During my time at Harvard Divinity School, I noticed a number of classmates who
arrived as members of other Christian traditions, but left as members of the United
Church of Christ, either because their education had awakened them to our
progressive and reconstructive approach, or because they had been rejected by their
former traditions.
At the same time, some students arriving as members of the United Church of Christ
flirted with, and sometimes even converted to the Episcopal Church. They had
experienced a sense of wonder and the sacred in the “smells and bells” of ritual,
something our churches in the New England Congregationalist tradition do poorly, if at
all.
There have been a handful of “birthright” members in every United Church of Christ
congregation I have served, folks who were born since the 1957 merger, or born into
our predecessor movements: Congregational, Christian Connection, German Reform,
Evangelical & Reform, and the Afro-Christian Convention. The folks born into the
tradition are always vastly outnumbered by people like me, folks like my classmates
who were abused and rejected by other traditions, or who simply came to doubt the
dogmas and creeds of authoritarian Christianity.
I joke that a healthy UCC congregation is an “island of misfit toys,” though you’ve
probably seen that Christmas special enough times to know that the “misfits” were
actually gifted and amazing. That diversity requires some shared framework,
something beyond safety and freedom. Fortunately, The Park Church has an identity
grounded in social justice. Unfortunately, we often ask you to construct your own faith,
while providing you with few tools and no materials.
The thing is, I love to give people tools. It is why I was the Director of Learning for a
multimedia company in Manhattan before becoming a pastor, why I lean into the
“teacher” part of my UCC ordination as “Pastor and Teacher.” So beginning in
February, I will work to increase learning opportunities around scripture, theology, and
history, beginning with a “Monday School” program on alternating weeks, opposite
meetings of the Elmira City Council. Monday School will supplement the fantastic
learning opportunities Christina organizes in her role on the Church Council.
While I will focus on those traditional “religious” topics, I hope the present moment will
also call us to build strategic skills in activism and resistance, the logical outcome
when a faith grounded in justice, love, and humility meets a cruel and authoritarian
government.
+Gary