Will
you pray with me?
Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all
our hearts
be
acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer.
Amen.
Some of you may have noticed that this morning
in worship we
are rather lighter in the clergy department up here than we usually are. That’s because, as many of you already know,
this weekend—right now, while I speak, in fact—our United Church of
Christ is
gathered in all its plenitude in Hartford, CT
for General Synod, the
biennial gathering of representatives from our entire church. This year, Ministerial Intern Tadd
Allman-Morton is there representing Hope Church in Jamaica Plain, his
home
church. Senior Minister Nancy Taylor, a
former moderator of Synod, is there as an honored guest.
I’m a delegate from, of course, Old South,
and will return to Hartford
this afternoon for the rest of our business sessions, which will run
through
Tuesday.
At this, the 26th General Synod in
our
denomination’s 50 years, there are 657 delegates that have been sent
from all
50 states. There are also Associate
Delegates, special guests, national staff, heads of other
denominations,
representatives from our dozens of global mission partners, other
attendees and
participants, and, at last count, 6765 registered guests.
Among these latter categories are many Old
South members and friends, including a busload—a busload!—of visitors
that
traveled there for the day yesterday, each proudly wearing these
official—well,
semi-official, anyway, Old South Church badges to bear our light and
witness to
that world.
Now, because I am positive that you are dying
to know what
the Constitution and Bylaws of the UCC have say about Synod, I’m going
to tell
you. Do try to keep your eyes open; I
promise this part will be short.
Officially, the powers of General Synod are, to paraphrase
the
Constitution:
-to carry on…the
work of the United Church of Christ, and to provide for the financial
support of
this work
-to create
bodies, temporary or permanent, incorporated or unincorporated,
suitable for
the discharge of its responsibilities
-to organize as
required for the transaction of business
-to call and
elect officers
-to nominate and
elect members of Boards of Directors of the different ministries of the
church
-to create an
Executive Council to act as the Synod when it’s not in session
-to establish
and maintain national headquarters and a treasury
-to relate to
other denominations and ecumenical bodies, including exploring moves
toward
formal union
-to write bylaws
In other words, much of Synod is about the
nitty-gritty work
of creating and maintaining an institution.
It is in many ways just a giant business meeting.
But that’s only the official story. Unofficially, but at least as importantly,
General Synod is a party. It is a
celebration of God’s goodness in our churches and in our United Church. It
is about joy in being together in Christ’s
name, the liberals and the conservatives, the Hawaiians and the
Alaskans and
the New Englanders, the big churches and the small ones and the ones
from
overseas. It is about standing in wonder
before the wide and glorious diversity that God has called together
from every
corner and stratum of our society to create a church where there was
not one
before.
You see, we spend most of our church time, you
and I, in this
one local church, and it is a good one.
But it is local, particular, limited, and though that is as
it should be
for us Congregationalists, Synod is the reminder that the wonder, and
skill,
and hope, and bravery, and money, and faithfulness of the local
churches—even
of this local church—are, in the end,
not enough. Not enough in the way that
Paul talks about: in the way that a finger without a hand is not enough
or an
eye without a head is not enough. Synod
is a reminder that we cannot do God’s work in this world alone, that we
need not do God’s work in the world
alone, that in fact we must not do
God’s work in the world alone. It is the
reminder that we are, all of us, part of a body much larger and, thank
God, much
more able and diverse than any one of our churches is alone, and that
together,
together we are the very body of Christ in the world.
As many of you know, the theme of this year’s
General Synod
is “Let it shine.” Because our
togetherness, our unitedness and our unitingness, are not of our own
making but
are a gift from God, when we are together, we shine with the light of
God. In that spirit, I’d like to share
with you some
of what I have witnessed at Synod so far, some of the places and
moments where
I’ve seen God’s grace and glory shining through most profoundly. So, herewith, some of General Synod 26’s
shinings.
Friday’s business meeting began with the
presentation of a
pastoral letter written by the collegium of officers of the church
opposing the
war in Iraq
and asking for a swift and just conclusion to a patently unjust war. After an open debate representing a great
diversity of opinion, the Synod voted overwhelmingly to ratify the
letter. And the bravery of the gathered
body of God
let the light shine.
Representatives from the national setting of
the church
reported on the UCC’s goal to plant 250 new church starts by 2011 to
spread the
Good News of God in our particular accent.
