Here in western Massachusetts, faith communities have always been part of the fabric of civic life. Churches that ran the Underground Railroad. Congregations that marched. Pulpits that preached, and people that acted. That tradition is alive, and this September, it shows up in a big way in the United Church of Christ.
They say, Don’t talk about religion or politics at the table … Or, don’t bring “politics” into my church. However, Christian life together is political. Perhaps not in the way that some may immediately think, given the facade of so-called “Christian” politics in the current American system.
Arguably, the Christian narrative is not centered on individual salvation, but collective wellness. The Bible’s vision of family and community is far wider and more creative than the culture war version suggests. Christians are called to turn toward those who need tangible support, measuring the effectiveness of the church by how well we answer that call. The work of the Christian people is about carrying on the imagination of community care that Jesus embodied in his life.
On Sunday, May 24, the Christian church celebrates the beginning of Pentecost. Detailed in the Bible (Acts 2) Pentecost is the Holy Spirit, fire and flames, the languages and people of the world all understanding each other … (no they aren’t drunk, but full of God’s love.) It’s the birthday of the church. It’s God saying: you humans got this from here, and let the Holy Ghost help if you need her.
Pentecost is where the story turns from the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ to the story of how people will carry this story forward together. The rest of the New Testament, from the travels and trials documented in Acts to the letters of the epistles, wrestles with exactly that question: what does it look like to live this out, together, in the world?
And it’s all political.
The whole work of the early church was to help shape systems to care for the most and multiply oppressed. How do we meet? Talk with one another? Treat one another? How do we spread this hope-news, this access to resources, this imagination of a new world? How do we disagree, and stay in community, and who gets to participate? As you might imagine, there are just as many ideas of answers then, as there are now.
Christians today take up the mantle of this charge in many different ways. Some have ministries of food, or clothes. Some help translate or set up legal aid. Some advocate their faith at the state house, or choose to get into politics as a career, because of their faith. And some step into the arena of electoral politics itself, carrying the gospel into the halls of legislative power.
It is out of this long tradition of faith-rooted public witness that the Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ, welcomes its keynote speaker for this year’s Annual Meeting in September. The Southern New England Conference is the denominational body representing 570-plus congregations across Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, inclusive of many of the congregations right here in western Mass. Our keynote is U.S. Senator and Reverend Doctor Raphael Warnock, pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the pulpit once held by the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., whose life and career embody exactly the kind of politics this Pentecost season calls us to remember.
Anyone is welcome to join for the keynote, and tickets will be available online at sneucc.org in the coming weeks. Pentecost reminds us that the Good News was never meant to stay inside our walls. Come be part of the story. Pull up a chair, witness the politics, and bring it home, continuing to act in faith for the world we co-create, where all people may have enough.
Rev. Dr. Chris Davies is the executive minister of programs and initiatives at the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. She lives in western Massachusetts, and witnesses hope in action at UCC churches in many towns across the region and beyond. You can learn more atwww.findhopenow.org, or connect with Rev. Dr. Chris at jesuslovesdinos.bsky.social or on Facebook.