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Friends United Meeting |
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December 2004
Commitments
Retha McCutchen, FUM General Secretary
My friend teaches first grade in a Christian primary school. As the children decorated the Christmas tree in the room, she asked about the symbolic meaning of the ornaments. What does the star remind you of? The Holy family? She came to a large, plain round ornament. What might this remind you of in the Biblical Christmas story? A little girl’s hand went up! “Round yon virgin?” she offered.
As adults we chuckle at the innocence of children. For me, that child’s response goes deeper than we first think. The Church often speaks a foreign language. I call it Christianeze. Certainly people outside the church do not understand, and often such language is tribal—only known within our specific denomination. Think about phrases like yearly meeting, monthly meeting, weighty Quaker (overweight members of the meeting?), AFSC, FUM, FWCC, FCNL, WYM, NCYM, etc., birthright Quaker (when I always thought faith was chosen by the individual, not a birth inheritance!), First Day School--we could go on and on. Pretend to be a person who had never attended a Friends meeting or church and reflect on these phrases. We are lost in our own jargon.
FUM’s purpose is to energize and equip to bring people into fellowships where Jesus Christ is known, loved and obeyed as Teacher and Lord. To be an open community where all feel welcome and accepted, Quakers need to let go of insider language. At the most recent FUM general board meeting, one committee decided to make a conscious effort to say the names of committees, rather than shorthand like PCPC or NAM. We are making an effort to make our work understandable worldwide, not just understood within the small group of active general board members in Richmond, Indiana. We can be quite certain that the African general board members meeting in Kaimosi do not know what PCPC means! Do you? (Program Coordinating and Priorities Committee) Or NAM? (North American Ministries)
At Christmas time we are reminded of the precious gift of Jesus’ birth. In the hustle and bustle of celebrations, let’s be aware of the visitor/seeker in our midst. Jesus, by example and teaching, was inclusive. Insider talk was out, along with prejudice, greed and pride. Jesus calls us to repentance and a changed life, while at the same time God expects believers to welcome all with open hearts and minds. May the Peace of Christmas be yours,