The United Church of Christ is currently in the midst of General Synod 28 (July 1-5) in Tampa, FL. Yesterday afternoon, I joined other members of local churches from across Florida as guests at a special community wide afternoon worship service. The Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, Senior Pastor of Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, preached a prophetic sermon marked by hope, which included these words:
A year ago Bishop John Shelby Spong, the former Episcopal Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, spent a month with us at the church as a part of our theologian in residence program. One evening he was speaking about the United Church of Christ and said the following: “The vocation of the UCC is to walk the theological frontier and to confront and eradicate those prejudices based on stereotypical definitions of the past and frequently undergirded by the words of sacred Scripture. To fulfill this vocation your denomination has to be free of the theological answers of yesterday. But there is a price to be paid for this kind of leadership and faithfulness to this vocation requires that you are willing to pay it.” And here is the part I love: “No church that forces engagement with new thinking will ever appeal to the masses. No church committed to social justice will ever be a majority denomination. You should not aspire to serve those idols. Your call is to be a faithful church, a witnessing church, and the entire Christian world benefits from your fulfilling this vocation. And, I, for one, admire you greatly.”
So What?
As the role of denominations continues to shift and as many denominations reconsider what it means to be a denomination and how best to provide a supportive structure and appropriate governance, it is essential that individual denominations understand their vocation. Spong has been a leader in progressive Christianity for a number of years and understands the gifts of the UCC. Most of those gathered in the assembly hall offered their affirmation to his suggestion by clapping when Hafner concluded the quote.
- Do you agree with Spong’s recommended vocation for the UCC? Why or why not?
- What would it look like for the UCC to live into that vocation on the level of the local church? conference? denomination?
- What do you see as your denomination’s vocation? What unique contributions does it offer to the rest of the Christian family?
You can view the entire service here (Hafner’s sermon begins at 0:30:30).