JOHN 16:12-13
JOHN 17:20-23
Gordon E. Ellis
June 24, 2007
WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THE U.C.C. ?
Happy birthday, United Church of Christ! You’re 50 years old! Actually, I SHOULD say, “WE are 50 years old,” because YOU is US! SO, happy birthday to US! Oh, I know, 50 years is not that OLD compared to the age of our PARENT denominations. Our Congregational heritage in THIS church goes back to the 16th Century. But 50 years IS quite a MILESTONE! I was only 6 when we were BORN, and I remember absolutely NOTHING about our birth. Oh, I have a few teenage memories of some of our LOCAL saints in the UCC: Carmel Hastings and Vern Liberty, Paul Clayton and Ed Roberts. But MOST of my memories began in college, in the early 70’s. Those were troubled and troubling times as our land adjusted to our new Civil Rights legislation, experienced a SEXUAL revolution, and became DIVIDED over the Vietnam War.
Those were ALSO troubling days for churches, following their HEYDAY in the postwar 1950’s. And they were ESPECIALLY rough for the United Church of Christ. We LOST many MEMBERS, and even CHURCHES, during that time because, AS ALWAYS when it comes to PEACE, JUSTICE and EQUALITY, WE were right there on front lines of the struggle, raising up ISSUES, stirring up TENSIONS, and standing UP for what is RIGHT and GOOD, JUST and EQUITABLE. And that’s ALWAYS been our ROLE as a church, hasn’t it? THAT’S why we have a LEGACY in the United Church of Christ, of being a church of FIRSTS: the FIRST church to ordain a freed Black SLAVE into Christian ministry, the FIRST church to ordain a WOMAN, and the FIRST church to ordain an openly GAY person. Looking back FURTHER, we were ALSO the FIRST church to openly defy the BRITISH. When we were still just a British COLONY, WE threw TEA into the Boston Harbor, AND preached REVOLUTION from our PULPITS. No, WE in the United Church of Christ never WAIT for justice to become FASHIONABLE! We ALWAYS step out in faith, ahead of the curve, and make HISTORY by our COURAGE. And almost without EXCEPTION, the world EVENTUALLY comes around to OUR way of thinking! SO, we AREN’T just 50 years OLD! WE are 50 years BOLD! And THAT’S something that I, for ONE, am VERY proud of! Oh, SOME people don’t LOVE us for that, of course! But if we REALLY follow JESUS, we soon REALIZE that HE had that same PASSION for TRUTH and JUSTICE, EQUITY and PEACE. SO, what does it MEAN, then, to be a DISCIPLE of Jesus? And we ARE! SO, what’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?
We’ve ALSO believed since the very beginning that God is STILL speaking! No, that’s NOT some trendy new SLOGAN that somebody just came UP with. It’s a MESSAGE that’s as OLD as WE are! It actually comes from TWO sources! First, it comes from something that Pastor John Robinson of the PILGRIMS said to our Pilgrim ANCESTORS as they set sail from HOLLAND for the New World in 1620. He said: GOD hath yet more TRUTH and LIGHT to break FORTH from God’s Holy WORD! In OTHER words: GOD is STILL speaking! The scriptures are still REVEALING God’s TRUTH and LIGHT in the face of the NEW issues, the NEW problems and the NEW challenges facing EVERY new AGE and generation.
The idea that God is still speaking ALSO harkens back to the 16th Century, when the great Protestant REFORMER, John Calvin, talked about how EVERY individual has the RIGHT, and even the RESPONSIBILITY, to engage and interpret the scriptures for HERSELF, or himself. Now, Calvin wasn’t giving us LICENSE to interpret the scriptures in light of today’s “anything goes” mentality -- our cultural RELATIVISM. NO! HE just wanted people to know that we don’t NEED to check our BRAINS at the DOOR on our way into CHURCH. OURS is MEANT to be a THINKING person’s church. YES, we are SHAPED by the tradition and teachings of ALL who came before us, but we ALSO have to READ and interpret the scriptures for OURSELVES, and be OPEN to the movement of the Holy Spirit, who enables EACH of us to interpret scriptures in NEW and BOLD ways, JUST as JESUS did when HE re-interpreted the HEBREW scriptures to the SCRIBES and Pharisees OPPOSING Him. Yes, WE believe that God is STILL speaking! A LOT of churches don’t SAY that, DO they? THEY make the Bible a HITCHING post instead of SIGN post! SO, how BLESSED are WE to be PART of a church that DOES believe that God is STILL speaking! So, TELL me: What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC? Now, I WANT you to say it BACK to me! What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?
