end of UCC General Synod

I wound up with mixed feelings about the General Synod. I am ecstatic over the resolution passed to reaffirm that the central faith within the tradition of the United Church of Christ is that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. I know, isn't that what it means to be a Christian? But within the UCC some folks were becoming more focused on what we humans can do especially for social justice more than affirming the overriding, sovereign power of God in Jesus Christ to save and thus transform all humanity, including every social justice issue.

I am supportive of the resolution calling for equity in marriage rights for people of the same gender. We clergy function more these days in weddings as agents of the state than as officiants at worship services covenanting the vows of two followers of Jesus Christ. Gays and lesbians are not granted the same civil rights when it comes to rights as partners. So, if we clergy are going to work on the side for the state in weddings, then I figure we should enable all couples to have those civil rights. In the past I have officiated at three union services for two lesbian couples and one gay couple. One of the men in the latter was in my first youth group 30 years ago in southern Illlinois and a few years ago he tracked me down (he was in Chicago at the the time) because he said my affirmations for him as a teenager were so powerful in his life and he couldn't imagine anyone else performing his ceremony. An Episcopal church in the Ravenswood section of Chicago where the other man was an active lay leader was the site and the priest there assisted me.

I am very disturbed by the final actions around reolutions about Palestinians and Israelis and particularly that a national staff person worked to supplant a compromise resolution. The committee of delegates assigned the original resolution that spent three days starting with the original which called for divestment from Israeli related companies. It came up with a more evenhanded resolution that called for using multiple ways to work for leveraging for peace. However, after the committee ended its work, the national staff person didn't like it, drafted another resolution more like the original and the floor after 1 hour of discussion, deferred to the "expert" and passed the ones condemning of Israel and calling for divestment. This is another indication in the UCC of how the "tail wags the dog" of national staff speaking for and doing in place of assisting the local churches of this denomination to grow stronger in their discipleship and witness. The focus is more on the "witness" of the national UCC and how it is perceived than the staff seeing that they are called to help the grass roots of the UCC to grow stronger in as disciples of Jesus Christ in all facets.