In the Fall/Winter 2010 edition of the “New Times Newsletter,” a periodical associated with the Center for Progressive Renewal, Amanda Hendler-Vost, co-pastor of Land of the Sky United Church of Christ shared the story of the birth this congregation. During their first official worship service on Pentecost Sunday, 2009, co-pastor Sara Wilcox (pictured at right), included these words in her sermon:
Let us commit to more than singing a new church into creation. Let us commit to being the new church — a church where everyone is invited; where we extend the radical hospitality of God’s love, grace, and mercy wherever we go.
So What?
The excerpt from Wilcox’s sermon offers a reference to the hymn “Sing a New Church” (Delores Dufner, OSB – © Oregon Catholic Press), which has the following refrain:
Let us bring the gifts that differ and, in splendid, varied ways, sing a new church into being, one in faith and love and praise.
What would it look like for your church to make and keep a commitment to “being the new church — a church where everyone is invited; where we extend the radical hospitality of God’s love, grace, and mercy wherever we go?” How well does your parish measure up to that standard today?