We’re ALSO a very DEMOCRATIC church, whose MEMBERS are allowed to DECIDE our OWN ministries and missions, our OWN policies and budgets and staff members, and EVEN our OWN future DIRECTION and GOALS. In so MANY churches, the members are just TOLD these things from “on high” somewhere! But NOT in our United Church of Christ! So TELL me: …. Come on! Let’s hear you SAY it: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
We’re ALSO a church where we don’t TELL people EXACTLY what they have to BELIEVE, as MANY churches do, IF you want to be PART of them. And therefore, in THIS church, we have all SORTS of variations and NUANCES of BELIEF! And BECAUSE of that, there are all sorts of CONVICTIONS regarding the major ISSUES of the day! And thankfully, that’s OK! It’s OK if you’re PRO-LIFE here, AND it’s OK if you’re PRO-CHOICE here! It’s OK if you support gay MARRIAGE here, and it’s EQUALLY OK if you DON’T. However, even though we may not always AGREE with each other, we CAN and DO still LOVE each other, and still CARE for each other’s NEEDS as Christian SISTERS and brothers! And friends, how WONDERFUL is THAT? So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
The UCC is ALSO a church with a RADICAL welcome! It doesn’t matter WHO you are, or WHERE you are on life’s JOURNEY, you’re MOST welcome HERE! In fact, we WANT you to be here! And REGARDLESS of your AGE, your NATIONALITY, your PAST mistakes, or your STANDING in the community, you are MOST welcome at OUR table of Communion, the most SACRED sacrament in our church! WHY? Because from ABRAHAM to BARNABAS, the Bible is just FULL of EXAMPLES of RADICAL hospitality and welcome! However, MANY churches DON’T welcome CERTAIN kinds of people. OR, they have IN groups, and CLOSED doors. And they DON’T work at being ACCESSIBLE, either PHYSICALLY, or SOCIALLY, or in the LANGUAGE they use. BUT, in the United Church of Christ, we DO work at it, because WE want to welcome EVERYBODY! ALL are WELCOME here! SO, tell me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
Also in the UCC, we have IMMENSE compassion for those who SUFFER. OUR ancestors were LEADERS in the HOSPITAL movement, the HOSPICE movement, the movement to provide PUBLIC education to EVERY citizen, the movement abolish SLAVERY, the foreign MISSION movement, the CIVIL Rights movement, the HUMAN Rights movement, the anti-NUCLEAR movement, the ENVIRONMENTAL movement, and so many MORE! We are ALWAYS responding to the suffering of ANY of God’s creatures, whether it’s caused by natural disaster or by humanity’s INHUMANITY. Like Jesus with so MANY people during His ministry, WHEREVER we witness SUFFERING, the HEART of our United Church of Christ goes OUT to those PEOPLE and creatures, and we begin working HARD to ALLEVIATE it! SO, tell me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
We’re ALSO a UNITING church! WE work very HARD to break DOWN barriers and WALLS of division and difference! Whether it’s working together ecumenically with other CHRISTIAN denominations, OR whether it’s working at an INTERFAITH level with people of other FAITHS, OURS is a church that SEES and CELEBRATES the commonalities that UNITE us, rather than the DIFFERENCES that DIVIDE us. Friends, WE are PEACEMAKERS in this world! And Jesus said: BLESSED are the peacemakers, for THEY will be called CHILDREN of GOD! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
And all THIS is only the BEGINNING! Unlike MANY churches, WE honor and celebrate the leadership of BOTH men and women, gays and straights, and EVERY race and nationality! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
Like most OTHER churches, our U.C.C. is a church where the BIG passages of life are addressed with BAPTISMS and Confirmations, weddings and FUNERALS. We SHARE them in COMMUNITY with our friends. So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
It’s ALSO a church that tells us that MINISTRY in the name of Jesus Christ happens NOT just IN and through the CHURCH! MINISTRY in the name of Jesus Christ happens WHEREVER Christians allow their FAITH to inform their LIVES, and their living: from their homes and families to their workplaces and meetings, from the BOARD room to the BALL field -- THAT’S where we MINISTER. It’s ALL valid! It ALL glorifies God! And WE honor and encourage it ALL! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
Our United Church of Christ is ALSO a church based on COVENANTS, a church built on PROMISES: on our PERSONAL covenant with Christ, on our COVENANT with one another in this LOCAL church, on our covenant with our Central ASSOCIATION and our Connecticut Conference, AND on our COVENANT with our denomination as a whole. Friends, WHERE in this CULTURE anymore do people TAKE each other’s WORD, and BELIEVE each other’s PROMISES? WHERE can we make an AGREEMENT anymore without a LEGAL, written contract? But HERE, your WORD is GOOD! Your PROMISE is BELIEVED! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
You see, my friends: THIS church and our United Church of Christ is US! THAT’S who it IS! It’s YOU and ME! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
Yes, WHO we ARE, and WHAT we want to BE, and WHERE we want OUR church to GO, is UP to US, and GOD, of course! So TELL me: (What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC?)
I’m TELLING you: when I was in SEMINARY, and I had NO strong CONNECTION, or DRAW, to ANY particular denomination (except that my FAVORITE teacher was a Roman CATHOLIC priest – but I was already MARRIED), I LOOKED at a LOT of different denominations. But, I fell in LOVE with only ONE! And THAT’S our United Church of Christ! And as I MADE that decision to MINISTER in our United Church of Christ, ALL I kept thinking was: What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC? That’s RIGHT! What’s NOT to LOVE about the UCC? It’s a FABULOUS, absolutely FABULOUS, denomination! And I hope that YOU are as HAPPY and as proud and as THANKFUL as I am to be a PART of it!
THANKS be to God for BLESSING us with our UNITED Church of Christ! Amen.