for even your frustrations and worries. For all of these aspects of you are a gift, because that is how God made you. Perhaps to learn or perhaps to teach, but for whatever the reason for each of your individual  parts, I feel each of your whole and complete personages are a beautiful gift to me and all of us throughout this fellowship. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, if we could approach all people – all situations with the same love we feel for one another. 

Sadly, that is not usually the case. The worries and concerns build up and eventually we become overwhelmed, enter survival mode, take flight or start to fight. This reality is the sad truth of our world today. And we see it with people shifting careers, homes, even friendships all for something better. The frustrations of a world gone weird are simply taking their toll on so many of us. Driving people away from one another – instead of bringing them together. But, wouldn’t it be nice?

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just stop… breathe….and choose love – first? Thank God and thank one another – first. You know, live as Jesus teaches us to live: with all the Love God has to offer. Wouldn’t it be nice? Yes, beloved, I believe It is nice and the blessing I hope you are able to give to one another this Advent season and Thanksgiving. Simply and deeply – love – for all the other concerns we can deal with together. But to be ready for Christ, we have to love God, love one another, and love ourselves – first; so, we can be one fellowship of God dealing with the concerns of this world – together. I pray these words guide you and offer some peace in these trying times. I hope you remember that you – each and everyone of you – are loved and beloved by God. 

Happy Thanksgiving Beloved and Thank you for being you

Blessings, peace, and especially love,

your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything or simply want to talk. Next week, My pastoral care hours are Mon. 8-12, Tues. 12-5, Wed. 8-4 to provide some time for visiting. However, if I am at the church please come in . Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Nov. 17, 2021

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Text "Thankful Grateful Blessed" in wood relief on a table with acorns and pinecones.

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.”

-Meister Eckhart 

Good morning, Beloved,

I pray everyone is well and safe in God’s loving care, a gift which I hope you never overlook and are continually thankful to receive. These thoughts came to me this week as we discussed the beautiful writings of the Apostle in Paul’s Letter to the Romans in our Bible study. Words which speak of the logical result following the day Jesus was crucified and risen into the kingdom of God. Words that free us from the “Law” of our fore parents and invite us into a deep relationship based on love, discernment, and covenant. A relationship which we are all thankful for as it invites us into beloved kinship with Christ. I was pondering these thoughts and realized how grateful I am to be free of those laws and the works of our past. Grateful that our Creator and Christ trusts each of us to be faithful. Grateful to be one amongst many of God’s Beloved.

In these moments before Thanksgiving, I wondered if there is a connection between our faith and our holiday of Thanksgiving? And then it came, of course there is Beloved for the pilgrims alone are our religious fore parents; celebrations of Thanksgiving go back into the annals of the Old Testament; and, President Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. This truth became obvious when he declared Thanksgiving to be a national holiday by saying, 

“As a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

Interestingly though, and a point we so often overlook in our modern day observance of the holiday, it is also a call to “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” A call for us to repent those past offences while being thankful for the blessings which God has granted each of us, every day. What a beautiful reminder that our faith is both a joy which we are so thankful to receive and it is also one which comes with a cost. A cost to repent, do better, and continually be in fellowship as one community, regardless of our cultural beginnings. I offer this truth, beloved, as we prepare for our Thanksgiving celebrations for it becomes another way for each of us to show our gratitude to God when we seek justice, peace, and reconciliation with God’s beloved, no matter who they are or where they are on the journey of life.

May we each continue to pray with thanksgiving – reconciliation – and love; for, that is enough.

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything or simply want to talk. Next week, My pastoral care hours are Mon. 8-12, Tues. 12-5, Wed. 8-4 to provide some time for visiting. However, if I am at the church please come in . Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Nov. 11, 2021

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Picture of a red rose, wet with rain drops coming out of the darkness.

Hello Beloved,

And you are Beloved by one another, by me, and by God. In this Truth, I pray that each of you are doing well on this beautiful rainy morning. Those words though almost sound like an oxymoron. A reality which seems contradictory in nature. For, how can the rain be beautiful? It is overcast, gloomy, and some may even say depressing. As it is with so many conflicts in our life. There is nothing good about war or change, many of us would believe. Yet, the world which is created (or rather recreated) after the conflicts can be beautiful. That is the world we look towards when the rain falls and conflicts happen. Not the present strife; but the glory to come when the world is recreated by God. When hearts soften and forgiveness fills the souls of all that live. So, when I say what a beautiful rainy day, it is my hope for the future to come when new flowers will bloom and the green grass will be replenished by the gift of fallen rain. Mind you, it does not hurt that the rain we get today means we may have one less day of snow.

