 Mid-Week Lenten Thoughts from Jamie
A few more thoughts about Bible (a few more thoughts about the March 23, 2025, sermon) The Bible is a library, a written collection of how people understood God’s interaction with them in the world. Much of it is history: even the prophets’ writings reflect what was happening in their world. It’s not all history, though. Stories from the earliest days were handed down from the old to the young, from religious leaders to those who followed the religion. Word of mouth was the conductor of these tales of the earliest parents of our faith, until they began to be collected in writings. Even the books attributed to Moses show signs of being tampered with somewhere along the way, with different linguistic styles and even different names for God (for example, the names for God, Yahweh and Elohim, demonstrate two different strands of origin, one being a bit more “priestly,” and the other being more “folksy,” respectively). When it comes to the Law, or what we call the 613 commandments, we find the basis for many of our laws even today. Called the “Judeo-Christian” tradition, ideas like equity for all people under the law and punishment that fits the crime are both found in these commandments. I don’t believe that there is any such thing as a “biblical literalist.” First, to believe the Bible literally would mean that one would have to have access to the original document(s); then, one would have to read Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic fluently enough to understand them 100% of the time; and one would also have to have a strong working knowledge of the cultures from which the biblical writings emerged. I know there are even more conditions than these, but those are nit-picky compared to these three big ones. Our Jewish parents in faith had a much more flexible understanding of the scriptures. Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish professor of New Testament at Vanderbilt Divinity School, argues that rabbis were used to approaching the scriptures from a less literal standpoint, finding explanations for questions in a creative fashion. For instance, how did Adam and Eve’s sons find wives? The rabbis said, “Well, God created this other woman, Lilith, and she gave birth to the daughters.” Of course, the rabbis argued about this, and there were other explanations as well. The thing is, biblical discussions did not hinge on absolute answers. Levine also says, “The Bible teaches us which questions to ask.” You have heard me say many times that I believe the Bible to be a conversation between God and us. Sometimes, the conversation seems irrelevant to our lives; at others, the conversation never takes place at all, because we don’t bother with it, deciding that “the Bible said it, I believe it, that settles it:” and at still others, we wonder if the Bible should be interpreted a little more loosely (or not at all). Two examples of this: Jesus taught that we should “turn the other cheek.” I had a Sunday School teacher who actually said, “Jesus doesn’t expect us to do this.” Yikes! Jesus also taught that divorce was a sin: I still recall how upset my family was over the impending divorce of good friends of theirs, even stating that they would not be able to come back to church (and, as I recall, they didn’t). Yet over the years, because of society’s acceptance of divorce, we have, in our hearts, re-written, if not Jesus’ commandments, at least our understanding of these two sayings. I love the Bible. Being a historian at heart, the stories themselves keep me enthralled. I’ve never been a legalist, so the Law doesn’t interest me. St. Paul says that the Law came to fulfillment in Jesus, and I was taught that he supersedes all laws (I am thankful for this, as I eat shellfish as often as possible – against the Law of Moses – and have been known to eat swordfish as well as escargot). The example of swordfish, by the way, shows how the rabbis changed the Law when it was discovered that swordfish only had scales (scales were what defined “fish,” which were Kosher to eat) when they are young; mature swordfish don’t, which meant changing the Kosher – read “part of the 613 commandments” – to exclude the eating of swordfish. Reading the Bible is never enough. After reading it, we consciously or unconsciously decide how then we are going to live. I believe that God allows us to expand our understanding of how we are to live rather than condemning us Sfor trying to live faithfully within whatever culture we live and work and play.
