I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:34-35
Recognize that scripture? It is a family favorite for sure. And I used it last week for this reflection. Maybe we should just use it every week since it certainly is at the heart of our understanding of what it means to be a disciple—and at the heart of our call to be sanctuary. Maybe it should be our opening prayer every time we gather, every time we worship, every time we wake up and get ready to seize the day. “Love one another, just as I have loved you and by this, EVERYONE will know you are my disciple.” Some would suggest that there is no more effective way to share the good news of the gospel than to live out Jesus’ call to care for others—to love our neighbor. “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
As described in last week’s blog post, the call “to care” continues to unfold as a central theme in our understating of ‘being sanctuary’. Whether it is in the intimate, collaborative and gentle-spirited way we are experiencing worship at 458 High Street; or the value we place on conversation with each other; or the central place prayer holds for us in our worship and spiritual life; or the renewed and excited energy we are experiencing for engagement in our Bright Stars ministry; or the almost-too-many-ideas-to-tackle list of the ways we want to serve others in the community and the nation and the world… we are passionate about loving our neighbor and it shows in how we use our time, talent and treasure.
Our staff team has begun to craft a ministry plan for loving our neighbors—”Circles of Care”, if you will—that we believe will help us to organize and distribute the love-energy that we already have, invite people to know more about who we are and how we will love and serve the community, offer folk who are not already here a chance to volunteer in ways that will offer them much needed meaning and purpose, and provide love and care for folk who are in need—across the whole of Medford. The idea is powerful and simple at its core. And, the idea is also big and really exciting in its possibilities.
The ministry will offer opportunities for engagement in long term relationships (regular visits with an elder) and short term care (rides to the doctor, shopping for someone in recovery, delivering a casserole to a family with a new baby, mowing a lawn); care that will require training (spiritual care after a death) and care that uses skill you already have (serving at a soup kitchen). The ministry will supervised by staff and trained lay leaders, maintain clear expectations and boundaries and offer people opportunities for faith formation and personal development—through small covenant groups that we believe will help build the future faith community we envisioned with Sanctuary UCC
As we move forward, Rev. Wendy will focus on networking in the city, recruitment of volunteers and people in need of care and organizing the ministry. Rev. Fred will be the primary educator for the volunteers, lead covenant groups and develop lay leaders. Rev. Tom will continue to focus on developing volunteer opportunities with children, youth and mission organizations and leading covenant groups with children and youth.
Keep watch for more specifics—but we are hoping to have an implementation plan formulated by the end of March with some training to begin in April. If you have an interest in this please be in touch with any of us—one of our fist steps will be to invite you to complete a skills and interest survey which will give you a chance to sign on for way you feel called to care.
In the meanwhile, I know you are out there already loving your neighbor. I pray that you will find space in your journey to share your wisdom and experience with this ministry as we boldly go out to love our neighbor—in the streets!!
With blessing and prayer,
Rev. Wendy Miller Olapade (revwdmiller@comcast.net)
*Please watch for a gathering to brainstorm and develop this ministry circle and let me know if you already have a sense of call to create care!
