“50 Years Bold:  Highlights of General Synod”

July 8, 2007, Spirit of Peace UCC

Rev. Marcia Moret Sietstra

Today I want to tell you a little about a birthday party that I attended last week.  It was the 50^th birthday of our denomination, the United Church of Christ, which was born in 1957 out of the union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical & Reformed Church.  June Kinder, the honored laywoman of the year from South Dakota, and Grayce Keller were my traveling companions to Hartford, Connecticut for the week, and we had a delightful time together. June rented one of those motorized chairs, and she zipped around all over the place, as we went from morning till late night…to worship services, speeches, business meetings, exhibits and restaurants.  

While we were there, we saw some pictures of the first General Synod 50 years ago, where there were a lot of white men in ties.  Wow, have we changed!  We are a multi-cultural, multi-racial church where positions of leadership are held by women, minorities, gay and lesbian Christians, and committed people from around the world.  Some of our worship experiences included Samoan dancers and a call to worship sounded through a huge seashell, played by a young man from one of our many UCC churches in Hawaii. 

I have a video to show you, with about 9 minutes of highlights of General Synod.   But first, I’ll tell you about some highlights of our week.

· This was a year of tremendous diversity, in which it was clear that great efforts were made to make disabled or differently abled people feel welcome as full participants.  In fact, the video begins with a deaf pilot sharing how thrilled he was to fly himself and two friends to Hartford. 

· It was a year of solidarity with labor unions, as the greetings from some of Hartford’s city workers shows you on the video.  The UCC actually moved its convention to the old, downtown civic center, and away from the beautiful new convention center in order to show support for the workers who were in a labor dispute with the management of the new center.

· This was a year to hear from some of our own members who are “in the news”, like Barack Obama, a member of Trinity UCC in Chicago, for over 20 years.  This is the primarily African American church where we took our youth group 6 years ago.  He talked about a “call to conscience.” I was glad that the convener asked that there be no political campaigning at the convention, so we could concentrate on the moral dimensions of his speech as fellow church members.

· You’ll see Peter Gomes, an older, black minister at Harvard’s Memorial Church.  He reminded me that it was our spiritual ancestors, the Congregationalists, who founded not only Harvard, but also Yale.

· On the video, if you are over 50, you will recognize Bill Moyers, a renowned journalist who once served as President Johnson’s press secretary.  Even though he once attended a Baptist seminary, Bill Moyers has belonged to the United Church of Christ for over 40 years.  He told us that, like other mainstream churches across the land, the UCC has been in the bull's eye of a highly organized and heavily funded campaign by corporate, political and religious forces who would stifle the prophetic voices that speak truth to power and call the Empire to repentance.  The full text of his speech can be found on the ucc website at www.ucc.org. If you don’t have internet access, ask me later and I’ll get you a copy.

There were challenging moments as well, since there is always business to be done at these national meetings.  One of the most dramatic moments came when the 5 officers of our denomination read a Pastoral Letter calling for an end to the Iraq War.  This letter was written by our 5 top officers and it was endorsed by every single conference minister in the country, and by every UCC seminary president in the country.  Part of it reads as follows: 

The war in Iraq is now in its fifth year.  Justified as a means to end oppression, this war has imposed the new oppression of terror on the people of Iraq.  Justified as the only way to protect the world from weapons of mass destruction, this war has led to the massive destruction of communal life in Iraq.  Justified as a means to end the rule of terror, this war has bred more terror.  Every day we look for justice, but all w see is bloodshed.  Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry.

Thousands of precious American lives have been lost; thousands more have been altered forever by profound injuries.  We grieve each loss and embrace bereaved families with our prayers and compassion.  Tens of thousands more innocent Iraqi lives are daily being offered on the altar of preemptive war and sectarian violence.  They, too, are precious, and we weep for them.  In our name human rights have been violated, abuse and torture sanctioned, civil liberties dismantled, Iraqi infrastructure and lives destroyed. Billions of dollars have been diverted from education, health care, and the needs of the poor in this land and around the world.  Efforts to restrain the real sources of global terrorism have been ignored or subverted.  Trust and respect for the United States throughout the world has been traded for self-serving political gain.  Every day we look for justice, but all we see is bloodshed.  Every day we yearn for righteousness, but all we hear is a cry. 

The letter goes on to express thanks to God for the military personnel who have served with honor and integrity, it gives thanks for chaplains who have cared for soldiers and their families, and it gives thanks for veterans whose experience has led them to say, “no more.”  The full text of the letter is available in the narthex today. 

Not all the delegates liked the letter and there was some discension, but in the end it was overwhelmingly endorsed by the delegates.  I would like to remind you, if you disagree with some points of the Pastoral Letter Against the Iraq War, that disagreement is perfectly normal in the UCC, precisely because we are a diverse bunch, committed to staying in relationship with those with whom we sometimes disagree.  It’s kinda like my marriage and yours too, perhaps.  Phil and I disagree occasionally…sometimes we really disagree!  But that doesn’t mean either one of us would get mad and walk away from our marriage! 

The UCC has often taken a prophetic role in society, calling society to justice.  Often other mainline churches end up taking the same positions, only they tend to do it later when it’s “safer”; we tend to be out in front.  As I read our lectionary texts for today, I was reminded that the role of the prophet in society was never easy.  A prophet’s role is to do what is unpopular, that is, to point out injustice.  The old testament prophets were always calling society back to caring for the widow and orphan, to practicing justice for the stranger and the weak, and away from self-interest. 

Jesus himself challenged his followers.  He never said, “Worship me.”  He said, “Follow me, come with me, do what I do, learn from me.  It could get you killed, but it’s what is right, because God wants us to care for our neighbor, and that’s often not popular.”  The people he called to follow him had a lot of pressures and responsibilities in their lives too, and some of them reacted by saying, “Let me wrap up my own work first.”  But Jesus was impatient with excuses. He said, “the world can’t wait, it needs you now.”  

Marian Wright Edelman, director of the Children’s Defense Fund, is a prophet who reminded us of how much the children in our country need us now.   Edelman reminded us that the test of the morality of a society is how it treats its children.  “America fails that test every day of the year,“ Edelman said.  Children are dying of preventable diseases every day in the richest country in the world.  One story she told was of a 12-year-old who died of a tooth abcess because his mother lacked health insurance and could not find  dental care.  By the time the hospital emergency room took him, it was too late to stop the infection and he died.  She challenged us to work for health insurance for every baby born in this country, all of whom are God’s children.   

After leaving the stage to a standing ovation, singer/song-writer Ken Medema composed a song on the spot, in honor of Marian’s tireless advocacy for children. She stopped to listen and returned to the stage to embrace him, her cheeks wet with tears and her chest heaving with emotion.  Nearly five minutes of sustained applause followed. 

I could go on and on.  But let’s see the video now, and I will conclude by inviting all of you to think about attending General Synod two years from now when it is in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and 4 years from now when it will be held in Hawaii.  Visitors are always welcome.  Now here is the video snapshot of the UCC’s 50^th anniversary synod.