Our identity is very important. Identity gives us roots, a sense of connectedness and community. Knowing where we came from helps us to know where we are headed. It helps us to focus not just in the present, but for the future. There are two ways of speaking about identity, one by name, and the other by function. Byname, Calvary is known in the Bible as the place whereJesus was crucified. It is associated with a place of death, but if we read the scriptures closely, Calvary was also a place of new life. It is associated with a place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there."
(John 19:41 & 42) It was in this same garden that the risen Christ walked and talked with Mary Magdalene on that first Easter morning. Identity by function, describes what we do. All churches have the same calling, to make disciples, to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach. We are to tell the story of God's love and to be the living body of Christ in the world, but all of us go about doing that in different ways. Here's our challenge. I challenge us to come up with a simple mission statement that tells people who we are. Here's mine. Calvary United Church of Christ: Loving God by Serving Neighbor. Who do you think we are? Think prayerfully about who we are, and who we want to be to our local and global community. Then submit your mission statement to the office by the end of July. We'll compile them and vote on them. Once we have chosen our statement, we'll put it on everything, our bulletin, our Caller, our letterhead... As my father use to say, "If you don't blow your own horn, nobody is going to blow it for you." It's time to focus forward and let people know who we are. Pastor McGary
PASTOR’S REPORT