By Pastor Liz
When Tabor was looking for a pastor, and described the church to prospective pastors, a detail struck me as telling – something like, “We don’t want to be big; we like who we are.”
Sure enough, when you come to Tabor Presbyterian you experience an air of comfort but without a whiff of aloof. When we strike a balance, and a theologically serious balance, we may, in fact, model two important ingredients of faith — confidence and humility. That is what we see in Jesus. His confidence equipped him and his humility saved us. (See Philippians 2:6-8)
When the timing or company is right, I sometimes share a quip about Tabor I’ve come to appreciate — it’s not for everyone. What we mean by that is: we understand we can’t be all things to all people. Our hearts and arms are open, and we also know that some people need more, or different things, than what they will find at Tabor, or within the theological framework of the PC(USA).
There are so many churches! Finding a people with whom to journey spiritually can take time. Relationships require trust, and trust matters. First, we trust in our relationship with the Holy One, who never forsakes. We also trust in more than our own understanding. As a confessional church, we don’t delude ourselves — while we are capable of greatness, we are also capable of great harm. Every service includes a recognition of our need to take the plank out of our own eye. Nevertheless, we begin worship always with joy and praise, because we come accepting our acceptance, the love we find in Christ Jesus.
The apostle Paul, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, references the eternal hallmarks of the kingdom – faith, hope and love. But he says more. He adds, “But the greatest of these is love.” Love undergirds our confidence and safeguards us from hubris! At Tabor we understand love by looking to Jesus. For Jesus, love isn’t just a feeling; love has feet and arms, takes risks, crosses barriers and exposes idols. Jesus shows us who to love, what to love, how to love and why we love.
As a Matthew 25 congregation, we live out the Gospel not in charity or obligation but because in loving our neighbor, we are loving God, in building relationships with others, we are meeting Christ himself.