From Pastor Pat Kriss: Being UCC
We open the door to all and believe that God is still speaking to us.
(Posted Sept. 25, 2015)
“Being UCC” is not something we discuss all the time at First Church. After all, the majority of us come to Church to worship God, to hear the voice of Jesus in the Scriptures, or to seek peace or guidance for the twists and turns in our own live, and to provide our children with a strong moral foundation. We come for the worship and the fellowship and stay for the coffee and bagels, so to speak. I doubt many of us come to discuss polity – or even know what that is. Many of us came to First Church from other religious traditions, but have heard and felt something special when sharing a sanctuary moment with others.
However, when we ARE worshipping, praying together, pouring coffee together and sharing a pew together, what we’re really doing is living United, in the name of Christ. The United Church of Christ is just simply that: people, disciples following in Christ’s footsteps, at the congregational level, where the Priesthood of Believers care for one another and listen for God’s voice in Scripture. We open the door to all and believe that God is still speaking to us.
This Sunday our Connecticut Conference Minister and Fairfield County native son Reverend Kent Siladi will join us in the Pulpit to share his insights on our interdependence. As many of us have been enjoying watching the Papal visit to the U.S. this week, perhaps some of you may have been wondering, “Who is the head of our church?” The wonderful thing about the UCC is none of us mere mortals is the head of the United Church of Christ. There is only one head of our church, and that is Jesus himself. The rest of us human beings, from our Conference Minister to our confirmands, are servants to the Word and to one another. This reminds me of something. Down the street from where I live is a little country church, with only one door into its tiny Sanctuary. Over that door is a sign that reads, “Servants’ Entrance.” I can think of no more fitting way to describe our interdependence in the UCC than in terms of how we love one another through service. See you Sunday with Reverend Siladi.