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 A few more thoughts about Church
(a few more thoughts about the March 16, 2025, sermon) When I was in college, “church” referred to an institution whose identity and practices were pretty much set in stone. However, for many of my peers and I, “church” should not have been some of the things it had become. When Emperor Constantine made Christianity the legal religion of the Roman Empire in 313 via the Edict of Milan, he set the stage for leaders for centuries to come: the use of Christianity for political purposes. Many scholars find Constantine’s reasons for the legalization suspect; Christians of his own time left the churches in the cities to join monasteries, especially in the north African and Palestinian deserts, because they felt that legalization would “water down” the church and cause it to compromise its more radical beliefs in order to “fit in” with the rest of society. People would become Christians not because of their convictions but because it was the thing to do. One of the things that the church is always called to do is to speak truth to power, no matter who that power is. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other German ministers stood against Hitler in spite of the danger to their lives. Ministers in the old USSR and communist China lost their freedom and sometimes their lives as they sought to practice faith in spite of their governments’ denial of religious rights. H. Richard Niebuhr’s classic book, Christ and Culture, examines five possible ways that the church has related to culture. I have “adjusted” his definitions because ultimately, “church” stands for Christ in the world. Sorry for it sounding so much like a seminary paper: it was! 1. Church against culture: loyalty to Christ and the church entails a rejection of culture and societal values. The church stands against culture to the extent that it judges it and finds it wanting, offering an alternative in keeping with the teachings of Jesu; thus, monasteries and other communal living styles developed along the lines of the early church depicted in Acts. 2. Church of culture: loyalty to culture trumps loyalty to Christ, to the point the New Testament Jesus gets replaced with an idol that shares his name. The church becomes so ensconced within culture that it creates a completely different religion from that of Jesus of Nazareth. 3. Church above culture: Niebuhr says that this is the dominant voice of church history, in which the problem is between God and humanity rather than God and the world. This is a little confusing. What it basically means is that the church deals with human sin in individuals rather than the sin of the culture and society. The downside to this view is the institutionalization of Church and gospel, as well as the tendency to make absolute what is relative, reduce the infinite to finite form, and materialize what is dynamic. In other words, church shapes itself somewhat to culture rather than standing as a separate entity all the time – there’s a synthesis of church and culture, some of it good, some of it not. 4. Church and Culture in paradox position: humanity is living in sin, but grace comes from God. St. Paul speaks some of this, and Martin Luther and Soren Kierkegaard followed him. The two opposites, sin and grace, are found in tension with each other, although God ultimately wins. But sometimes, the church can almost go back to the “church against culture” model. 5. Church as transformer of culture: all of culture is under the judgment of God, and yet culture is also under God’s sovereign (and benevolent) rule. Emphasizing the goodness of creation, this “conversionist” approach affirms what can be affirmed in culture and seeks to transform what is corrupted by sin and selfishness. I think it’s important to understand that the church exists in the world. How we see our relationship to worldly values depends on where we fall in one of these 5 categories. I have found myself holding almost all of these at one time or another. The church should always be in flux, seeking ways to be faithful in the world while adhering to higher values and standards. Rev. Jamie  Mid-Week Lenten Thoughts from Jamie
A Few More Thoughts about God One of the things I usually say about God is that God is not an old, white man. God is, especially, not Santa Claus in a robe instead of in a red suit. God is not a man or a woman, for that matter. One of the ways that we can think about God in a realistic sense is to go beyond our images of people and try to consider that God is spirit. Of course, that makes God really hard to visualize, but it also frees up our concepts of God to allow them to be bigger and deeper than what we may have considered before! God is love. Even in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament), while God is sometimes portrayed in the human style of being angry, there are plenty of references to God’s love for people. God is referred to as a shepherd, for instance; it’s one of the most endearing and attractive pictures of God in the whole Bible! The prophets, admittedly, talk about God’s anger with people’s failure to treat each other with justice, fairness and kindness, but they also portray a deity who is angry because of offered love that is rejected time and again. However, forgiveness is always possible in these depictions of God. I try to remember that God is omniscient, that God knows everything. When we pray, if we can remember that God knows what we are talking about even before we utter anything, perhaps our prayers could look more like a comfortable friendship where not many words are necessary, where just “being with God” is enough. God is more than we can imagine! Theologians have argued for centuries about whether or not God changes. I don’t see what the attraction is to a stagnant being who doesn’t ever change its mind! If God doesn’t change, why do we pray? Don’t most of us at one time or another ask God to change, to ease up on us or those we love, to bring peace to the world, to help the poor? Our understanding of God must grow with us. God is revealing things to us all the time if we are awake and aware. Go stand outside on a clear, starry night and see if you don’t experience some of the hugeness of God. Stand on a mountaintop with waves upon waves of mountains before you and realize just how big God is. Walk on a dark beach at night, with the deafening sound of waves crashing and feel what it is to be in awe of power and might. Our vision of God needs to grow and change. It’s a constant challenge in our spiritual walk. There’s so much more to say about God than you want to read here. This Lent, one thing to give up is a limited understanding of God. If God is doing a new thing, as Isaiah 43: 19 says, then possibly, that new thing is continuing. The old has passed away, St. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians. If God is doing it, we can be part of it!  What does being a “Green Chalice congregation” mean? And what is Green Chalice?