With this thought in mind, I am reminded of the conflicts which have erupted throughout our fellowship in the past and sadly in the last few months. Moments when the rain fell and stirred emotions of fear and anxiety. I am reminded of them and say thank you, God, for the beautiful rain. Thank you for showing us how to grow into a covenant of love which invites us to continually forgive and let go of these conflicts once voted upon. Let go and love one another, love ourselves, and especially to love God. I was and am reminded of this truth when all the hard work and stress of many months erupted into one of the most beautiful craft fairs I could have hoped to witness. Smiles and joy were everywhere as people flocked to visit from throughout the community. Conversations and laughter seemed to fill the rooms. And, to my joy, treats and treasures were shared while Christmas music played in the background. To anyone who missed this blessing of fellowship, I am sorry and I hope you can join us next year. I am sorry as this gift which was originally created by Philathia is and has been a revelation of the beloved community we are called to become. Thank you all for sharing in this ministry of community fellowship, outreach, and love.

Finally, I would like to publicly say that I am sorry once more to anyone who has felt abashed, hurt, or abandoned in the last few weeks, months, or years by anything that has transpired in this faithful community. I know these rains of conflict still cling to some hearts as do the rains which have befallen my own life. But, I do believe they are all beautiful rains which may rear their pain at times; and yet, I feel they are also inviting us to come together in the loving fellowship of God’s Beloved community. Inviting us to be recreated like we were through our Covenant or how we were revealed in our beautiful craft fair this last weekend. Inviting us to forgive.  I will live into this beauty; for, you are each my brother – my sister – my friend who I call Beloved. To this truth, I testify and commit my whole heart.

May you each witness the beauty after the rain, everyday

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything or simply want to talk. Next week, My pastoral care hours are Mon. 8-12, Tues. 12-5, Wed. 8-4, Thurs. 10-2 to provide some time for visiting. However, if I am at the church please come in . Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Nov. 3, 2021

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“But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.”

  • Hebrews 10:39 (NIV)

Hello Beloved,

I pray everyone is well and I look forward to seeing each of you now that I am back in the community. While I was away though, I was reminded that this Sunday is the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. The debatably “outdated practice” of turning back the clocks 1 hour; so, we can have more daytime sunlight during the winter months. The practice alone does not bother me. Yet, I do find the old mnemonic device used to remember which way to turn the clocks very interesting: “Fall back – Spring ahead.”

“Fall Back” reminds me of a time to settle in – become comfortable – maybe even hibernate as we so often do over the winter in New England. Whereas, “Spring Ahead” makes me think of the vibrant life flourishing in nature during the Spring. Time when people are learning, growing and getting things done. The only problem is, we have sat back and hibernated for so long due to the pandemic, it does not seem right this year to fall back into hibernation. It does not feel like a time to Fall Back or settle in; but rather, it seems like a time to Spring ahead in gatherings and celebrations of God’s Love. To these thoughts, I wondered: is it ever really a good time to fall back into old ways?

My friends, this point is not to discount our traditions which we still cling to and celebrate; no, I am speaking of the ways in which we have done things in the past and moved beyond – changed – or adapted them into a brighter future. Things like sin that the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is referring too. The idea of “shrink(ing) back” into sin will lead one to destruction. It will lead to destruction because we now know better and have moved beyond those sinful behaviors. Are there not other things that we did in the past that people fall back into – old habits – outdated practices? 

Of course there are. And we see people fall back into these destructive patterns often. Patterns like faithlessness – tribalism – fear of scarcity. For example, my Aunt has been a hoarder her entire life because she was born during the depression and she falls back into this destructive pattern whenever there is a recession. “But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” God calls us to learn and grow as a body of Christ; for in our faith we are saved. Therefore, I pray that even as we set the clocks back this Sunday you never fall back into the destructive patterns which you have already learned from and grown beyond. 

May our winter this year be a time of gatherings and celebrations of God’s Love

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything or simply want to talk. Next week, I have altered my pastoral care hours to provide some time for visiting. However, if I am at the church please come in . Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Oct. 20, 2021

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Hello Beloved,

I pray everyone is well and feeling all the love God offers freely to our Beloved church. Church though is an interesting word. Is church a building, the people, both. I seem to lean towards the idea of both. But even more, church is a relationship. The relationship we have with one another through God. The one we create with one another. It is also the ability to forgive and grow with one another. The joy to celebrate through work and fellowship in all we do, together. Basically, I believe that church is the blessing of being in fellowship with one another while we worship God – together. 

