Ecunet Posting
Note #35618 from JOHN TSCHUDY to UCCHRIST CHATTER:

Yesterday I watched a program on gardening. The fellow had on the program a segment where he answered questions about winter gardening. The segment ended with him being asked the question, "If you could have anything you wanted what would it be?" There was a pause and then a picture came up of a bare patch of ground, and then some spheres were dumped on it. The the host answered "Why Peas on Earth, of course."

Now I know the pun is bad but it got me to thinking. In this time of year when we talk so glibly of Peace of Earth in most churches, how can we in the church in honesty even talk about it when the Body of Christ can not bring itself to even truly give witness to the concept of Peace among its own ranks?

The Swiss Theologian Hans Kung argues that there can not be peace on earth until there is peace between religions. Yet even during the Christmas season, the threats of divisions, splits, angry words and threats fills the conversations between various groups of Christians. While various groups give lip service to seeking peace, they insist that their way of understanding the Christian message, is the only correct way. Unless God is worshiped exactly in the way they approve of, God can not properly be worshiped and those who refuse to worship in their way can't be considered Christians of equal standing as they are.

We argue over what are the proper credentials, education level, sex, (and) sexual orientations (of) those properly approved of by God to lead the church must have. We ignore scriptures inclusivity and statements that declare that God shows no partiality and that to commit one sin makes one guilty of committing all sins, because such phrases and ideas, tear at the heart of our biased theologies designed to set our group up as being superior to all others. Then we wonder why a majority of clergy in all traditions finding themselves in conflicted situations. We wonder why many people are finding the institutional church irrelevant to the meeting the needs of their spiritual lives.

My point simply is: until the institutional church is willing to truly seek and work for Peace in the church, which means putting aside our own selfish desires and truly seeking God's way then perhaps all the church is suited to proclaim in this world, this Christmas Season is "Peas on Earth."