Green Chalice is an environmental committee made up of DOC members that works to improve their church’s environmental education, eco-friendliness, and pollution reduction. The mission of Green Chalice is to connect Christian faith, spiritual practice, and creation consciousness in order to demonstrate the fullness of God’s peace. The main goal is to have each Green Chalice DOC church be carbon neutral by 2030 and completely carbon negative by 2035. This will allow us as Christians, to better follow what the Bible says about caring for all of creation, and will also allow us as humans to ease the environmental damage that we are contributing to the Earth. Both creation care and carbon goals are very important, but why exactly are they important to others? Why do we need the whole congregation involved? Why can’t the Green Chalice chapters just handle it themselves? There’s a very simple reason. It's that we need every single FCC member to think and act on environmental matters. And that’s because it’s what God would want us to do. He would want us all to understand and solve issues that include the Earth. Because He gave humans the world to care for and do good in. As it says in Micah 6:8, we strive to “do justice” and live out our faith by caring for God’s creation. Some of the problems and questions that your Green Chalice committee here at First Christian are tackling right now are: paper use reduction, carbon footprint calculations, food waste solutions, and increasing lighting efficiency. There will be many more eco-friendly decisions to be made, and we want you to be a part of helping our church improve itself environmentally. Interested in joining or listening to a meeting? We meet every 2nd Tuesday each month at 6:30 pm, in the Fellowship hall. Here are a couple things you can do right now, to move FCC further down the path to being the best green church we can. · Use the QR bulletin scanner located in the narthex instead of a paper bulletin. This will not only save the church paper and money, but also keep more trees alive. · Place your paper bulletin in the recycle box, so we can prevent it from being thrown away after its use. Recycling keeps loads of useful materials out of landfills! · Carpool or share a ride with FCC friends to service and other church events. This will lessen both your gas usage and carbon footprint when going places! And if you’re interested in how you can help or would like to learn more about our Green Chalice Committee, contact me. My email is [email protected]. I’m happy to help and answer any questions you have! Thanks, -Roy Henderson, Green Chalice Committee chair Minister’s Corner Fear Not, The End
I’ve been talking about the unsettling nature of this political season for a few months now. The good news is that, in theory at least, the finish line is in sight. I remind you again that as the birth of Christ approached, “Be Not Afraid” was the common refrain. It was an uneasy world then, as it is now. Once the birth occurred, the culmination of all those “Fear Nots” was the proclamation of “peace on Earth” to the shepherds in the fields. I hope you join me in the prayer that after the rancor of this divisive election, we all might experience some peace. Peace, Scott Sanctuary Space On election night, no matter the outcome, some of you will be happy and relieved while others will be distraught. Watching the returns can be stressful. Waking up to reality can be gut wrenching. For that reason, I am committed to opening our sanctuary on election night, November 5, from 6:30-8:30 pm and on the following morning, November 6 from 9:00-11:00 am. At that time, the sanctuary will be just that, a sanctuary that offers calm and peace—a nonpartisan sanctuary for you to come and pray, light a candle, speak to me, if you wish, unplug from media, and turn to God with your hopes and fears.  In my August column, I warned you against giving into the fear being peddled by political parties and candidates ahead of the election on November 4. I promised that my future columns would serve as reminders—do not be afraid.