We are reminded of this in the Bible: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Here we are reminded that worship happens when at least two or three are gathered; but, beloved, this is the minimum requirement. It is the beginning of what church can be. What happens when three or four, fifty and sixty, etc. gather in relationship – in community – in fellowship to worship God in love – forgiveness, and all we do together?

Might I suggest, we then have a beloved church. What do you think?

This week as we prepare for the installation service, I would like to invite everyone to consider what church means to them. I pray it is the same and that we continue to grow in our faith in God as we deepen our relationships of love with one another.

May your week be a blessing of God’s church, born out of the relationships with one another.

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything. Next week, I will be on vacation visiting more of our beloved family and building those relationships of God’s love. Many blessings and Love to you all.

Pastor’s Letter Oct. 13, 2021

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“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”

  • Romans 12:9 ESV
An image of a heart shaped cloud against a blue sky.
Cloud heart in the sky in the clouds and sunshine

Good afternoon Beloved,

I bring this prayer from the Apostle Paul to us as authenticity seems lost, hidden, replaced behind a veil of hypocrisy or good intentions in our world today. None of which is helpful in loving one another. For the genuine Love of God can only be achieved by witnessing people, authentically, as who they are and remaining in fellowship with them, afterwards. 

To explain, this week is the UCC NH Conference annual meeting. As with many of these meetings, I have seen very few people speak up about their feelings and thoughts. They may have concerns about a decision or a Witness being presented, but that concern lays dormant in their heart. “No reason to tip the boat,” “what will other people think of me,” and “is it worth the energy to fight this decision” are just some of the reasons I have heard or thought about not confronting a decision. Yes, my heart has also questioned how much of my authentic self I wish to share with the conference and with other people. I have gauged whether it was worth the risk or whether it was that important. And, Beloved, I will say that there is no perfect answer. Each of us must discern for ourselves how much we will share. 

Yet, the truth that I can express with you right now is that without authenticity, God’s true love does not exist. Personally, I never experienced love – true love – before becoming vulnerable to another person. Oh yes, I have been in love before but it was not the same. It was not until I revealed my deep authentic self to Angel that I felt the love which poets hint at and the birds sing about. I finally witnessed the glimmer of God’s Love given to all humankind when we debated quite passionately about different issues and found each other’s loving arms holding us afterwards. It is a love built on trust and caring for one another. A love built on each person seeing the authentic self of the other and remaining in fellowship through the conflicts and debates. 

That said, this type of authentic genuine love can be scary at times as there are people who will use our vulnerabilities against us; but, here in this Beloved fellowship where love and forgiveness is what we seek, I believe that we will always be safe to share and discover God’s genuine love in all functions of our faith. Therefore, I pray you will be your authentic self and share your truth in your relationships. Reveal yourself to our Conference. And accept the differing views of others in our everyday lives as we seek the Love of God – together. May we find the Genuine Love we all seek in God, The Church, and in the Other. 

Many beautiful blessings in your journey

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything. Next week, my pastoral care hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8:00– 4:00; Tuesday 10:30 – 6:30. I will be writing from home on Friday. If I am in the office, please feel free to stop in to talk. Many blessings and Love to you all, always.

Pastor’s Letter Oct. 6, 2021

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Baby looking critical at its own image in the mirror.

Hello Beloved,

May God guide and care for you today and all the days of your life. In the joys and the burdens – the anxiety and the peace – the strengths and especially in our weaknesses. God, hold us in our imperfect beauty which you witness in love. Amen. 

This prayer came to me today as I was thinking about my youth. For, I grew up in a world which said, ‘focus on your strengths.’ ‘Focus only on the things you are good at and then you can excel to be the best.’ Now, I have been 6’4” since the age of thirteen. Can you imagine what everyone in my high school considered to be my strength, in the late eighties? Yes, you guessed it – football. But even though that could have been my strength as everyone else on the team was 5’8” or less, it was not the goal of my life. I knew, even then, that winning football games would not help people. It would not help the greater good. 

In fact, it was not until I became aware of my weakness – reading, that I began to see the possibilities open up. The possibilities of how to help the greater good, and God. The possibilities which came through thoughts, philosophers and yes even a good science fiction novel, or two.

But, this awareness, beloved, is sometimes very difficult as we do not always want to admit where we are weak, even to ourselves. Sometimes, we can be so blind to our weaknesses that we simply do not see them or the solution He has prepared for all of us. And sometimes, we also get so lost in our strengths that we forget that the goal of all humans is the greater good of God. For, life is not about winning the football game, making money, or even promoting a particular identity. It is about God and the Love we feel when come together through the Divine – regardless of our weaknesses or strengths in this world. I pray you will always remember this Truth as Christ does see your weakness and still loves you. I imagine She is sitting there in the bleachers of life, cheering you on in hopes that you will witness and love who you are as well; so, we may all come together in the kin-dom to come. 

