WE BELONG TO GOD AND TO EACH OTHER
(Preached on Sunday, August 21, 2005)
... so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. -Romans 12:5
Since the United Church of Christ General Synod, held in Atlanta, Georgia the first weekend of July, there have been three local congregations (one in Atlanta, one in Ohio, and one in Pennsylvania) that have voted to end their affiliation with the denomination. Even before General Synod convened, this spring there were stories of a couple of local churches that severed their ties to the UCC because of proposed resolutions (which hadn’t been adopted or acted upon yet, but just because they were being discussed.)
I understand there are members of this congregation that are greatly disturbed by the action of the General Synod.
What are we to do?
In my 25 years as a pastor in the United Church of Christ I have seen many people leave the church for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they were upset with me, sometimes they were upset with somebody else in the church, sometimes they had their feelings hurt, sometimes they were upset with the denomination.
Every time someone left the church it was a time of great sorrow and sadness for me. And often for the church.
I found ways to cope with it, to rationalize it.
I said, “We can’t please everyone. We can’t be the church for everyone. That is part of the reason for all the varieties of churches — so that God has many different ways to reach different people.”
But in truth, it never felt quite right.
Something about people leaving always felt fundamentally wrong.
And I am more convinced of that today than ever before.
These words we read this morning from the Apostle Paul get at the heart of what is wrong. “For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
You see, the Church is not just a voluntary association of people who gather together because we share a common interest or think alike.
The Church is a creation of God. It is a gathering of people who have been chosen, called together, to worship and serve God in a particular place.
We have been bound together by covenants, promises of relationship and commitment.
The first covenant is between each of us and God, which leads to our covenants with each other. As a result, we become the Body of Christ, a living organism through which God’s Spirit is at work in this place. And so, when any one of us leaves, it is just like an amputation of a part of the body. There is loss, pain, and a period of adjustment needed on behalf of the body before it can return, if ever, to full functioning at the work before us.
We no longer seem to appreciate the covenantal nature of life in our nation today. Which is highly ironic, since our Founding Fathers had a deep appreciation for the role of covenants in life.
The framers of the Declaration of Independence believed passionately that covenant were the foundation for all facets of their lives — in private and in public, in the home and in the church, in the marketplace, and in the political forum. They wrote the Declaration because they believed that the foundational and overarching covenant for all humanity was with a loving God. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”
They believed that all the other covenants in life needed to be aligned with this primary covenant. And they believed it so strongly, they made a covenant with each other in this watershed document, which ends with the words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Today, many of us are moved to tears as we see the depth to which political debate in this nation has devolved — to bullying, name-calling, strong-arm tactics, and the politics of division. Wedge issues replace finding common cause, unilateral action has replaced consensus, polarization has replaced compromise, and acrimony has replaced courtesy. For a nation whose founders believed passionately in mutuality and covenants, it is a particularly sad time.
The most fundamental covenant — respect for one another as equals before God — seems to be strained if not yet totally broken.
Which makes the current climate and struggles within the Church that much more devastating and critical. For as Paul reminds us, we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We are to be better than the rest of the world. Because the only hope for the rest of the world is if there are communities of diversity, built around covenant, that find ways to live together with our differences.
When the United Church of Christ was founded in 1957 that was a major part of the vision that brought together the two very different Churches into one Church. The motto the founders chose were the words of Jesus from the gospel of John, “...that they all may be one.”
The UCC was organized clearly on the understanding that it was a Church of covenants. The constitution was written to guarantee the freedom of the local church, but freedom exercised within a series of covenant relationships — with other local churches nearby, and regionally, and nationally.
As such, no part of the UCC may dictate policy to any other part of the UCC — not from the top down or the bottom up. At every level of the Church we are in covenant with one another.
Thus we are always free to choose how we respond to the actions and statements of other partners in our covenant.
For instance, in regards to the resolution entitled “In Support of Equal Marriage Rights for All,” which is causing all the upset, the full text of which you may read on the UCC website, ucc.org, consider these things.
The authors of the resolution believe that the resolution is founded on:
1. Jesus’ command to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
2. On the biblical call to extend justice and equal protection under the law to all.
3. And, that this resolution represents one change, among many, in the understandings of marriage that have existed throughout biblical and Christian history.
The resolution asks that all UCC churches:
1. “Respectfully and prayerfully discuss” equal marriage rights for all.
2. “Consider adopting” wedding policies “that do not discriminate against couples based on gender.”
3. “Consider” supporting legislation that would grant “equal marriage rights to couples regardless of gender.”
You may also find on the UCC website a speech made by John Thomas, President of the UCC, on June 28th. I recommend this speech to you regardless of how you feel about the resolution.
In the speech he talks genuinely and sensitively about the struggles, resulting from the strongly held beliefs on each side of this issue, facing the UCC in general and individual congregations.
Undoubtedly the most important point he makes in the speech is this: “Perhaps even more important [than this resolution] is demonstrating that fragmentation is not the inevitable result of difference. The great witness of the church is that in Christ diversity need not divide and unity does not require uniformity.”
He continues by saying that in the months ahead, “What will be crucial is that we continually recall that like-mindedness is not the basis of our life together int he Church of Jesus Christ, but rather the remembrance of our common Baptism.”
After last November’s election, a frustrated member of a Mennonite congregation near South Bend, Indiana, wrote an article for his congregation’s newsletter. In it, he articulated his own political convictions. Then, even as he acknowledged that others would disagree with is perspectives, he wondered whether members of his congregation could meet and begin a conversation about their political differences.
And so they did. Starting in Lent, the congregation held two series of sessions on “Faith and Politics.” They set some ground rules:
1. Listen actively to each other.
2. Seek differing points of view.
3. Look for common ground.
4. Engage in dialogue without debating the issues.
Their goal was to better understand each other, not to change minds or insist on unanimity.
They explored their fears. They each shared their convictions and how they arrived at them. They then discussed several political and social issues. Those who participated agreed they learned a lot.
They learned there was a wide range of opinions among members; they learned how to articulate their views in a respectful way; they learned how to listen with respect; and they learned that the faith convictions that unite them are deeper than their differences in translating principles into public policy.
Where two or three people are gathered together there will be conflict. It is naive to think otherwise. That we have disagreements doesn’t matter as much as how we deal with them.
If we are truly going to be the body of Christ; if we are truly going to remain in covenant with each other; if we are truly going to grow in our faith, then we need to create forums for respectfully talking about the things that divide us. We need to be able to share our fears and our visions and reaffirm together the faith that unites us.
It is what we are called to do as members of Christ’s body.
It is perhaps the final hope and salvation for our world, as well.