Blessings of Community

Our Journey to 2023 Lent, blessings, and more World Conference bring special opportunities.

By Jenn Killpack director of Communications

January will begin the last stage of our journey to World Conference. We’ll continue to be spiritually formed, keep learning, and prepare to share in community. More details about this stage and previous ones can be found at CofChrist.org/2023-world-conference under “Preparation.”

FORMATION

JOIN US FOR LENT

This year we have an extraordinary opportunity: Our journey to World Conference and Lent overlap. Daily themes for World Conference will provide a weekly focus during Lent. The Formation Ministries Team and the Center for Living Water are partnering to provide some fantastic opportunities for reflection and growth.

Start by reading Katie Harmon-McLaughlin’s article, “Courage: A Faith That Matters” on page 23.

Plan now to make space in your life for the weekly Lenten offerings, beginning February 22. Details about each week can be found at CofChrist.org.

EDUCATION

REVIEW LEGISLATION IN EXPLORATION SESSIONS

New for 2023 World Conference is an opportunity to explore legislative proposals with others around the church through weekly Zoom gatherings.

A single resolution will be the focus each week during the Exploration Sessions series. Participants will share perspectives and listen to others in a facilitated session. Five sessions will be offered each week to accommodate time zones and busy schedules. Exploration Sessions will begin January 9 and continue through March. All are welcome. Registration is required. Visit CofChrist.org/2023world-conference/#csec-2023-world-conference-preparation for details. Exploration Sessions (Central Standard Time): • Monday: 3:00–4:45 p.m. • Tuesday: 6:30–8:15 p.m. • Wednesday: 6:30–8:15 p.m. • Thursday: 9:30–11:15 a.m. • Saturday: 12:30–2:15 p.m.

Even those who are not delegates are invited to learn more about business coming before Community of Christ in April.

Read proposed legislation and see a summary of actions at CofChrist.org/world-conference -documents.

Journey to 2023 World Conference

COMMUNITY

WORDS OF BLESSING

Members and friends may offer words of courage and blessing to be shared at World Conference during the Communion service April 23. No matter where you are, you’re invited to participate in the spirit of fellowship and worship that connects us in sacred community.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Write words of blessing in your own language or languages. • Write one blessing—or several. • On each square, write only one blessing. • Examples of blessings: • May you be blessed with Christ’s peace. • Peace be with you. • Act with courage to be a blessing. • God’s blessings be with you. • May God bless and keep you. • Have courage. Be Kind.

Completed blessings should be returned by April 12.

SEND BY POSTAL MAIL

Karin Peter—Words of Blessing c/o World Conference Directors 1001 W. Walnut St. Independence MO, USA 64050

BY EMAIL

Scan or take a photo of the completed blessings. Send to kpeter@CofChrist.org. Subject line: Words of Blessing

UNITED IN PURPOSE

DAY OF PRAYER AND SPECIAL OFFERING FOR WORLD CONFERENCE

On January 22, join with those around the world as we uphold the 2023 World Conference in our prayers and through our offerings. Offerings received on this Sunday will help with the costs of Conference. The goal is to raise $100,000.

Those in the USA can participate by giving to 2023 World Conference through www.etithing.org, by placing a check or cash in the offering plate, or by sending a check to International Headquarters, Attn: Presiding Bishopric, 1001 W. Walnut St., Independence, MO, USA, 64050.

In Canada, contributors can give by e-transfer or mail to Community of Christ, 355 Elmira Rd. N., Unit 129; Guelph, ON, N1K 1S5.

You can find a special Disciples’ Generous Response for January 22 at www.HeraldHouse.org/search?q=resources.

World Conference 2023 Registration Opens

Online registration for World Conference has opened. Register before March 1 to get the discounted rate.

Specific registration forms for Conference Kids (six to eleven) and childcare (six weeks–five years) also are available.

ADULTS

Early-bird Entire Conference

(until March 1), $160 USD

Entire Conference

(after March 1), $200 USD Weekend Only, $40 USD

STUDENTS, YOUTH

Ages twelve and older

Entire Conference, $80 USD

Weekend Only, $20 USD

Badge Only, $5 USD

CHILDREN

Ages six–eleven

Conference Kids, $80 USD

Badge Only, $5 USD

INFANTS, TODDLERS

Ages six weeks–five years

Childcare , $230 USD

A Faith that Matters

The desperate prayer, the cry for help. That is the treasure, the rare shining glimpse of truth, in a world where everyone is so eager to show off their successes and strengths. That is the prize: to have your heart open in the place where the world is ending. Because it is always ending somewhere. Opening our hearts to those who are suffering in those world-ending places is spiritual work.

—Talitha Amadea Aho, In Deep Waters: Spiritual Care for Young People in a Climate Crisis

Trait offers hope, even when worlds are ending.

Ihave the privilege of sitting in meetings where themes are decided. Theme development always carries the weight of spiritual leadership. How is God inviting the church to be formed? What words and phrases can capture and call us into the deep work of God in the world?

