Thoughts From Your Regional Minister Article
Published in the March 2023 Kansas Messenger
By Rev. Ken Marston,
Co-Regional Minister for the Christian Church in Kansas (DOC)
To all companions of The Way, who make up the communities of faith within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Kansas, I send you greetings in the name of the one who is our guide, our strength, our healer and our sustainer.
I am grateful for the ministry, the witness, and the lives you are living to make visible the Kindom of Heaven here on earth as it already exists in heaven. For this is the work that we have been called to do when we were called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. I am honored that I get to walk beside you and provide what encouragement and counsel God has given me to share. This has been my great joy for these past fifteen years and, God willing, my joy for years to come.
As you already know we live in peculiar and precarious times. There are forces we deal with daily that threaten our witness and our way of life of loving others as God has already loved us (John 13:34-35). Space does not permit me to name all these forces or explore them in depth, but I will name two.
One force we contend with fans the flames of our sense of righteousness and justice. If these flames reach an excess, we can be led to champion only the letter of the law and forget about the spirit of compassion for all that must accompany this work if we are to reflect the love of God. This force is the spirit of Pharisaism that Jesus contended with regularly.
Another force we contend with blinds us to the covenantal and communal nature of our life. This force tries to convince us that our Christian faith is only about our personal relationship with God, and we do not need to relate to each other, or that the congregations we associate with do not need to be connected to a wider community of faith. When we are captured by this force, we can easily be led astray so that we end up committing great acts of evil in the name of God. It is only in being in relationship with others, both individually and communally, that we come to know and live out what it means to love others as God has loved us.
It is my prayer that compassion and covenantal community will be marks of who we are as people of The Way of Jesus.