Unity - How do we do that?

Recently, I had the delight of being a part of God's people in action, thinking of others first, living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, intentionally giving of ourselves and what we have, to live out our faith serving others - as the human race. This, this is what we should be doing every day of every week - all the time, proclaiming God, being centered in Christ, and thinking of others first. We gathered to love God, love neighbor.

I was blessed to serve as a co-music director for a Unity Service in Aiken, SC that was held Sunday, August 9^th, sponsored by the Phoenix Project. You see, a local church, Glover Grove Missionary Baptist Church, burned down June 26th. While the cause of the fire is undetermined, the members of this church of brothers and sisters in Christ were left without a meeting place, and members of our community came together - acknowledging that we are all in this together, we help each other, what should we do? A temporary meeting place was quickly found for Glover Grove to continue worshiping, and as people began to talk about how to help, the Phoenix Project was born. John Lindsay, a resident of Aiken, SC, chairs this committee. The purpose and intent of the Glover Grove Phoenix Project is first, to assist and support the rebuilding of the Glover Grove Missionary Baptist Church in it's time of need through a variety of community-based strategies, and second, to come together as community leaders and diverse congregations of faith to make a positive and lasting statement about the values of Aiken and its citizens.

One of our Pastors, Pastor Bob Byrne, serves on the Phoenix Project, and I was invited along with others to help plan the music for the Unity Service. It was a real joy to serve as a Music co-leader with Fred Williams – Music Minister of Second Baptist Church as well as with his son Emmanuel Williams, pianist extraordinaire and Joyce English, the excellent organist and colleague from Aiken’s First Baptist Church. And of course the 75 voice choir made up of area choir members was outstanding!  

The Unity service was hosted by Aiken's First Baptist where local ministers, choir members, musicians and several hundred brothers and sisters in Christ gathered as Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptist, Non-denominational, Disciples of Christ and Christian Methodist Episcopal friends. It will remain in my mind as a snapshot of a portion of the great cloud of witnesses - people of different skin color, backgrounds and vocations, united in purpose. The Holy Spirit blessed us greatly, as we incorporated our diverse worship styles in a basic framework that resulted in awesome worship with brothers and sisters from different cultures and denominations coming together - centered in Christ.

We heard God's Word proclaimed - simply God's Word from Gospel and Epistle - and prayers that bound us to God and to each other. These diverse people from our community gathered in faith and said "we are unified in Christ!" It was thrilling to watch the Clergy process - called by God with all of the congregation to come together to worship God, thank God, glorify God and celebrate God's gifts to us as community.

We rejoiced that as of August 9th, $140,000 of the needed minimum of $200,000 has been raised to rebuild Glover Grove Missionary Baptist Church! We gave thanks and glory to God that Samaritan's Purse provided for the cleanup of the property as they await a time to rebuild. We heard from Ministers that spoke of God's blessings, of our work in the Lord and how we can prayerfully go forward. Sunday, in worship and after - it was clear that our unity as human beings is very important to the Aiken community as we seek how we can walk together and live out the faith we proclaim - regardless of our skin color or our cultural backgrounds. This is a starting place to build more bridges, and find ways to take care of one another. 

This effort is a foundation upon which we can build a healthier and stronger community. Being centered in worship first at this service has not only helped Glover Grove but has given us a foundation upon which to stand to have conversation about our divisions - including racism and other forms of prejudice, and how we confront it! We confront it centered in Christ - in the glory of God's coming to us, and by beginning conversations that strengthen our community. That began in the process of planning, in the service and after - where we all shared faith stories and backgrounds. 

In the rehearsal before worship, we saw the tension in our choir members faces as they strove to merge differing approaches to music together - which went very well. We saw the tension leave and such joy and worship on their faces as they sang from their hearts, minds and souls in worship! The congregation responded in kind - with enthusiasm and beautiful, mindful, intentional singing! 

There was also elation at the end of the one hour service, with people staying after to talk, and create crosses as a gift from all of us to the Glover Grove Church for their new church building. As one choir member said - "I found this to be a profound experience. It was deeply moving and I am so glad I was there!" Another said "This is the way we are meant to be - one Lord, one body." We were church at that service, and oh how I pray we will use this as a place from which to build a more unified community that only builds others up, without tearing anyone down. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing." Amen!

On days like this - it is such a gift and blessing from the Lord to have moments to sit back and say "Thank you, Jesus! We are family!" Now, we walk forward...beginning with prayer, and intention - with open eyes to look for opportunities to love God, love neighbor. Or maybe as my Lutheran catechism instructors taught me - "to be as little Christs..."