I believe that our faith calls us to be involved politically with our world. Like most of you, I land on candidates and decide on issues when I see that they resonate with my own values. Our values are surely shaped by our faith in Jesus Christ. While I do not feel that the government should be in the business of implementing religion, I would expect that all adherents to our faith want to see it reflected in all aspects of our society. So, we should be politically active. Peddling fear, sadly, is very motivating and very effective. I was told by a well-meaning church member in my past that the only way I could grow a church is to start talking about Hell a lot more. While I was happy to prove him wrong, I understood why he said it. Generally, people are more motivated by the fear of the outcome they don’t want than the positive potential of what could be gained by the outcome they do desire. That’s a sad, faithless way to go through life, isn’t it? I’d be really moved by a candidate who could positively tell me why my life/community/country would be better if they were elected, without ever mentioning their opponent. I’ll be waiting for those ads to run. And if I get too tired of waiting, I’ll just stick with Netflix and Apple TV until they start sneaking in political ads. Keep the faith, my friends. That’s a common expression we hear. Only, I mean it quite literally—in the face of negative fearmongering, keep the faith. Our outcome is in the hands of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and no one else. Peace, Scott A Message from our Inclusive Spirit Team
After accepting the role of Chaplain at Barton College I knew I wanted to attend First Christian occasionally to build relationships and learn more about the DOC denomination. This, I thought, would assist with my new role just a few blocks down the street. I did not know that my daughter and I would want to become members. Nor did I know I would become an Elder and part of the Inclusive Spirit team. But God is so very good - ALL the time. The first Sunday I worshiped at First Christian Church I felt like I had been held. My weary faith was barely hanging on after the tumultuous times of Covid and the passing of my mother. I was also frustrated with and hurt by my current church for not, yet, fully accepting the LGBTQ+ community. Walking into FCC I received a warm welcome from folks I did not know. The music, liturgy, and message reminded me that God is love and God is with us. And Communion every Sunday? Yes, please! Upon my exit I noticed the thoughtful placement of reusable shopping bags, messages of taking care of what God has gifted us and literature speaking of an accepting theology complete with colorful rainbows. All of these align with what I know to be True. Over the next few months I attended and would bring along family members. Emory, my teenage daughter, felt as held as I did. She was able to see kindred spirits not only attending worship but also being celebrated and having leadership roles. Thank you FCC! So, when asked to be a part of a group to help our church become officially Open & Affirming how could I not? This holy place is helping heal many weary faiths, mine included. We are already doing this Kingdom work. May we continue. May we, together, adopt an official Open and Affirming statement to ensure that others know and trust God’s unlimited love, through Jesus the Christ, by way of the Holy Spirit. God bless you and keep you all of your days. With love and prayers, Alysun Skinner Dear Members of the First Christian Church Board,
As our church continues to navigate our journey of faith for wholeness in a fragmented world, the ad hoc team for Inclusive Spirit is proposing an important step forward for our congregation. It is with great enthusiasm and commitment that we present to you the proposal for First Christian Church Wilson, NC to officially become an Open and Affirming congregation. Did you already think we were Open and Affirming? So did a few of us! For many years, our church has embraced the principles of inclusivity, acceptance, and love for all. We have strived to create a welcoming and supportive environment where everyone feels valued and respected. However, despite our longstanding practice of inclusivity, we have yet to formalize our commitment through an official Open and Affirming declaration. By becoming an Open and Affirming congregation, we have the opportunity to reaffirm our dedication to the values of love, compassion, and justice that lie at the heart of our Christian faith. This declaration would serve as a public statement of our commitment to embracing and celebrating the diversity of God's creation, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender expression, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective feel safe, valued, and fully included in the life and leadership of our church community. Our Inclusive Spirit ad hoc team includes Theresa Mathis, Tish Scott, Robby Boyette, Stephanie Pridgen, Roy Henderson, Alysun Skinner, and Rev. Scott Schieber. Formally adopting an Open and Affirming