Intersecting the Stories

In the last couple of issues of the eCall and House Call I have been writing about story and about the importance of knowing the story in both a global (the Christian story) and local (the story of BFCC) sense.  I have spent my entire life reading and thinking and asking questions about the 2000 year old Christian story and for the past three months have been reading and thinking and asking questions about the 115 year old story of Bellevue First Congregational Church.  Our local BFCC story is, of course, part of the wider Christian story and one can argue that you cannot actually separate the two, but I think there exists in the life of any church those instances which can be said to be kairos moments.  Remember that word, “Kairos” from the sermon a few weeks ago?  It is a Greek word (found in the Bible) which refers not to clock time but to the fullness of time.  Those kairos moments are instances to which a congregation can point with pride and say “Yes!  We really got it right that time!”

So I am now starting to look for those kairos moments in our history, and have already found a few:

In 1911, in spite of the widespread prejudice towards Japanese immigrants, BFCC founded and supported a Japanese Sunday School.

In 1959, in spite of growing tensions relative to civil rights issues, BFCC founded the Racial Action Council which was committed to supporting minority rights.

In 1996, in spite of the controversy surrounding GLBT folk, BFCC became among the earliest of UCC churches to declare itself Open and Affirming.

There are no doubt many, many more kairos moments in our history and I am going to keep looking for them in our past.  And I think we stand on the threshold of another such moment, as in the coming months, through the Shaping Our Future process we will have the opportunity to ask questions about how the global Christian story will continue to intersect with the local story of BFCC.  What are our preferred ministries, that is, how do we choose to live our lives of faith here in Bellevue?  No church can be all things to all people, regardless of the desire, so what is our “niche” and how shall we be faithful to the call of Christ right here and right now?

I want to encourage everyone to not only participate in the forums sponsored by the Shaping Our Future ministry, but to take some time to read the Book of Acts, found in the Bible (it’s right after Matthew-Mark-Luke-John), for it is the story of Christians in the first century of our existence who were struggling with the same questions which face us today:  Who are we?  Who do we want to be?  What do we need to do to get there?

It’s an exciting time to be part of Bellevue First Congregational Church and I can’t wait to see you in Church!

Kevin