God still speaks to each and every one of us. Are we ready to listen? United Church Of Christ - Massachusetts Conference
God still speaks to each and every one of us. Are we ready to listen?

Now is the Moment to Reclaim Our Public Christian Voice

Dear UCC Members, Colleagues and Friends,

Two features from this morning’s news are deeply connected to the bold leadership which our Conference of churches - the Mass Conference UCC - has shown over the past 30 years.

The dominant news story this morning is President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage.  Click here for the link to the NY Times story.  This will remain a story of critical importance at least through the November election.  While Obama cited being a Christian as one motivation for his position, all the news coverage I have heard suggests that Christianity opposes same-sex marriage. 

Obama is a Christian because he discovered that Trinity UCC in Chicago was changing lives as much as any institution in the city.  After learning more about Christianity from worshiping and participating at Trinity, Obama became a Christian and a UCC member.  So it’s no wonder that in announcing his endorsement of same-sex marriage, Obama would cite his Christian faith as a basis.

As most of you know, our Massachusetts Conference led the United Church of Christ by voting in 1984 to become an Open and Affirming Conference.   Today – that story of courage and leadership needs to be told.  Click here to learn more about LGBT resources from the Mass Conference and the UCC.

And that story leads to a broader message that we – all 70,000+ UCC members in Massachusetts – need to articulate: One of the most distinctive features of Jesus’ life is his profound testimony and witness to God’s inclusive love.   Today and in the coming months, I hope that each of us will find ways to speak out on behalf of Jesus – a Savior whose inclusive love we seek to affirm.  Now is the moment to take Christianity back from the media’s misguided assumptions about what Christians think. 

The other news feature is climate scientist James Hansen’s Op Ed piece in today’s NY Times, “Game Over for the Climate.”    At our Annual Meeting in 2009, our Conference became the first church body in America to pass a resolution calling upon our elected leaders to commit to policies that will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to below 350ppm.  Click here for the resolution.  In contrast with the national media, who continue to feature politicians and others who claim that because they are Christians, they believe Global warming is a farce (Click here to read about Congressman Shimkus), the Mass Conference continues to lead a religious witness urging the adoption of new laws to protect the earth.

As UCC members – and particularly as members of the Mass. Conference – we have two stories that need to be told in the public square…. today, tomorrow, and persistently in the months (and years) ahead.  Leave your comment below and join the discussion.

God’s blessing upon all the ways you minister in Christ’s name,

Jim Antal
Minister & President
Massachusetts Conference, UCC

Additional Note from Jim Antal - May 11, 2012:

The same day as this blog, an MACUCC pastor shared the following excerpt from Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail – written almost 50 years ago. It’s as true today as it was then – and as applicable to same-sex marriage and climate change as it was to the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. 
http://www.inwardoutward.org/2011/05/07/call-church

By: Jim Antal On 5/10/2012
Topics: Minister & President's Messages

Comments

1. Dadgie Scott wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
Thank you, Jim. So important. My question is How do we give our pastors the courage/skill to focus on those issues that their congregants consider "political"? Certainly climate change should be front and center in every church, but it seems as if most pastors almost avoid the subject. Thank you for your continuing focus!
2. Jim Antal wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
Thanks for these comments and those that will follow. I've received a lot of email response too. I was especially grateful for a particular email response. The person writing helped me to realize that my message would have been better had I explicitly included the fact that UCC members and UCC churches don’t all agree on either "Open and Affirming" or on same sex marriage - nor on climate change – and thanks to our polity, we don’t have to. In addition to providing an early voice on both of these issues, another strength of the UCC is that we can share a passionate commitment to Christ and his message while seeking different ways to express and live it out.
3. John Messerschmitt wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
Thank you Jim for your ongoing reminders of what we should have a modest pride about and what we must strive to do more about re: issues of social justice as experienced from a Christ-centered perspective. I wish our local church congregations could more often and more deeply appreciate the systemic aspects of their faith and act on it as well!
4. Max Olmstead wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
Amen to that, Jim! I was on hold for Tom Ashbrooke's program this morning, ready to tell the story about our church not being "the church"' the religious nuts that everyone is referring to. This is a time to witness.
5. Nancy Haverington wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
The resolution on climate change is why I can be part of the UCC. I just don't know, though, if we can affect positive change as Christians because we are deeply divided in our beliefs. Because we're Christians we, theoretically anyway, can have a respectful, passionate debate about our opposing beliefs on these issues and can pray that our opponents will see the light. The political parties, in my opinion, are so corrupt, I don't want to be affiliated with either one. And when I see Christians split into both, I feel equally embarrassed. And then add the media. I just don't think that's what being "a fool for Christ" means! Is this really the only paradigm we have to work with to solve serious problems? I wonder how we can affect change as Christians when we can't agree on what Jesus would do. Here is one way I could come closer to right wing Christian's beliefs: Global warming is the greatest right to life issue we face. We don't have the right to choose the destruction of God's creation. Because this problem affects all life, it seems to me that if it doesn't bring Christians together, we will be leaving Jesus alone weeping in what used to be the garden.
6. Reebee Girash wrote on 5/10/2012 12:00:00 AM
Preach it, Jim! I was interested to see 350.org connecting both of these stories, too: "What does marriage equality have to do with climate change? We believe that a society that believes in treating all people equally -- no matter their race, class, gender, religion, or sexual identity -- is a society that's more likely to extend that same respect and care to future generations and the planet." (Jamie Henn, Blog Post on 350.org, 5.9.12)
7. Richard A Weisenbach wrote on 5/11/2012 12:00:00 AM
Jim, I respectfully disagree with your recent call to action relative to the president's stand on same-sex marriage. Of course the love of Jesus was radically inclusive, but he did not affirm all behavior. He did not address the subject of homosexuality but he did make clear how human sexuality is to be expressed. We read his clear statement in Matthew 19:4-6,quoting Gen.1:27 and 2:24. "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said,'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."It seems to me that Christ Jesus' teaching regarding the expression of one's sexuality is within a relationship between a man and a woman. As a UCC pastor I am called to give the highest authority to the scripture. This has been my privilege for 47 years. Thanks for reading
8. Gretchen Elmendorf wrote on 5/12/2012 12:00:00 AM
Thank you for your leadership. Yes indeed it is the moment. What are our PR agents doing for the UCC? You should be on CNN, MSBC and NPR!! Is there a media relations head in Cleveland? How can I help? In Obama's interview, he mentions pastors who may be "at odds" to what he's saying. He doesn't mention the other pastors! Was he in conversation w/ any UCC pastors prior to his interview?