10-01-25

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
October 1, 2025
It is the first of October, and being the old curmudgeon that I am, I find myself wondering where the year has gone. There were so many tasks I wanted to accomplish this year, and now I only have a quarter of the year to get everything accomplished that is currently waiting to be finished… and, of course, the stuff that has yet to even start. The best intentions so often remain intentions, never quite moving out of the category of a dream or vague plan. Maybe it’s just me.

I sort of wonder if Cypress Creek Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) continues to be a best-intention, working its way toward fulfillment. I don’t say that as a negative, but there is so much good we are currently doing, yet it feels as if it is a mere taste of the abundant feast we have received and been invited to share. Do our intentions ever become so comfortable that they solidify as nothing more than an idea that has no actual impact on where we are going or even what we do today?

I had lunch with someone yesterday, and though this individual knows of CCCC(DoC), he is not directly involved in the church. He asked me if I knew the rarity of CCCC(DoC). Sometimes I forget. As those called to be humble, I am not suggesting we get all haughty over the uniqueness that is CCCC(DoC). Yet God calls churches into existence with a specific task, and though it is not my job to critique or dismiss the claims of other churches, I feel confident enough to say the rarity of our theology and embodied purpose must be more than intention.

I know for many people, they are just getting their feet wet at CCCC(DoC). Some are deconstructing an old way of understanding God that used the tools of guilt and shame to exploit their insecurities, and in the end, the misunderstood and marginalized among us were scapegoated—blamed for all our problems. For those deconstructing, religion begins to become something other than Us vs. THEM. It is about holy friendships and sacred community that seek to flip the narrative, by which access to unconditional love of God is made real for all. It can be a dramatic and frightening paradigm shift, as the well-defined boundaries begin to dissolve as love breaks forth.

Let’s have more than intentions. Instead, let us be intentional about passionately living into our vision of Putting Love First In All Things.

O God who fulfills promised possibilities, provide for us courage and resolve as we seek to make your dream come alive for all. Amen.