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Wider Church - UCC Style

Scripture - Ephesians 2: 19-22 (NRSV)

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

Wider Church - UCC Style


A dwelling place for God - that's us!

I don't know why I'm here this morning. Well, I do know. I'm here to be part of worship and deliver a sermon. But what I don't know is why I agreed to preach today on this particular topic - the United Church of Christ. For a layperson, I've preached a lot. But this is the first time I didn't choose my topic, and that my friends, does make a difference.

I have been active in the wider United Church of Christ at regional, state and national levels, and I was a delegate earlier this summer to the 27th General Synod, so I suppose I know a fair amount about the wider church - UCC style. When Chris Emery asked me if I would speak about it, I agreed.

Last Sunday, I participated in worship in Boston at Marsh Chapel. I joined the Marsh Chapel Singers and some members of the Back Bay Chorale to sing 2 choruses from Haydn's The Creation. The guest preacher was Reverend Yoost, a Boston University alum and pastor from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Rev. Yoost told a story about one of the professors he had when he attended seminary at BU. This professor wanted to symbolically rip the back cover off of the Bible. When I was a kid, we weren't even allowed to put anything on top of the Bible. Why would he want to rip the back cover off? He said he wanted to do this to emphasize that God's story did not end 2000 years ago. In fact, in his view, God Is Still Speaking!

What?! Did this Methodist seminary teacher and preacher suddenly find deep symbiosis with the United Church of Christ? I thought the UCC invented that phrase! It appears our United Church of Christ is not alone in recognizing the Still Speaking God. But we are the church that anchored our identity campaign with that message - God is Still Speaking.

So what is the United Church of Christ? We are a relatively small denomination - but with influence beyond our membership numbers. We are the church where you can come however you are, and we will love you.

The United Church of Christ is the church of radical welcome. We proclaim ourselves to be a united and uniting, open and affirming, multiracial multicultural, accessible to all, peace with justice church. Wow! Let me say that again - a united and uniting, open and affirming, multiracial multicultural, accessible to all, peace with justice church. It sounds complicated, but it really boils down to one simple truth - Jesus loved and welcomed all - and we are called to do the same.

The United Church of Christ is only 52 years old as a denomination, but we are centuries old when you consider our roots. Those roots include many firsts that connect directly with our present day openness. Our church ancestors were the Pilgrims who came to these shores in 1620 seeking spiritual freedom and who decided in 1630 that each congregation should elect its own minister - a novel idea at the time. More firsts include:
1700 - The first published stand against slavery in a pamphlet written by Rev. Samuel Sewall.
1773 - Poet Phyllis Wheatley, a slave and a member of Old South Church in Boston was the first published African American author.
1785 - Our church ordained the first African American pastor, Lemuel Hayes.
1810 - The Congregationalists in Massachusetts formed the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions and sent the first missionaries abroad.
1853 - Antoinette Brown becomes the first woman ordained pastor.
1972 - William Johnson was ordained and becomes the first openly gay minister.
1976 - Rev. Joseph Evans was elected as the first African American leader of an integrated denomination.

These leaders and acts of leadership for the whole church are visible signs of the UCC living into its call to be a church that is open to all, affirming of all, multiracial/multicultural and concerned enough about justice and peace to act on those convictions.

How does all of this happen? Jesus commands us to love one another and to spread the Good News of God's love - but how does that commandment actually come to life in this complex world? What makes our church go?

The answer is simple. You do. You do and I do and thousands of others in ways large and small. We come together in congregations to minister to one another and to our communities. Congregations join one another as Associations and Conferences where together we can learn, and grow and share our expertise. And conferences come together in our National setting.

Here at Pilgrim Church, we tend to think we pretty much have our act together. We have a nice building that we manage to keep heated and cooled. We do lots of outreach and mission work for a smallish congregation. But I promise you, we are leaning on our MA Conference of the United Church of Christ now perhaps more than ever. That's because our long time pastor has retired and we have turned to the Conference for help. That help comes in many forms, but right now mostly in the form of Rev. Wendy VanderHart, our Associate Conference Minister. Wendy worked with us in getting an interim minister and she will provide guidance through the search and call process.

We tend to think of ourselves here at Pilgrim as fairly self-sufficient - but we have benefitted from the support and resources of our conference and even our national church more than most of us realize. Many times, we have had Conference staff come to us to share their skills and wisdom.
Paul Nickerson - Evangelism & Church Growth
Andy Gustafson - Stewardship & Financial Development
Susan Dickerman - Safe Church Initiatives and Christian Education
Tom Clough, Nancy Taylor and Jim Antal have all preached
Merrie Allen has been a fantastic worship coordinator. May of her contacts have come through the Massachusetts Conference and especially the Metropolitan Boston Association. I know this because that's where I first met Merrie, and how I've also met Rev. Sally Thacher who will soon be our Interim Minister.

This relationship between Pilgrim and the wider church has not been one way. Our own Bruce Dayton has served on the Congregational Fund board. Judy Brain was celebrated for her coaching in the Pastoral Excellence Program. Chris Emery has been a delegate to Association meetings. I have served on the Massachusetts Conference board and still serve on the board of United Church Funds, the money management arm of the UCC. This entire congregation has helped to educate many seminarians, and that is no small thing. That is a gift to the wider church.

When I first thought about this sermon, I thought I would focus on my most recent General Synod experience. But I decided that the UCC is so much more than Synod, and other parts of it - our Metro Boston Association and Massachusetts Conference - are completely accessible to all of us. All you have to do is say, "send me," and you will quickly find yourself immersed in our united and uniting, open and affirming, multiracial and multicultural, accessible to all, peace with justice church. That immersion opportunity exists for each of you.

I would like to tell you more about the extraordinary experience that is General Synod, and the inspiring, exhausting time I spent in Grand Rapids - and I will do that - but not today.

Today I celebrate the parts of our United Church of Christ that are closest to us. Each of us and all of us united together are built into a holy dwelling place for God.

AMEN.