UCC General Synod – June 30, 2009 afternoon

                A little UCC humor from a booklet I picked up today, “God Is Still Laughing V: The UCC Statement of Faith Catechism Joke Book,” by Christopher Anderson (p. 8).

                What are some of the nicknames of the UCC?

·         Untied Church of Christ

·         Utterly Confused Christians

·         Upset Christian Cynics

·         Universalistic Congregation of Crybabies

·         Unfinished Church of Chris

·         Undermining Christ’s Church

I’ll be blogging through the day today, with some news on what’s going on and some reflections from my ECOT friends and colleagues at Synod.

9:30 AM.  The current debate is on “unified governance.”  Steve Camp, Southern Conference, made several proposed amendments to the proposed resolution, all of which were  “All of us are important and none of us is indispensable.  We are a people who value dissent.”  Interesting comments.

During the debate, current General Minister and President John Thomas spoke against Steve’s amendments, calling them “manipulation” of the process.  Steve objected, and another delegate defended John’s comments. After Steve’s amendments were defeated, there was a motion to cut off debate and vote on the proposal for single governance.  The motion passed overwhelmingly, but a group of individuals who felt their voice was not heard began to sing and speak away from the microphones. Their voices were heard in the hall over the voices of the moderator and the speaker who was trying to address the next resolution.  They were shouting their displeasure at the “injustice.”  Finally they were granted two minutes at the microphone so they would sit down and let the meeting proceed in an orderly way.

Now, 20 minutes after the vote on unified governance, the chair is still hearing speakers rising to make a “point of privilege” or a “point of order” about the vote that has happened. 

Fascinating, this United Church of Christ.  Like the young girl who complained that a youth video giving testimonies of black and white UCC youth included no Hispanic Americans or Asian Americans or Native Americans, we validate victimization.  What encourage insistence on rights and inclusion.  What we miss is the New Testament’s consistent message on submission, on yielding to others, on giving up one’s rights for the good of the whole, on loving by caring more about others than self.  That is a message one doesn’t hear in a UCC setting.

The proposal on single governance passed overwhelmingly.  It’s still a long way from becoming reality, but it’s clear that is the direction the Synod wants to move.  I’m sure there will be more discussion and debate continuing into 2011 in Tampa, Florida.

3:30 PM.  After a lunch break and some mostly routine business and announcements, the Synod floor is getting ready to consider “Affirming Diversity/Multi-cultural education in the Public Schools.”

I suspect the controversial resolution will pass overwhelmingly, since only David Runnion-Bareford and I opposed it on the floor.  They just had a motion whether to end debate, and there’s a “division of the house,” meaning they need to count the numbers.  I have no doubt that those voting against closing debate want to hear more “yes” speeches.  (There was no one at the “no” microphones when the motion was made; there was a line up at the “yes” microphones.)  It may reflect some uneasiness on the question of whether David or I may have influenced enough votes to make a difference – though I doubt it.  (The resolution needs 2/3 to pass.)

4:00 P.M.  My instinct was right.  Although the vote to close debate passed barely, the resolution itself passed overwhelmingly.

Well, it’s time to post this and “hit the road.”  Back to North Carolina.  We’ve done all we could here.  We’ve made some new friends and we’ve found some new allies.  We’ve shared our witness to Christ and to the historic faith.  We have spoken the truth in love. 

I’m most pleased with our continued effort in relationship-building and in being as positive as we can be while being as honest as we can be.  We are a positive voice of ECOTs in the UCC where we are overwhelmingly outnumbered – at least at Synod.

We go home with our head held high.

Here are some reflections from ECOT members of the UCC who have been at this Synod –

After attending Synods over the past 10 years,  the atmosphere in GR seems less antagonistic to Biblical Witness Fellowship. Thanks in part, I am sure, to FWC.  In fact some comments are almost accepting.  Jim Wallis said that disagreement is a deeper way to say support.  Rev. Buck, conference minister of Hawaii, in his Bible Study on Immersion compared faith journey to music composition - ”you are only free within the rules.”  BWF has been saying that for 30 years!   However, the need for prayer is ever present.  Disturbing was the Monday night worship that spoke of God birthing creation - with the graphic of a pregnant belly.  That’s goddess, earth mother, paganism!  I could also mention the sense of works based salvation in the idea that it is the act of baptism that makes us Christian, not our beliefs.   Liz Claver, BWF

I came as a first time visitor.  I did not have a clue what to expect.  And I found myself pleasantly surprised. The theme for GS was “Immerse Yourself”…an idea I found quite intriguing. But what did that mean for me?  As I reflect back on the images and sermons, it was a encouragement to get out of my comfort zone.  Expanding on John Thomas’s sermon, it was more than just toe-testing the water but instead taking a deep breath and jumping in wholeheartedly.  It was taking a chance….a chance to be hurt,  a chance to be rejected, a chance to be heard and to hear.  And yes the water was cold at times but not for very long.  Did I do it?  Yes I did.  I entered quite a few of those uncomfortable conversations. And found it was well worth it. I learned a lot. Jami Roberts

This was the first Synod I have ever attended.  My goal was to make contacts to further Overseed’s effort to recruit pastors.  Jim and I made some good contacts by going around to the Seminary booths and talking to Admissions Officers and recruiters.  We also made a good contact at the Renewal Luncheon — a young pastor at a UCC Church in Malone, NY.  But, I enjoyed working the booth the most because I found myself in some very challenging conversations.  One example — a man was standing at the booth reading the statement of faith in the F&W brochure.  When I asked him if he had any questions he pointed to the first statement and said, “Does this mean that you all believe that the rest of us are not faithful to God?” 

I also enjoyed very much the fellowship at the dinner Saturday night. Bill Richards

The highlights for me so far have been the workshop on Essentials/non-essentials and the Luncheon talk on Calvin.  I wish that more could have shared in both events but all who attended did benefit.  I found the worship, while well planned and executed, falling short of being a celebratory experience.  Otis Moss on Friday night brought some creative thoughts with his exposition on the comma, period and other marks of punctuation.  What was unfortunate was that he ignored  the millions of aborted babies whose voices are as important and compelling as the voices of millions of African who were caught and the net of the slave trade.  I also found it interesting that abortion puts a period where God has put a question mark that through grace becomes an exclamation mark. Moss speaks the truth that it is God who places commas and periods.  Where there should have been humility in this, there was hubris.  As a friend observed, he was not aware of punctuation in the Greek of John, another case of how human convention gets attributed to God.  God has spoken and will continue to speak, with one voice.  Our confession is that we misquote God and call it religion.  When John Thomas spoke, he did  bring appropriate humility with his call to return to /rediscover the piety that has been the foundation of our many historic branches of the UCC.I am waiting to see what the various committees bring to the floor of Synod.  I do not put much weight to the resolution process but whatever is passed will reflect on the message we proclaim to the world around us.  I know God is shaping His people, the question is our continued faithfulness.  I am encouraged by the presence of FWC and our sister renewal groups. Greg Kenney

This general Synod I met a theologically liberal person who actually considered leaving the UCC because she was a minority voice in the UCC in  regards to her commitment to non-violence.  She stays at the encouragement of a friend because her friend stated the UCC needs her voice.  Voice, my voice is why I attended the GS.  I am here because the UCC’s General Synod needs the voice of ECOTs.  And ECOTs need the voice of the wider church.  So I consider this GS a success for me because I have represented the voice of ECOTs as well as their willingness to listen, to connect and to love the wider setting of the UCC.

John Roberts