On Lawn Care

I just mowed the lawn. I’d like to say that I cut the grass, but that would exclude the weeds that predominate my lawn. The clovers intertwine with the forget-me-nots and the brilliant yellow dandelions.

My brother in law, Karl, would be horrified. He doesn’t allow anything but pure grass in his lawn. It’s even the same kind of grass. He sharpens his mower blades every couple of weeks. (I haven’t done mine yet this year…or last, for that matter.)

As I was pondering these things, I got to thinking about standards. Now, I like a nice neat lawn, but I don’t care about whether the lawn is grassy or weedy. So, I do have standards, even though my brother in law would disagree.

A couple of weeks ago at the UCC History & Polity class that my colleague Marian Shearer and I have been teaching, one of the participants became quite frustrated. We were talking about how the United Church of Christ is a covenantal church not a creedal church. She understood this part, but then became suddenly rather piqued and asked, “But what do we believe? Do we have any beliefs? What are they if we can’t put them in a creed?”

Standards. How we define them, that’s the rub. Our standards are based upon our values and beliefs. Even more, when we talk about living up to certain standards, it feels like we’re really talking about perfection. Scriptures tell us that only God is perfect. They also tell us (from the teachings of Christ) that we should be perfect as God is perfect (Matt. 5:48).

Being perfect, living up to standards of perfection, is very difficult. It’s also a “movable goal post”. What is perfect for one is not for another (as Karl’s view of perfect lawn care is different from mine).

For a church that bases its life together upon a creed perfection is different than for the church that bases its life together upon a covenant. For the creedal church there are clear standards of belief. There are Books of Order that govern all of congregational and denominational life. Expectations of the clergy are very clear. Their rights and responsibilities are well defined.

For a church that bases its life together upon a covenant perfection has much more to do with relationships than beliefs. There are frameworks of faith within which congregations operate, but these are put forth to nurture relationships with other persons of faith, other congregations, other settings of the beyond the local church.

My response to the member of the polity class was that, for the UCC, covenant is our creed, it’s our operating doctrine, our core value and belief. As people of faith we bind ourselves to one another to walk together in all God’s ways. This approach can produce confusion and frustration. It also allows for diversity within our faith perspective that can produce new and vibrant expressions of our unity in Christ.

We’re not a neat expression of faith, but we’re at least interesting. It’s like my other brother-in-law, John. He cares about keeping his lawn nice. He cares more for his two Golden Retrievers. They love romping around the back yard so much that they’ve left a rather large spot of hard dirt where grass should be.

This spring John decided on a new plan of action. He fenced off the bare section of his lawn and planted grass seed. The fence was high enough that the dogs couldn’t jump over it. Last weekend during a quick visit, we looked out and saw “Maisy” playing inside the “protected” section of the lawn. She had dug under the fence to get in.

John likes a neat lawn. But he loves his dogs. My guess is that the fence will be short-lived. John loves his dogs.

Loving is not neat, but it sure is interesting.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles

Please continue to keep Emmanuel UCC, Massena in your prayers. Lightening struck the church at approximately 3:00 PM yesterday (May 10). The ensuing fire destroyed the building. It is a total loss. We will try to keep you informed about how to help. Click on this link to see a video news report of the fire. http://www.news10now.com/shared/video/video_pop.asp?destlist=61109