New Beginnings
by Rev. Dr.
Tom Thresher
A
variety of very exciting possibilities are brewing at
Suquamish UCC.
Taking
Back the Christian Faith
First, one that you all know about: taking back
Christianity from the religious right.
As we
have been discussing, it is time for us to become more
proactive in taking back the Christian message from
those who want to make it small and exclusive. We
have a great bumper sticker: “God Loves the Whole
World.” And we are making t-shirts. A button
machine is available and we can begin to make buttons
that will express your understanding of our faith.
The idea is that a button will invite conversation with
folks that might want to join us in this project.
The
third dimension of this project is postcards to be sent
into the community telling people a bit of what it means
to be a progressive Christian, to bring Christianity
into the 21st century. Several of you
have expressed interest in helping lead this. If
you would like to be on a committee to further this
process please let me know.
Boys
and Girls Club
As I have mentioned a few times, we are exploring the
possibility of starting a Boys and Girls Club here at
the Church. There is a great need in this
community because more children go to empty homes after
school than in any other district in the county.
We have
spoken with the Bainbridge Island Boys and Girls Club,
and they are anxious to sponsor us. The corporate
headquarters are also very excited as we would focus on
multicultural and multiracial experiences. We are
working closely with the tribe and the Elementary School
and hope to have a program for elementary school kids by
summer.
Community Center
For the past three months the Tribe has sponsored
multicultural diversity workshops with a combination of
leaders from business, religion, government, the tribe
and community leaders.
During
one of these gatherings a conversation started about
starting the Boys and Girls Club. We had an
initial meeting between the tribe, community, church and
business leaders that quickly expanded to the idea of a
community center that would provides services and
programs from kids through seniors. The ideal
location for such a center would be the church property.
This
raises an interesting possibility for the church.
Creating a community center would mean building a very
large building and perhaps modifying the structure of
the church. These facilities would, of course, be
available to us. It would make us even more the
center of community activities. And it would
create a positive revenue flow to the church.
Whether
the community center is built on our property is
something we as a community will have to explore and
decide. Any building is a few years away, so we
have time. Whatever we decide, I expect we will
want to stay deeply involved and have someone from the
church on the board of this project. Again, if you
have interest in being involved in this project please
see me.
The
Politics of Hope
As you are probably aware, there has been much
discussion since the election about the role of religion
in politics. Increasingly, thought leaders are
exploring a deeper collaboration between politics and
progressive religious values.
I have
recently had conversations with prominent leaders who
are anxious to work with a faith community like ours to
further this collaboration. I have only had
initial conversations with these folks, but there may be
an exciting opportunity to help bring our spiritual
values into the public arena and articulate a more
inclusive, welcoming Christian message. I will
keep you informed as I learn more.
Exciting things are happening at Suquamish UCC. I
hope you will take this opportunity to become more
involved.
Bless you all... Tom
