August 24, 2014 "ON BEING A NON-CONFORMIST"

*AN AFFIRMATION OF FAITH GLEANED FROM ROMANS 10:5-15
We believe, from the very beginning, God poured out goodness, mercy
and love on every living thing, and God continues to do so today.
God’s word is ever near us, on our lips and in our hearts,
for God has written his truth upon our hearts.
We believe with our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord.
We have no doubt that God raised Jesus from the dead.
We are not ashamed to speak for this confession is our salvation.
In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, male or female,
daunted or undaunted, wealthy or poor, oppressed or free. God’s generosity is for all people.
And all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be redeemed.
We believe in the Holy Spirit poured out upon us from birth to death, guiding us through life’s maze of decisions and choices.
We believe in the Church, Christ’s body in the world.
As members of the body we are called to be and to bring the good news
to all who have ears to hear and hearts to receive.
For faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
Thanks be to God!
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
We praise you O God! We praise your name Loving Abba Father, Dearest Son and Wondrous Holy Spirit. We give thanks to you, our most gracious and merciful God, seeking only to please you in word and deed. We confess how very often the world seems to encroach on our best intentions to follow in the Way. Life in this world, in this society, particularly today is by no means simple and, when its complexities threaten to overwhelm us, we confess how easy it is to put our faith on hold or on the back burner where it gets less attention. Help us to overcome the kind of worldly thinking that calcifies or cools faith. Teach us how to embrace non-conformity in our discipleship. We pray in the name of Jesus who, turned the world upside down. Amen.
PREPARING FOR THE OFFERING
When I was a little girl society’s stand-outs —that is those who did not conform to current societal modes of fashion, were call non-conformists. They were Beatniks, like Maynard G. Krebs on Dobie Gillis. But even I took note that the Beatniks all sort of dressed alike, so you’d know who was a Beatnik and who wasn’t. Later on, Hippies also followed a uniform dress code as did and do Preppies to this day. Because they conform in their fashion statements, they are easily identifiable. Non-conformist historically was the name applied to Protestant Christians who would not "conform" to the governance and usages of the established Church of England. Also called dissenters– like the Puritans who violated the Act of Uniformity in 1559 through their separatist practices — by the 19th century the list of religious non-conformists included Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists and Methodists. Wow, perhaps we ought to give thanks for those practicing non-conformists; without them we might not be here today.