With these few days before our upcoming Church Conference, it seems like a good time to talk about showing up.
Everything I know about showing up I learned in church. That’s a bit of an overstatement, because I grew up surrounded by relatives and neighbors who showed up—a lot. But so did my church. They showed up at church, for worship, and for meetings. They showed up at each other’s homes. They’d help when someone needed something. We clearly belonged to one another.
This coming week we have a special opportunity to show up together. We’ll gather at 6 pm on Tuesday to do the work of the church conference (meaning all our members). And it’s not just that the decision will get made by whoever shows up.
It’s that we who gather will be there for the conversations that happen, the perspectives that get shared, the announcement of how the voting goes. We’ll hear all this firsthand. We’ll have a better sense of what was happening in the room, in the moment. The closer we are to “the room where it happened,” the clearer we’ll all be on what transpired, and what was said or not, and what might be coming next.
We’ll also be able to look one another in the eye (including on Zoom which you’ll see is an option). And share words of peace and expressions of connection as the meeting begins and ends—even if we don’t vote the same way. It’s part of what showing up has always meant. We belong to one another no matter what happens in the room.
The writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament knew how important this was. They wrote, “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another….” (Hebrews 10.24-25)
Whenever we meet up—on Sunday morning, or for a special Church Conference, or in one another’s homes—we’re about that work of provoking one another to love and good deeds, and encouraging one another. Even as we vote, however we vote, and as we decide, however we decide, we’re a community of love and forgiveness that will move forward together.
