The church sits at a skinny beach town corner resting nicely against its unassuming
frame; I’ve passed by it before never realizing it was there amid the moss
covered trees and leaning neighborhood. The United Church of Christ in New Smyrna Beach was my
destination this morning for no other reason than a clear desire to hear a friend
preach. Vonshelle and I have worked together for over a year and have recently
discovered another level to our friendship which involves thoughtful
conversations and an affinity to personal growth. There are so many joys in new
and old relationships but what I most appreciate in the beginning is the layers
of the story that bring the personality to life one page at a time. My appreciation
for resonance with others matters, deeply; below the day in and day out of our lives
is where the excavation of meaning begins. People who share their being-ness as completely
as Vonshelle are as treasures to collect for sacred places that relax the
soul with depth and intentional thought.
The parking lot was filling up with faithful members and I wondered
about the last time I had even attended a church service; flashbacks to how
deeply rooted I was in the Southern Baptist church took notice of my fleeting
apprehension but my companion, Kathy, another friend of Vonshelle’s, and,
another one of the treasures in my life, pulled me into
soft introductions. The smiling faces of this church family all emoted a sincere welcome and I found
myself letting go of the initial tenseness that shadows me when I step into new experiences.
The analyst in me can get overwhelmed when all the information breaking through is new. Everything and everyone commanded the space we were in as we walked between the
Chapel and its counterpart building that was reserved for socialization. But my eyes raced
ahead of our gait once they saw the images lifting from the etched glass doors and they traced each line carefully. Being a visual person my tendency is to seek out the beauty in
everything surrounding me and these doors that led into the Chapel were certainly framed in beauty. They opened
deeply and poured themselves over my soul with a warm awareness of the creativity that is
lacking in my life. As we stepped through them into the foyer, the walls and the wood breathed
the sounds of worship so sacred that I was tempted to take off my shoes as the
Native Americans do when needing to connect fully from sole to soul. My
attempts to ignore the embrace of this space as I wrote my name on the visitor
label, were in vain; so I welcomed the surge of gratitude that was building inside
me and managed to keep my shoes on.
Kathy and I were settling into our place when a child
appeared with a post-it note pad and tearing two pieces off instructed us to
write down what the word peace meant to us. She went on to explain that we’re going to
affix these post-it notes on a cross sometime during the service. Kathy secured
a pen from her purse and then paused in mid air unsure and debating between using one word or a litany. The seriousness of her gaze caught my attention so I poked fun of her over-thinking until she stated that my note contained as much thought as hers. Peace? What does peace mean to me?! I now found myself
couched on Kathy’s dilemma and struggling just the same with a perplexed gaze. It
suddenly became harder than I realized to think of what peace meant to me but I managed something mildly profound and
set the post-it down next to me as I began to bring my heart into stillness. Vonshelle’s
significant other, Lissette, joined us as the service began. She is the newest
person on the scene in my life and has quickly gained an honored spot due to
her unique ability to bridge the gap between many theologies, and along with her affinity
to study a broad stroke of topics; she is a dynamic conversationalist.
“Just Peace.” Vonshelle quickly made the point that the “JUST”
was to signify “JUSTICE.” She went into her sermon with a degree of sincerity
that is truly refreshing. She spoke about the injustices facing the world with violence
against, and the targeting of, specific communities of people with so many
police shootings of African American males, and, too, by civilians like what happened at The Pulse
Nightclub. Her words were not collecting in a stagnate pool of separateness,
but flowed unencumbered by such an idea into the greater understanding of our oneness.
She was cherishing the fact that ALL LIVES MATTER! Injustice, however, cannot
be tolerated if we are to have true peace in our communities and our lives. The
silence of justice is condoning the very acts that are costing lives. Vonshelle
challenged us to be the voice of justice—to be the peacemakers but thoughtfully
so. We can create change but not with our silence. We must bring the voice of
justice into each dark corner of our life no matter how small the encounter we face.
At the closing of the service the members of this church
line the walls holding hands and sing, “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” Although
I didn’t know the words to the song; I joined hands with my friends and watched a whole congregation do the same. The moment brought in old feelings of hope that the world is still housing those quiet souls who desire unity, peace and love. After the song, Kathy
and I made our way into the line to greet Vonshelle on our way out. A small group of three was
before us speaking with her about how welcomed they felt as I
silently nodded in agreement. My eyes wondered aimlessly around the Chapel as
we were waiting and began taking in its cozy warmth and friendly faces. It was then that I
realized the degree of my own gratitude for coming and how blessed I was for the new friends in my life.
It was a simple wish, to hear a friend preach, but, I didn't realize; I was actually giving myself a gift. A moment in the Kindom. Kathy would enlighten me today about this new word I learned. She said that it was about family (kin) connections. We often use terms like the Kingdom of Christ but this word feels more appropriate, the Kindom of Christ.
I LOVE the word! We all need avenues of connection and fellowship with others to grow in our service and love. It is my belief that the greatest growth of the soul occurs in relationships and that making time for fellowship, friends and community is paramount to your spiritual well-being and personal growth.
The whole day was my gift to me.
Mona McPherson
The above statement was actually uttered during the last volunteer orientation class I was teaching but popped into my brain today while I was reading a rather
thought provoking book about Christianity. My knee jerk reaction was to laugh,
but, instead, I became perplexed. Why on earth is such a statement at the same table
with a delicious morsel of thought challenging me to revisit my ideas about
Jesus?! And then I remembered the pain meds I took a little bit ago! Yes! I’m sedated! Now it makes sense!
It only took three hours at the dentist to unhinge my TMJ issues securing me a
spot in bed for the day. The dentist also did a smashing job of evacuating
my savings account of a substantial amount of loot (I actually wrote
evacuwaiting by accident…LOL!). I suppose if it were a word it would mean a
person who does not leave when told to do so. But I digress, I find the uterus
statement to be horrifically funny so decided to slice through this rather
dense medically induced high and self-imposed isolation to share it with you.
