Hi First Presbyterian,
For many months now, the Strategic Communications Committee (SCC) has been hard at work trying to ensure the clarity and effectiveness of our church’s communication with its members and with the wider community. One of those efforts has been to create a tagline for our congregation. Sometimes people confuse a mission statement for a tagline. A mission statement is an expression of a shared goal; it’s what we believe our purpose as a congregation is. A tagline is different. A tagline is a short, pithy, and memorable expression that summarizes our mission statement and is useful for “telling our story.” It accompanies our name on our website, our official letterhead, on social media, and everywhere else our name is known. The SCC went through various iterations of a tagline before settling on one. Last night, the Session adopted the following tagline: Embracing and Sharing Christ’s Love. Let me explain the message behind this tagline.
Jesus said that the most important things God asks of us are to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Everything we do as a community of faith, from interpreting scripture to the way we organize ourselves as a community, should be viewed through this lens of love for God and love for one another. That’s why First Presbyterian Church is about embracing and sharing Christ’s love.
When you think about an embrace, it’s something that should involve two people. It is about allowing yourself to be embraced, while also embracing the one who embraces you. Just think about how awkward a hug would be if only one person was actively engaging in it! We believe that God is reaching out to embrace us and, indeed, does embrace us. God’s love for us is unconditional and without limit. Our purpose in life is to reciprocate God’s embrace of us with our own embrace of God. We do this at First Presbyterian in our worship. The purpose of worship is to celebrate and embrace God and God’s love of us in Christ. This is the most important thing we do as a church.
There’s another important aspect of this embrace of God. All 8 billion people alive on the earth, as well as those who ever lived and those who ever will live, are made in God’s image. In other words, whatever is in us that is good and kind and faithful and loving is the fingerprint of God in our lives. It is a reflection of God’s own self. It is evidence that we are made in God’s image. By embracing Christ’s love, we are not only embracing that love as it is expressed to us directly from God but we are embracing that love as it is expressed to us through one another. We seek to treat one another with dignity, respect, humility, and love, because we see the image of God in each other and desire to embrace it. We do this at First Presbyterian in our prayer groups, Bible Study groups, Presbyterian Women circles, Sunday School, youth group, fellowship times, and other small group meetings. We are a community, which means we believe that everyone belongs together. Our embrace of Christ’s love in each other allows us to have unity despite our differences.
It is a fundamental part of our faith to also share Christ’s love. 1 John 4:19 says that we love because God first loved us. Once we become aware that we are recipients of Christ’s love, we cannot keep it to ourselves. Every time we show mercy and compassion, we share Christ’s love. Every time we serve those in need, we share Christ’s love. Every time we tell someone about their inherent value, we share Christ’s love. We do this at First Presbyterian through our care-giving groups, our missional efforts, and our evangelism.
At First Presbyterian Church, embracing and sharing Christ’s love is the way we follow the teaching of Jesus to love God and to love one another.
Peace to you,
Pastor Aaron