Unity...

Galatians 3.28 (CEB)
There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

One of the benchmarks of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is our freedom of belief meaning that “…we hold the centrality of scripture, recognizing that each person has the freedom - and the responsibility - to study God's Word within the community of the church.”* We believe that everyone is capable and able to read scripture through the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and discussion and as such we are to extend that freedom to others.

That leaves us as a church with the invitation to discern how we live our lives together as a community that seeks to live out our confession…Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world. Bound together by this statement of belief, we are obedient to Christ and thus accountable to one another.
So how is this expressed knowing that this is our beginning point? For the church in general, we will see that every congregation will have its own unique ways of worship, understandings of common life, and expressing their faith to the world. For our church specifically, (LPCC) we have people who approach scriptures differently and people who live out their faith in different ways all coming together to seek to live faithful lives and as for me that is a beautiful thing!

With God before us, Jesus as our guide, and the Holy Spirit as our strength, we can and will move out into this world as one. It takes work and diligence and as people shaped by the Kingdom of God we will be ONE people who follow Jesus Christ. We will be ONE people that seek the goodness that God has created each other to be. We will be ONE people that look for the day when God’s kingdom becomes fully expressed.

Grace and peace,
Rev. Brian

*for further information about the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) please visit the website: http://disciples.org/ For specific information on the principles of the CCDOC please see: http://disciples.org/our-identity/identity-statement-and-principles/