Sunday Adult Forum: “Beyond Bellhops of History”
A famous educator once remarked that many of us are like “bellhops of history.” We are dutifully carrying the luggage of previous generations and delivering it to the next generation. But instead of being “bellhops,” our role is to unpack that luggage and clothe ourselves with the treasures we find there.
In the church, the metaphor could not be more apt – instead of just dutifully passing on the bags of the past, we should be letting the treasures inside the bags inhabit us. Our role is to be clothed with and animated by these treasures, not just bellhops who dutifully deliver these treasures in closed bags to others.
“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” Paul writes. “And above all, clothe yourself in love, which binds everything in perfect harmony.” (Col. 3:12-14). And most succinctly, “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14). Don’t just carry the bags, let the treasured contents become your life!
In that same spirit, I can’t tell you how excited I am to be with you in the Sunday Forum, beginning with an introduction to the year on September 8. We’ll kick it off in earnest on Sunday, September 15, from 9:10 – 10:00, every Sunday in the New Parish Hall.
My hope is that our reflections in the Sunday Forum will help us to live deeper lives, more joyful and hopeful lives. “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly,” Jesus said (Jn 10:10). The Sunday Forum will also focus on time-honored spiritual practices that can open us of the stabilizing, peaceful, and calming presence of the Divine in the midst of storms. The Forum is meant to be a time for probing investigation of resources for personal spiritual renewal and life-giving relationships.
And the Forum will be a time for us to imagine what God might want to do with
St. Andrew’s On-the-Sound in this extraordinary time:
- We are living in a period of pervasive decline in the institutional church, which also happens to be a time of tremendous spiritual searching and vitality in the larger world.
- Loneliness, anxiety, and depression have reached dangerous, epidemic levels in the developed world, with the medical community sounding alarms. What does our faith have to offer in the way of healing?
- Our culture and politics are rife with personal insults, abuse, and vilification. What is the witness of the church community in such a time?
- Jesus seemed to have a special reverence for children. We are living in a time when many are suggesting that we are “rewiring childhood” with screens, devices, and social media. What is our role with children and youth, and how might they minister to adults?
- Jesus was often found on the margins with the poor and the misunderstood; this is where Jesus was especially welcomed and beloved, while he was vilified in mainstream society and established religion. Some say the church now has reversed all of that. How do we imagine the ministry of St. Andrew’s in this way?
And finally, we’ll have a short but fascinating and engaging series in the Forum about this beautiful way of practicing our Christianity which we have received in the Anglican tradition. I know that might sound a little boring, but it’s not. In fact, I believe some of you (even longtime Episcopalians) will find this series enlightening and enlivening.