by Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Conference Minister, August, 2001
Monthly Reflections from The Pacific ~ News and Events of the NCNC United Church of Christ

IT WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD

Words of encouragement and support for those ministering "in the fields."

It was a different world, 150 years ago. It was a different church, 150 years ago. Most particularly, the relationship between the world and the church was very different, 150 years ago.

Melinda McLain, astute and insightful editor of The Pacific has been nudging and poking me to do some reflecting, as we mark the 150th anniversary of The Pacific, on how times have changed. "Why is it," she has wondered aloud, pointedly, "that the early editors of The Pacific got into all kinds of trouble for what they printed?" How is it, by contrast, that our efforts to offer commentary from a faith perspective on the issues of the day-whether in The Pacific or via the public media-so seldom ruffle feathers, cause the ground to tremble, find voice on KQED's "Forum" or warrant a quote in the "Bee?"

In his book The Culture of Disbelief, Steven L. Carter, law professor and Episcopal lay person, describes the trivialization of religious thought and devotion in the United States. His chapter title "God as a Hobby" makes a forceful commentary on its own. His analysis portrays a culture which has disconnected the faith of individuals from public policy and public discourse so that increasingly and overwhelmingly most people don't "get it" that personal faith informs and gives birth to public action, that belief has repercussions in the flesh.

Many of us might look back to the freedom struggles of the 1960's and affirm that faith and action were not separate entities then. When did things start to change? My personal recollection is that somewhere in the 1970's I began to experience jolts of bifurcation. Very suddenly, it seemed, I was living with dualism. I could either be "religious" or "political." I could choose either "faith" or "action." Linguistic barriers intruded between flesh and Word.

In Hebrew, dabar means both "word" and "deed," an inherent recognition that Word becomes flesh through action, through faithful witness. There is a deep spiritual harmony in such congruence of word and flesh, thought and action, faith and deed.

150 years ago, the church shared a common frame of reference with a whole lot of people. Today we don't. At a recent meeting on church development the presenter tossed out the statistical morsel that 80% of the people under 21 years of age in this country have never been inside a church building.

If we find ourselves wailing like Jeremiah, "They did not listen to me or pay attention to me," could it be because, more and more, Christians are less and less part of the "majority" secular culture? Are we "odd" or "peculiar" or "not of this world?" And is that a bad thing? We are called to be faithful. Faithful to the God who fashioned us all in delight and in longing. Faithful to the Savior who loves us into new life and who lives the Word into flesh. Faithful to the Spirit who unites us in community over distance and across time. No matter if we are ignored or distrusted or dismissed as irrelevant, we must persist, in faithfulness, to be agents of healing, bearers of hope, never isolating our words from our deeds, or the Word from our lives.

And, oh yes, we have every intention of keeping up our end of the conversation with the world around us for the next 150 years.

                                                                  ~ Mary Susan

For previous editions of "Pacific Currents", click here.

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