stance would not only align with our core values but also reflect the evolving social and cultural landscape in which we live. It will also grant us the opportunity to extend our outreach efforts and engage authentically with marginalized communities both within and beyond our church walls. We believe it is imperative that our church stands as a beacon of light, love, and affirmation, welcoming all, as God has welcomed us. In practical terms, adopting an Open and Affirming designation would involve a process of education, dialogue, and discernment within our congregation. It would require us to engage in meaningful conversations about the theological, ethical, and practical dimensions of inclusion, as well as to address any concerns or questions that may arise among our members. We are currently working on several Summer Gatherings that will include listening and storytelling sessions to share with our congregation over the summer. We are confident that, with your leadership and support, First Christian Church can successfully navigate this process and emerge as a stronger, more vibrant community of faith. By officially embracing our Open and Affirming identity, we have the opportunity to live out the radical love of Christ in tangible ways, transforming hearts and minds, and building a more just and compassionate world for all. Thank you for considering this proposal, and for your ongoing dedication to the mission and ministry of First Christian Church. We look forward to the opportunity to discuss this important matter further and to journey together as we continue to live out God's call to love and serve one another through Jesus the Christ, by way of the Holy Spirit. With gratitude your Inclusive Spirit Team, Theresa Mathis Tish Scott Robby Boyette Roy Henderson Alysun Skinner Stephanie Pridgen Rev. Scott Schieber (ex officio) Minister’s Corner
Mindfulness Psychology Today describes mindfulness as: “…a state of active, open attention to the present. This state is described as observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.” Mindful.com describes mindfulness as “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” I describe it as the simple ability to pay attention to what you are doing. Often, our family will be sitting around the table and eventually, someone takes out their phone and, without getting up from the table, exits the conversation, and my sister scoldingly says, “BE HERE, NOW.” Point taken. And sooner or later, she reaches for her phone, and everyone repeats her refrain. The truth is, we are distracted all the time. I’m frequently distracted while driving, preaching, eating, even sleeping. Being present to others and to ourselves is a rare gift. Mindfulness is something I’d like to explore with you during Lent. There are a lot of things to be mindful of, an exhaustive list that we won’t cover completely. Lent is a season of repentance, a time when we look ourselves in the mirror and task ourselves and each other with turning back and reorienting ourselves to God. To do that requires mindfulness. Here are the themes I’ve landed on for this mindfulness series: Repentance, Self, Creation, Compassion, Wholeness, Community, and Mercy. If we can walk away from Lent more mindful of these things, I’m convinced we will be better people and a better church. Look for an opportunity to participate in a 40-day mindfulness challenge beginning on Valentine’s Day, which is also Ash Wednesday this year. Peace, Scott Each New Year brings the opportunity to set a resolution to make meaningful, positive changes in your life. Many people are skeptical of resolutions; statistics show that, as you might expect, it's easy to say you're going to make a change than to actually do it.
One thing is for sure—2024 is going to bring meaningful, positive change to my life. For one thing, I'll wake up in the morning of January 1 as a resident of Ohio, and go to sleep that night, God willing, as a resident of North Carolina. On January 2, I begin my work as your pastor, at long last. I'm excited, anxious, and yes, a little scared. These are all new things for me, and though I feel like my heart, mind and body are ready, things are going to be different, and that can be hard. Still, I'm so looking forward to getting started and worshiping with you on January 7 (and 14, and 21, and so on). It's an exciting time, for all of us, I hope. In Advent, we talk about hope, peace, joy, and love. The importance of those themes don't fade just because we hang a new calendar on the wall. I'm looking forward to living into those things, together with you, my First Christian family. It's going to be a Happy New Year! Peace, Scott |
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A Disciples of Christ Congregation located in Eastern North Carolina
207 Tarboro Street North | Wilson, NC
Corner of Vance & Tarboro Streets
252-237-4125
Updated: June 16, 2025 | 9:45am
A Disciples of Christ Congregation located in Eastern North Carolina
207 Tarboro Street North | Wilson, NC
Corner of Vance & Tarboro Streets
252-237-4125
Updated: June 16, 2025 | 9:45am
