Context Is Everything

      And context is an often overlooked factor for churches!  Usually, it is mostly when doing mission studies or transitional self-studies or trying to find a date that doesn’t conflict with events in the community when “context” rises to the level of consciousness for most congregations.

      Here’s an interesting context:  as the children attending the Community Nursery School downstairs arrive past the pastor’s study window or come tumbling out at day’s end, they’re speaking maybe a dozen different languages with their families.  And you hear all the world’s languages on the school campuses and on the Commons and at Wegmans and walking by you in cell phone conversations around town.  It is simply that First Congregational sits in an international community with diverse tongues.  That is an unusual context.

      Here’s an interesting context: modern U.S. culture is pluralistic, diverse, and much less accommodating to religious observance.  Most of the world’s major religions are here, which is also a significant context, of course.  But all of us worship and live in the larger social environment where soccer (football), hockey, football (American), and a dozen other games and competitions and practices encroach on times once sacrosanct.  For many of us, church is no longer the primary affiliation, but just one of many organizations and activities in which we participate.  That’s a new… and inevitable… context.

      Here’s an interesting context: for all the affluence around the church building, we know (because we drive through Ithaca and Tompkins County) that the median family income is $49k with close to and that the poverty threshold for a family of four is about $23k and that about a quarter of county residents are near or below the poverty level.  The median for Cayuga Heights is $89k.  Uneven economic conditions are an uncomfortable context.

      Here’s an interesting context: we have twice the percentage of young adults in our community as the national average.  No big surprise for a town with a major university and a college.  With 18.2%, Cayuga Heights has the highest percentage of doctorate degrees in the country, by one listing.  Los Alamos has 11.7%.  We are also one of the major centers of animal sciences and have nationally respected schools of all sorts.  So the academic industry is a singular context for us.

     This Sunday as part of our all-church self-study, we will review our community contexts (contexts, plural) to see both how they shape First Congregational and how First Congregational can serve our broader neighborhood and the people in it.

     Please join us as we look around us at our community.  We will also catch up a few things on our timeline, particularly recent years.  Even if you cannot stay for the discussion, please stay long enough to have lunch with each other!

                                                                                       In Christ,
                                                                                     
                                                                                        David

Texts For Sunday Worship:
From the Hebrew Bible          Joel 2:23-32
From the Epistles                  2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
From the Gospels                  Luke 18:9-14