Sermon 05-10-09
Micah 6:8 Ephesians 4:1-7
What Do We Believe?
Prayer
When we talk about our identity, we are talking about who we are, as a
community of faith. “To speak of the identity of a congregation is a way of
talking about the “we” that persists through shifting styles and
circumstances… Another way to put it, …is that the identity of a congregation
is a persistent set of beliefs, values, patterns, symbols, stories, and style
that makes the congregation distinctive… identity is a singular sense of who
one is. Identity becomes more complex when it describes a… group …is a
way of speaking of the culture of a local church. The identity of a
congregation, then, is the perception of its culture by… the congregation
itself.” When we talk about identity we need to talk about the UCC. You were
incorporated to the UCC in 1962, does anyone here remember? You are a
UCC church, and I am An Ordained Minister of the UCC. Sharing parts of my
personal story and the History of the UCC, a couple of weeks ago, was
shocking for some of you. My intention was to create an analogy between
acceptance, embrace and the love given to me in the UCC, and my response
to the call to the ministry of inclusivity of the
Why then was it so shocking? The question here is not if Rev. Esther has an
“open and affirming” agenda, which I don’t. The question for CSCC is, do
you as a church want to continue belonging to this UCC denomination?
The UCC is a church united and uniting, multiracial and multicultural, open
and affirming, accessible to all and a just peace church. I know that we are
not all at the same place, and I know (that as a local church we are free to
act in accordance with the collective decision of its members,… )
(www.ucc.org/aboutus/whatwebelieve).
True is with our faith, we are not all at the same spiritual place, but it does
not mean that we do not belong or that we can’t identify ourselves with this
UCC church. Perhaps during this interim time we need to ponder on the
question of our faith community identity. Do we want to belong to the UCC?
Let us remember then, in 1957 the Evangelical and Reformed Church and
the Congregational Christian Churches, united to form the UCC. When these
churches came together they recognized that they had several differences.
They also agreed to write the Statement of Faith as a testimony of the faith,
not a test of faith, and not a creed, but a faith statement as their faith
foundation.
The preamble to the Constitution of the UCC represents the core of the
theological consensus that brought these churches together in covenant:
“The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole head, Jesus Christ,
Son of God and Savior. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to
the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and
redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own faith of the historic
Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of
the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each
generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of
thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God. In accordance
with the teachings of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical
Christians, it recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or
Holy Communion.” (UCC website/home/preamble)
Let us go to the text of Ephesians 4, Paul is here talking about what it means
to be a member of the church and what do we believe as Christians.
“When a person enters into any society, he/she takes upon the obligation to
live a certain kind of life… Paul is painting a picture of the kind of life that a
person must live when entering the fellowship of the Christian faith.
First, humility as self knowledge… we face ourselves, our weakness, our
selfishness, our failures in work, personal relations and achievements…
Christian humility is based on the sight of self, the vision of Christ and the
realization of God. (In our lives).
Second, gentleness…the person who is so God-controlled that he/she is
always angry at the right time but never angry at the wrong time.
Third, patience… Christian patience is the spirit which never admits defeat,
which will not be broken by any misfortune or suffering, by any
disappointment, discouragement (or disagreement), but which persists to
the end.
Fourth is Love. Love here has to do with the quality of mind and heart which
compels a Christian never to feel any bitterness, never to feel any desire for
revenge, but always to seek the highest good of every man no matter what
he may be. (For me Love also means, to meet persons where they are in
their spiritual life’s journey, even if we have to agree to disagree).
The hallmark of these four virtues of Christian life: humility,
gentleness, patience and love, is peace. ‘…making every effort to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.” Ephesians 4:3.
Paul continues by setting down the basis on which Christian unity is founded:
There is one Spirit. Unless the breath be in the body, the body is dead;
and the vitality of the body of the church is the breath of the Spirit of Christ.
There is one hope in our calling. This is the great secret of the unity of
Christians. Our methods, our organization, even some of our beliefs may be
different; but we are all striving towards the one goal of a world redeemed by
Christ.
There is one Lord. It was God’s dream that there should come a day when
all people would make that confession. Christians are joined together… in the
service of the one Master and King, (our Lord Jesus Christ).
There is one faith. The complete commitment to Jesus Christ…and to
surrender to his love.
There is one baptism. Baptism was and is a public confession of faith and
the acceptance in to the fellowship of the church.
There is one God and Father (and mother) of all, who is above all and
through all and in all.’ Ephesians 4:6. The idea here is that God begins with
love, like a Father or like the love of a mother. Above all, he enshrined the
control of God. Though all, he enshrined the providence of God. He is in
all; he enshrined the presence of God in all life.”
(Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians, pg. 134-142)
“An integral part of “building up” the church, is by bringing about and
maintaining its unity. The topic of unity will not happen ‘until all of us come
to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity,
to the measure of the full stature of Christ.’ (v.13) this is the goal of the
church’s ministry and it works as a barometer of Christian maturity. Those
who are joined together by the church’s ministry grow into “the unity of the
faith.”… Disunity, then, signals the spiritual immaturity of those who
constitute the church.
The image of the church as a body, is a familiar term used by Paul. In v.16,
Christ is the head of the church and we as church, his body; we are ‘knit
together by every ligament, equipped (with our individual gifts)… to promote
the body’s growth and building ourselves up in Love.’ …in the maintenance
of our Christian unity.” (Brueggemann, Year B, pg.454)
This is the challenge of the United Church of Christ. (www.ucc.org/aboutus/whatis)
· To proclaim in word and action the gospel of Jesus Christ.
· To work for reconciliation and unity of the broken Body of Christ.
· To seek justice and liberation for all.
BENEDICTION
This is the question for us to ponder;
What does the Lord requires of you and me?
but to do justice, and love kindness,
and to walk humbly with our God? Amen! Micah 6:8