May your week be a blessing of self-discovery and love

Your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything. Next week, my pastoral care hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8:00– 4:00; Tuesday 10:30 – 6:30. I may be writing from home on Friday but may be at church. If I am in the office, please feel free to stop in to talk. Many blessings and Love to you all, always.

Pastor’s Letter Sep. 29, 2021

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Picture of Lego like wooden blocks used to build homes.

Hello Beloved,

In God’s Loving care and support I pray you are each well. Recently, I was considering this idea of support while watching a fascinating video on new building materials. The walls were being built from these two-foot-wide light weight blocks which almost looked like Legos. The amazing thing is that it only took two people to build a 10’ high wall. One on one side – one on the other. However, this same size wall would have required four people to build and lift into place using standard stick framed construction, back in the day.

Now, this innovation was easily more efficient in the best of circumstances; however, it lacked something very important in those times of difficulty. It lacked teamwork, partnership, and comradery. For each person went about building their part of the wall without any help from the other person. There was no need to rely on the other person because one person could do it alone. Yet, we know that no matter how strong or independent we are individually, people cannot always do things alone. We need partners in life to help us through the burdens and struggles. Partners who we have already come to trust and rely on in the good times, in order to have faith that they will be a partner for us in the difficult times of life. Partners who share in our life – work – and play.

Therefore, I wonder if the innovations of today, like these building blocks, are always helpful. I wonder if they sometimes do more long-term damage to us socially and our ability to create long lasting meaningful relationships. Do they? I am not sure, nor would I wish us to stop looking for the innovative ways to make life more efficient. I definitely prefer the computer over the old typewriters.

Rather, I believe what needs to said is that no matter what ways we innovate, we still need one another to be present and help build our fellowship together. We need to pass each other the bricks and see the structure we build together; so we know how to support one another when or if times become difficult. For, God created the majority of us as a people who need a partner, a team, a fellowship. Let us always consider this truth and never let go of one another in the difficult or the good times, regardless of the innovations which come our way.

May God’s love be with each of you as we live – work – and play together as partners throughout our lives and our faith.

your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything. Next week, my pastoral care hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 8:00– 4:00; Tuesday 10:30 – 6:30. I may be writing from home on Friday but may be at church. If I am in the office, please feel free to stop in to talk. Many blessings and Love to you all, always.

“Loving the ‘Other’”

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A heart made up of many different collared hand prints. The text underneath reads, "Love one another," in charcoal line writing, reminiscent of a youth drawing.

Presented to the First Congregational Church of Salem on September 26, 2021

When we are young, we learn the difference between right and wrong. The simple idea that some actions are good, and some actions are bad. Along with this idea comes the concept that we are a good person if we are doing good actions – thinking right thoughts – believing in the correct way. From this concept comes the logical conclusion that the person who does the bad thing – thinks wrong thoughts – believes in a different way must be a bad person. Yet as we get older, we realize the world is not so simple. That is until recently.

Until recent years, I believed that most people understood that this conclusion was a logical fallacy. That just because someone is different in belief, thought, or action does not make them a bad person. I cannot say that is true, now. For, people are and have been vilifying anyone who acts – thinks – believes differently for quite some time. It is a plague of brokenness which can be witnessed in ancient Jewish and Christian discourses, in religious dogma throughout the centuries, and in our political arguments within this country. Yet today, it is worse. It is seeping into our everyday lives. Worse because this logical fallacy is the root cause of people being silenced and ignoring the views of anyone else. It is a cause which has led people to no longer discuss the best way to teach our children but instead waste time degrading the other side’s character and values; no longer discuss matters on the environment civilly but instead spend time characterizing the other side as snowflakes or Nazis; no longer looking at one another as people but instead spending time attacking them as some villain, bad person, or faceless nameless Other that must be destroyed to protect “the good.” 

However, what if I were to share that there is no bad person – no human villain in most of our issues today? What would happen if we stopped placing this false conclusion in our way to a unified world? Would you then be able to speak your truth – hear their truth – and love the Other once again as one of the Creator’s children? I pray you can, Beloved; for in most cases there is no villain amongst the issues of our world, just a different way to achieve the same goal. Before we continue would you pray with me:

Holy God of Love, invoke within us all of your Love. Teach us the way to Love the Other amongst differences, guide us to be the example of Love for the whole of Your beloved Creation. May the words spoken today and the meditations on all of our hearts be pleasing to You, God.