The theme for World Conference 2023 emerged from this space, a recognition of all that people hold across the globe, the immensity of change we have been living through, and what the integrity and hope of discipleship summons from us in places where worlds are ending.

Courage. It seemed to arise from some deep and sacred place in our collective imagination, a holy invitation, a call to action, a vital posture for times such as these.

Courage. Courage. Courage.

Even now, it bellows from the depths as it stretches across the church all around the globe. Every time we mention the upcoming experience of gathering in our stunning diversity and dare to dream of God’s action now and in the future, we utter the word. It already is forming us. Courage.

As I hold that word in my heart and feel it forming on my tongue, I think of you. I think of you, my siblings in Christ, in your discernment, your doubt, your resilient hope. I think of the ways you have made do, stretching yourself to understand new technologies when the world shut down, making the hard and faithful decisions to sell or keep your building, to close or trust new vision.

I think of friends in places where the church is thriving as they share the message of Christ’s peace that powerfully confronts cultural norms. I think of the conditions many of our members are living in as they cling to faith to sustain daily life—food insecurity, lower caste, or systemic oppression. I think of those moving through each day after significant loss, where normal no longer exists. Courage.

Nothing about authentic discipleship right now doesn’t summon our courage.

The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37) has been a faithful and challenging companion as we develop this theme. Especially amid the hostility of the world today, are we willing to risk being present to another’s suffering? Do we dare reach beyond our differences with radically open hearts to tend the wounds of those laying by

the roadside, to touch them with our own hands and put them on our own donkeys, to pay for their care with our own money, to return and look after them?

I’m excited and hesitant to explore all the implications and invitations of this powerful story for our lives and world today as we prepare and gather for World Conference. What might it reveal to us? What will courage require?

When we opened the conversation about this year’s focus for the Lenten season, Courage fell right in our laps. It arrived with determined ease—a momentum that is forming us as we prepare not just for World Conference, but for life in Christ at those places where worlds are ending. Keeping our hearts open in these places and times, writes Talitha Amadea Aho, “is spiritual work.”

Courage is also a Lenten word. It is a desert-place word, a word for times and places of drought, wilderness, survival, and resistance. It is the word we speak to each other when we most need it, balm and burden, for it can remind us of our true identity and calling. It compels our presence and action in the places of our lives and world that make our palms sweat and knees tremble. Courage is a showing-up-in-what-is-real kind of word. It is a heartpounding, eyes-wide-open word. It is a Christ word, a word of hope.

Inspired by Jan Richardson’s poignant poem, “Blessing When the World is Ending,” Talitha Amadea Aho writes about what spiritual care looks like when worlds are ending:

Don’t fool yourself with worrying about how the apocalypse is coming. It is here. Somewhere the world has ended with a million-acre fire. Here it has ended with rising sea level; there, with a long slow drought. Somewhere close to you it has ended with COVID-19 sweeping through a nursing home... or a prison.

—In Deep Waters: Spiritual Care For Young People in a Climate Crisis

She suggests that what young people, and many others, are seeking from the church today is a faith that can build resilience and courage. A faith that empowers us to stay present to the suffering of the world. An edge-of-theworld’s-ending kind of faith. A stopping-on-the-roadsideto-tend-the-wounded kind of faith.

The desert journey of Lent is one of deep faith and courage. Driven by the Spirit into the wilderness (Luke 4), we are confronted with our own hunger and spiritual dryness, our drought of vision, imagination, hope. We are taken to the place of nothingness and no way forward to discover again how God is present beyond what is earned, deserved, successful, or prosperous.

We are taken to the far edges of what we thought we could tolerate and find more resilience than we could have dreamed. Facing down the powers that be with their seductive temptations, we gather our courage with Christ, gazing across a wide horizon of unfamiliar terrain.

It is here that the anointing Spirit comes. The same Spirit that drives Christ to the wilderness drives him to the synagogue with a message of liberation pounding in his chest.

Courage. Courage. Courage.

This is the substance of our faith. We have these stories to remind us of who we are, which may be more important right now than knowing exactly where we are going. And if we are faithful and paying attention, where we are going might be interrupted anyway, as we show mercy to those beaten down by all kinds of oppressive powers and systems along the road.

So, courage to you. Courage to us in this season of preparation. Courage to us in this time of great change. Courage to us as we embody a faith that is real, relevant, and meaningful: a faith that matters. Courage to us at the edges, margins, and ends of the world, where we stand vigil with what is unraveling and present with those who are suffering. Courage to us as we resist false hope and empty promises. Courage to us to live the heart of the gospel, where it is needed most—now and together.

This is not just another theme. It is spiritual work, and we are up to the task. Speak this word to one another, and let it settle into your bones and being for the work of transformation we already are in.

Courage, courage, courage. LOOKING AHEAD

The March/April Herald will help congregations celebrate Christianity’s defining event, Easter.

GET TO KNOW Katie Harmon-McLaughlin

Pronouns: she/her Congregation: Cornerstone Priesthood: high priest Jobs: director of Formation Ministries