(Each Saturday, a faith leader in Franklin County offers a personal perspective in this space. To become part of this series, email religion@recorder.com)
Someone asked me to explain my church. Trinity Church in Shelburne Falls is unusual because we are an ecumenical congregation. We are a Christian church linked up with four different denominations: the United Church of Christ, the American Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church.
I figured that was what the question “What is your church?” was asking.
But I was wrong. They wanted to know “Are you a God church, or a Jesus church or a Holy Spirit church?” All that I could say was that we are all of the above and more. We belong to God, are centered in Jesus, empowered by the Spirit and connected with everyone in our communities. We strive to live up to the commandment to love God, ourselves, our neighbors and our enemies. That pretty much “defines” who we are.
As I thought about the question, I was delighted to find a little story that I shared with my congregation this summer. All of us, in and out of churches and communities, can get pretty stuck in how we define ourselves. That stuckness, if there is such a word, can deprive us of air space. Here is the story, “Out of the Box,” by Edwina Gateley.
“Once upon a time, we captured God and we put God in a box and we put a beautiful velvet curtain around the box. We placed candles and flowers around the box and we said to the poor and the dispossessed, “Come! Come and see what we have! Come and see God!’ And they knelt before the God in the box.
“One day, very long ago, the Spirit in the box turned the key from inside and she pushed it open. She looked around in the church and saw that there was nobody there! They had all gone. Not a soul was in the place. She said to herself, ‘I’m getting out!’ The Spirit shot out of the box. She escaped, and she has been sighted a few times since then. She was last seen with a bag lady in McDonald’s.”
There are so many boxes in the world — boxes that try to keep the Spirit of someone or something all bound up and in control. We box people up when we limit them by how we define their religion or spirituality, their gender or orientation, their class or race or status, whether they live in a house or a tent or a car. We ask “What do you do?” and “What kind of church are you?” and these questions can open a floodgate of Spirit, or they can slam the door shut on emptiness.
From my experience, churches are not empty — of people or of spirituality. They are changing and breaking open in form and many are thriving in new ways. We are not who we used to be and while it is good to stop and think about questions of identity and theology and practice, what is most exciting is to see how the key to understanding turns best when there is a real interest in what is “outside the box” of our perceptions.
Knowing that we don’t know much is a beautiful place to start a conversation.
My guy Jesus loved to ask open-ended questions. Not to trip people up and not to put them in one box or another. He asked questions because he loved getting to know the person in front of him. “Who are you? Who and what do you love?” might be the most important questions that we ask ourselves and each other. The question that follows is often “Do you want to know me?”
God is “outsourced” these days and so are we. We are still on the lookout for Love.
Trinity Church is an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation. We are known for free community meals every Friday evening, free community Clothes Closet and more. Worship services are held at 8:30 and 10 a.m. (with nursery care). Communion is served at the early service each week and on the first Sunday of the month at the 10 a.m. service. During the summer (July and August), there is just one service at 9:30 a.m. Call 413-625-2341 for more information.