Good morning Beloved,

I pray you are all well and feeling equally loved by God. For you have been, are now, and will always be – loved equally by God. Equal to everyone else and all of Creation. This Truth is the core of Jesus’ ministry of the kin-dom of God, or Heaven, a place or time when we will not just be, but also feel – equally loved. It is a time when our pride, ego, sense of entitlement is over. It will be the place where no one is worse or better than anyone else; for, we are all created equally.

I have long since seen this message of equal love in the kin-dom as the core of God’s mission and ministry through us in the UCC. It is what we strive for as did our Congregational predecessors. In fact, this truth of our faith even made it into the Declaration of Independence when our forefathers wrote, “All men are created equal.” Today, we can look back and say: Thomas Jefferson meant only the landowners were equal. And although our forefathers actions showed this truth, his words were a dramatic change from the English monarchy. In other words, the words were a step towards the kin-dom of God, a revelation, if you will, of how we, as a faith, are called to become: a people who both are and feel we are created equal.

Of course, we were not there yet in Jefferson’s time nor are we there, today. The world in which we live is not living into the kin-dom, yet. There are still injustices being done to each other every day in all manner of ways. Therefore, many people still feel the unequal, unwelcome, and oppressive tendrils of this earthly world. So, how do we help the world – our community – our fellowship feel that we are all equally loved? Through the loving steps of action, Beloved, through action in everything we do. Through the action and example of God’s equal Love to all people. For, we cannot change society over night, just like Jefferson could not shift the entire world through those few words; but, we can be an example of God’s equal Love in everything we do from our conversations to our conflicts. We can live into the vision of the kin-dom and one day, I pray that we will all feel that equal Love from God and one another which Jesus shares with us throughout his ministry.

May you feel the blessing of God’s equal Love poured out for ALL – always.

your pastor, Brian

As always please call (207-350-9561) if you need anything. Next week, my pastoral care hours are Tuesday and Wednesday 10:30 – 6:30; Thursday and Friday 8- 4. I may be writing from home on Mondays but may be at church. If I am in the office, please feel free to stop in to talk. This Wednesday is our last service for the summer and we are, God willing, reopening fully on September 12 for Rally Sunday. Many blessings and Love to you all, always.