January 31, 2019
Last fall I had the chance to hear Rev. Tracy Blackman preach on what it means to be liberative church, a congregation grounded in the God of Scripture, who is pro-justice and whose agenda is the pursuit of right relations with people, among people and with all of creation. The Exodus story is perhaps the best example of what it means to be people of liberation. Like the Israelites of old, we must be open to the journey away from what is comfortable; like Moses, we must be open to God’s calling and God’s way of leadership; like the midwives, we must be creative, resourceful and wise, not al-lowing the expectations of the culture to deter us from doing what we know is right.
As I look back over January, a typical (busy) month at Lakeshore, I lift up ways that we are embracing our identity as liberative church. May we continue on the journey, in re-sponse to God’s calling, in ways that let us participate with the healing, saving, life-giving, work of God.
- Voted to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian community through becoming an HP Free Church
- Continued to live into our identity as a Sanctuary congregation through edu-cation, engagement and accompanying those in need
- Stood and Sang for Justice, even in the rain
- Served dinner and shared a meal with residents of St. Mary’s Homeless Shelter
- Wrapped up our solar panel campaign to green our church and take respon-sibility for the electricity we use.
- Honored the prophetic vision and work of Dr. King through lifting up his call to service
- Invited friends of the church to consider official membership as congregants who support and hold each other accountable in our faith journey
- Claimed our identity as leaders in the church whose service through Depart-ments and Committees lets us take ownership of our work, worship and wit-ness
- Engaged in deep conversation about the Bible, the world and our lives during Bible Study and Sunday School
- Submitted a grant to enhance creativity and community in shaping our corpo-rate worship
- Planned for February’s celebration of African American History, and the im-portance of continuing to educate ourselves of the
Being part of the Lakeshore community profoundly shapes our faith, I’m glad to be on the journey of being liberative church together!
Peace,
Allison