Now Beloved, I bring this to our attention as it does not matter if we are vilifying all men as oppressors in the abortion issue or vilifying all democrats as anti-American in the immigration issue, we are creating barriers to solve the very real issues of our world. We are distracting ourselves away from the basic issues to denigrate those who we perceive as the Other – the enemy – the villain. In fact, I believe this issue has become so problematic that when a perceived Other makes a statement today, whether it is for or against an issue, the statement is received as another attack. An attack which must then be met with more and more assaults from physical violence to a simple accusatory glare. Fear of these repercussions has effectively ended most conversations which could lead to a solution together as one unified people.  

Yet as I mentioned, this issue is not something new. Jesus in our reading from the Gospel according to Mark is confronting John and the disciples with this very conflict. For, John comes to Jesus seeking praise for vilifying the Other – the outsider – who would dare to cast out demons – the issues of our world – in Jesus’ name even though this Other is not one of the disciples. This Other believes – thinks – acts differently and therefore John I imagine felt very empowered to tell this person they were wrong. Empowered because, as the theologian Pheme Perkins reminds us, the Jewish people were culturally opposed to the unauthorized prophet which can be seen both in the Book of Numbers (11:28) and when the scribes vilify Jesus as being possessed earlier in the Gospel according to Mark (3:22).  Instead of praise though, Jesus offers John the Good News.

The Good News that “Whoever is not against us is for us.” In other words, if someone’s goal is not opposing Christ, then they are in fact working with us no matter how the Other believes – thinks – or acts. Jesus goes further to state that when we place barriers in the way of people doing good like when John tries to stop the outsider, that person is actually the one who is wrong; for, they have placed a “stumbling block” in the person’s way of doing – thinking – believing in the goodness of God which will come to all people who do good. Jesus, at the risk of belaboring the point, shares the proverbs about salt which his disciples would understand. They would understand that salt here is a metaphor for the purity of faith. And much like salt cannot really lose its saltiness, our faith cannot be lost. But both can become impure. Therefore, Jesus reminds us of the Good News to have salt – that purity of faith – in yourself and be at peace with one another. 

Beloved, this Good News is important for us today as people have strayed from the salt and peace of the Good News. People are placing the “stumbling blocks” of vilification in front of the Other. We feel it every time we hear the coded language of today like those Trumpers, those Social Justice Warriors, or those whatever. And with that vilification – the conversation ends – the good ends – the solutions end because no one side can do it alone. Republicans cannot solve the border crisis without Democrat ideology. Women cannot solve the abortion issue without the support of men. And no one can solve the environmental collapse without working together to save our planet. Moreover, the conversation does not just end – we turn people into the villains we say they are – we turn them away from the good. Think about it, if all we tell people is they are supremacists because of their skin color then they will turn away from the good of racial equality and become an actual racist. We are called to be something more for the Other.

We are called to love the Other by following the Good News. Have salt in yourself. Keep the purity of faith in both God and the good which needs to be done. Speak your Truth in ways not to place stumbling blocks in the path of the Other but so you may be an example of God’s good working in the world. Also, have peace in one another. Hear the Other’s Truth without vileness from your eye or poison from your tongue. Be at peace with them and assume that they too are working for God’s goodness, even if they call it something different. By conversing instead of confronting – by speaking our Truth and Hearing their Truth – by following the Good News of God, I believe we will find only one result: we will Love the Other until they are no longer something different but rather, we are all God’s Beloved together.  

This Good News, though, is not only needed in our world; it is needed right here in our fellowship. For, we are something very special. We have Republicans and Democrats; feminists and men’s rights activists, cis gender heterosexual individuals and members of the LGBT+ community. We have beloved people of every generation alive from a variety of religious backgrounds. We even have a few different ethnic groups represented amongst our fellowship. Any of these differences can cause conflict – old wounds can tear open – emotional cuts can return to exacerbate any new conflict. Furthermore, when a new conflict does happen it is easy to either attack or walk away and find a community which is just like you. However, Beloved, I assure you that is not the Way of Christ. We cannot learn, grow, heal in a vacuum of like mindedness or the stumbling blocks of vilification. Rather, we need our differences to be loved by one another; so, we may witness all the ways God’s goodness is revealed through us in this fellowship. For, we do already know that the goodness of God is in the people of this fellowship. Therefore, I pray we each follow the Good News: this call to have salt in ourselves and be at peace with one another. To speak our Truth, to Hear their Truth, and to love the Other so we can truly be the Beloved Fellowship You, God, are calling us to become together. In Jesus’ name who revealed the Way, Amen.