It was wonderful to welcome Rev. Marilyn Kendrix to CFC this past Sunday March 30th.  Rev. Kendrix preached a powerful sermon on poverty as a community problem and was kind enough to stay after worship to offer a sermon talkback.  If you missed the service, you can always go on our website!

In her sermon, Rev. Kendrix differentiated between charity and justice.  One of the Progressive Christian voices I admire most is (the late) Rev. William Sloane Coffin.  You have heard me quote Rev. Coffin many times from the pulpit!  Coffin once reflected, “Had I but one wish for the churches of America I think it would be that they come to see the difference between charity and justice.  Charity is a matter of personal attributes; justice, a matter of public policy.  Charity seeks to alleviate the effects of injustice; justice seeks to eliminate the causes of it.  Charity in no way affects the status quo, while justice leads inevitably to political confrontation.  Especially I would hope that Christians would see that the compassion that moved the Good Samaritan to act charitably—that same compassion prompted biblical prophets to confront injustice, to speak truth to power, as did Jesus, who, though more than a prophet, was certainly nothing less.”* 

Our congregation excels at charity!  Last year alone we donated $22,099.14 to other non-profit organizations.  Keeping in mind that Colchester Federated Church is also a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and we do a whole lot of good for our community. Every week our monetary offerings are blessed and so is the food that we donate to the Colchester Food Bank to help our neighbors. Even now, we are in the midst of our Lenten collection to show forth compassion for our neighbors in Hartford through the hygiene kits Officer Barrett can distribute. 

All of this (and so much more) that we already do is wonderful.  This is all work of charity, seeking to alleviate the effects of injustice.  The work of justice is harder because that work addresses the causes of human suffering.  The work of justice would be asking different questions.  That work raises issues like the lack of affordable housing in Connecticut which leads to homelessness in the first place.

So, where do we go from here as a congregation? 
I hope we continue having conversations to figure out how best we can be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in Colchester and beyond.
Maybe we begin with a book study using one of the resources Rev. Kendrix shared.  (Personally, I ordered White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class can Reconstruct American Democracy by Rev. Dr. William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove to better educate myself).
Maybe we form a Social Justice Team (just like our church once had an Open and Affirming Team) to be intentional about taking next steps.
Maybe we look to partner with other organizations who are already doing some of this work locally. 
Maybe you have other ideas, and I encourage you to share them with Diaconate as we all discern next steps together. 

I am grateful for our congregation and for the good we already do and can continue to do, together. 

Love,
Pastor Lauren 

*William Sloane Coffin, Credo, pgs. 62-63.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Thursday Thoughts 4/3/25