We celebrated the 80 new UCC congregations begun in the last
two years,
70% of which are in communities of color, and a great many of which are
Open
and Affirming and Just Peace congregations.
And the zeal of the gathered body of God let the light shine.
Old South member David Clark, who uses a
wheelchair, will
lead the Synod in its closing worship on Tuesday. In
doing so, he will be just one of many
differently-abled people in leadership at Synod and in the national
setting. And the wisdom of the gathered
body of God let the light shine.
At last count, there were over 1000 youth and
young adults
attending this Synod. They chose church,
our United Church of Christ, over summer camp or soccer camp or all the
other
things they could have been doing instead.
And the fresh and dewy youth of the gathered body of God
have promised
to continue to let the light shine.
The conservatives are still here.
Despite all the liberal and progressive positions
our church has taken and things that it has done, and despite some of
our
churches leaving the denomination as a result, conservative wings and
movements
within the church are still going strong, still raising their voices
for what
they believe, still listening for God’s whispering in their lives and
churches…and
our United Church is stronger and better for it. And
the diversity of the gathered body of God
let the light shine.
The members of the Connecticut Conference of
the UCC baked
in their homes 14, 000 dozen cookies—14, 000 dozen, that’s enough for
each
registered attendee to have two dozen cookies over the course of Synod. And frankly, I have no idea whether that has
anything to do with the light of God, but oh my God are those cookies
good.
Among the speakers lined up for yesterday’s
festival and 50th
anniversary celebration were Peabody and Emmy award-winning
journalists, Bible
scholars, a Buddhist-Christian ecofeminist theologian, seminary
presidents,
Rev. Peter Gomes and Rev. Nancy Taylor, scientists and peace activists
and
storytellers and Olympic athletes.
Prominent UCC members who spoke included 30-time Emmy award
winning
journalist Bill Moyers, Pen Hemingway and Pulitzer Prize winning author
Marilynne Robinson, and Senator Barack Obama, who in his keynote
speech, by the
way, mentioned with pride a certain UCC congregation that hosted the
beginnings
of the Boston Tea Party. And the wisened
minds and expanded souls of the gathered body of God let the light
shine.
People gathered with old and new friends it
would have been
hard to see any other way. Pastors of
different churches gathered to gossip and commiserate and celebrate and
share
strategies over beers they might not have had at home with their
parishioners. Parishioners of different
churches gathered to do the same over beers they might not have had at
home
with their pastors. Youth groups met and
talked and played and gossiped.
Christian educators shared notes and ideas and methods. And through the body of God, once separated
but brought together again by the baptism and faith we share, the light
shone.
On the docket for discussion and voting in the
coming days
are three resolutions in support of immigrant communities and of
changing US
immigration policies, two in negative reaction to the last Synod’s
support of
same-sex marriage, two put forward by conservatives calling for a
return to a
“historic” understanding of the faith, and others to support
legalization of
physician aid in dying, to support our rural churches, to change the
representation structures of the General Synod, and more.
What will happen with those resolutions is
yet to be decided, but we know and trust that whatever happens, God’s
light
will shine through.
Sisters and brothers, our United Church of
Christ is not
perfect, but it is a good, a faithful, a shining example of God’s love
for the
world. And here’s the good news: it is
so because of you. Because you are a
part of it, whether you knew it or not.
Paul tells us that the body of Christ, the church, is made
up of many
members with many different gifts, and certainly that is true of the
UCC. It is not only the staff and the
delegates and
the visitors that have made God’s light to shine into the world at
General
Synod and beyond. It is you.
You who climbed
on the bus and went to the celebration yesterday.
You who serve
on committees and with agencies in the wider church.
You who keep
this church alive and shaping conversations and actions throughout our
denomination.
You who share
the good news of this church and the UCC with your friends and family.
You who pray
for the General Synod—and please do pray for us; we need your support
as we do
our work.
You who pledge
to this church or who will put your money in the plate today, to be
stewarded
by Old South for our own uses, yes, but also to be sent on to fund our
national
staff and our youth workers and our new church starts and our
missionaries at
home and abroad.
You who are members
and you who are visitors, by praising God in this place, you help our United Church
to praise God in every place.
YOU ARE the United Church of Christ, in the
one Spirit
baptized into one body. YOU ARE the
United Church of Christ, many members, one body. YOU
ARE the United Church of Christ; praise
God for you. Let it shine, Amen.
