Aspiration Toward Inspiration

So a few Sundays ago, the President of PSR (the grad school I want to go to) spoke at CCSM (my church). He gave the Sunday sermon, but he also gave a talk prior to worship. It was an interesting talk about what it means to be a “progressive Christian” and the problems with labeling ourselves such.

One of the things mentioned (perhaps rather predictably) was Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama’s former minister has painted an ugly face for our denomination in the media, rather unfortunately. UCC seems seldom newsworthy, as we aren’t part of the “evangelical” world or the “religious right,” nor do we have any crazy leadership… or, we didn’t think ourselves as having any.

I think it all comes down to what the UCC is. We are committed to diversity. One of our guiding inspirations is the early church and its commitment to individual churches living out the gospel in ways most meaningful to them. Each congregation (although of course they were not called such in the first century) governed itself. There was no centralized authority in such ways as the Catholic Church has, with hierarchical power structures, dogmas, and creeds.

Christians are a family. Like any family, it is often easy to see our differences—Carrie is so tall! I am a vegetarian! My mom is such a great cook! Tanya is so meticulous!—and while we are certainly our own people with our own personalities, there is a love that draws us together. We are a family.

If I can paraphrase Rev. Bill McKinney (and expand on his comments), we, as a church family, are diverse and accepting, as any other family. We celebrate the strengths and mourn the weaknesses of our fellow churches. While Rev. Wright says many offensive things, his ministry is powerful and also has many strengths. His congregation is 6,000 members strong; the works of social justice in his Chicago-church are numerous and rather astounding; his congregation sends more people into seminary than any other within the denomination. These are profound strengths and they should not be looked over if one is to fairly look at Rev. Wright’s ministry. We may not agree with everything he does and says, but his church is part of our family. We love him and disagree with him simultaneously. We are disappointed in the unfairness of his criticisms and we are grateful for the strength he gives our denomination and the justice he does in Chicago.

This very strength of our denomination—its profound diversity of membership, worship style, and demographics—becomes one of its weaknesses when it comes to witness. How can Congregationalists describe their church? We say “liberal.” We say “progressive.” We say a number of catch-words with vague associations and various connotations. How can we, at CCSM, describe the diversity of our membership in a concise way that demonstrates the profound experience, sense of community, and involvement in the Social Gospel to those who are not there on Sundays in worship– or the evenings with the homeless shelter, the mission to New Orleans, or the classical music concerts, or the youth worship services? Our church offers so much to its members, often facilitated by its members; its members offer so much to the community at large. We are involved in Interfaith movements; we advocate for affordable housing; we provide lunches at AIDS clinics; we work with Interfaith Housing Network, Habitat for Humanity, Peninsula Interfaith Action, Samaritan House, ETC.

My church may be a far cry from the original Congregationalist churches founded by our Puritan forefathers, but we are still seeking to be a light on a hill. We are not waiting for God to make the world a better place—we are making it a better place with God. I truly believe that. I love my church; I love my fellow congregants; I will do my best to live out the gospel and be the hands of God in this world.

Carol’s question still lingers, though. How do we describe our church? What do we tell people?

People are generally surprised and confused when I say I go to church—and this is a best-case scenario. Generally, people tend to associate “Christian” with “Evangelical.” The moment “Christian” slips out of my mouth, people seem to assume that I am silently condemning them, judging them, or– who knows what they think? But the reality seems to be that “Christian,” in the ears of those that hear me speak it, seems to mean something very different than it means to me and the members of my church. It becomes to our job to counteract these presuppositions immediately after we mention that we attend Church, especially since when we say we are “Congregationalist” or “United Church of Christ,” people seldom know what we’re talking about—and if they do, it’s probably now within the context of our recent emergence into headlines in association with the racism of Jeremiah Wright’s sermons.

AND CAN I BEAT AROUND THE BUSH ANYMORE? What can I say to people?

I have to say, “My church is progressive. We are non-dogmatic and diverse, valuing our Christian heritage, seeking to be open-minded and accepting, and self-critical as well as critical of society at large in terms of social justice issues. On Sundays, we worship with a choir and an organ, and the rest of the week, we meet with each other in varying forms of community and place a strong emphasis on social justice and advocacy for human integrity. My church is educated and values education. My church is vibrant, hopeful, and diverse. To best understand my church, you have to look at what we do, because this is also how we best understand ourselves—by the ways that we speak and act in the world.”

Also, I was very happy to find that, when I shook Mr. McKinney’s hand after his pre-worship talk, he said, “You’re Joliene, right?” He remembered me from Penny’s ordination, which was in December.

Awesome.

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