Namaste!

I loved being introduced this week to Church of the Loving Shepherd, a church located on a farm (what a lovely place to be) and exploring the website for the church’s Camp Bournleyf, which serves children and youth with developmental disabilities.

I also appreciated the opportunity to learn about the International Council of Community Churches, of which Church of the Loving Shepherd is a part. This denomination is new to me. It reminds me a great deal of my own denomination, the United Church of Christ, except it doesn’t appear to have nearly as much centralized activity. Their mission is even the same: Jesus’ words “That they may all be one.” The sermon on Ruth, “Skeletons in the Closet,” by Rev. Martin C. Singley III, which won the ICCC’s 2010 Homiletics Award, concludes with these words:

“And finally, learn from the story of Ruth that the community is strengthened when we welcome strangers and take care of people others exclude. That’s one of the reasons I so strongly believe in this Community Church concept that refuses to close in on itself and to care exclusively for its own needs without regard to others, but chooses to open its arms and doors to all who would come.

          I believe in a church that welcomes Moabites! So go this week, and claim your identity as a beautiful child of God! Live out that beauty by looking up to and loving others! And work hard to help us be the kind of church that understands that even skeletons in the closet have names like Ruth.

Thanks be to God!”

The sermon can be downloaded from http://www.icccusa.com/default.cfm/PID=1.19

I was also eager to learn about the Open Door Mission @ Garden Court, another ICCC community, which is part of a facility used by practitioners of a variety of alternative therapies, another wonderful setting for a church!  The mission has a wide range of offerings, including programs of interest to people in recovery and others, such as their 11^th Step Meeting. The website’s invitation to their Contemplative Holy Eucharist, found at http://theopendoormission.org/holy-eucharist/ is “Come experience this alternative form of worship and like Elijah, be prepared to hear the still small voice of God speak to your heart and your soul.” This sounds enticing indeed.

I was delighted that Pastor Carol closed the letter on her home page, http://theopendoormission.org/, with the words “Blessings & Namaste.” “Namaste,” as you may know, is the universal Hindu greeting meaning, “The God in me greets the God in you.” It recognizes that there is that which is divine in us and in everyone we meet. What better way to greet friend and stranger alike?

Finally, I was excited to explore the link to Rev. Martin Singley’s webpage,  http://www.tellicochurch.com/about-tellico-village-community-church/meet-our-pastors/martin-singley-senior-pastor.html. I found the link posted on ICCC’s Facebook wall, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34281278581#!/group.php?gid=34281278581&v=wall, (which I notice has not been written on since 11/13/10):

Singley said,

Thirty-four years of ministry have changed me a lot! ….Today, a simple theology that centers on the life and teachings of Jesus is more than challenging enough to shape and empower my ministry. For me, Christianity is all about being gripped by a grace that leads to loving neighbor as self. Everything else is window-dressing.

Amen!