Sunday, June 24, 2001
Rev. Dale Ostrander

"We’re All In This Together"

Psalm 42:1-6; 43:3-5
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39 

Today is the 44^th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ. I didn’t know about this denomination at the time of its formation, but it was my good fortune to discover it just four years later during a rather agnostic period in my life at the end of my college years.

I went to college during the Sputnik era to become an engineer and go to Indonesia as a missionary. Why Indonesia? It seemed like an exotic place, and in need of Christian missionaries. But after one grading period I was on probation. I dropped out of engineering and discovered the fascinating and eye-opening world of the Liberal Arts and the Social Sciences. And I’ve been grateful ever since. God moves in mysterious ways!

You see, before I discovered the United Church of Christ, I was on a difficult spiritual journey out of Fundamentalism, through evangelical Protestantism, and into a wilderness period wandering around as a kind of spiritual exile. But I was still searching, so I knew I wanted to spend at least a year in Seminary to explore this further. I chose to do that at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, known for its progressive and ecumenical spirit and sensitivity to social issues.

This was the place where Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and for a time, Dietrich Bonhoeffer all had so influenced progressive Protestantism. And being located in New York City was an exciting selling point for this Californian.

Although I had briefly attended the Congregational Church in Palo Alto before leaving for New York, I really didn’t discover the UCC until I was at Union. There I encountered among others some very creative and thought provoking theologians who were also affiliated with the United Church of Christ. I also spent the next summer working in a UCC church and inner city program in Buffalo, N.Y., a wonderful and freeing experience for me. I found the UCC to be activist, free thinking, welcoming and open. The coming together of the different traditions that formed it represented a remarkable inclusiveness and openness to change.

Through Union Seminary and the UCC, both nationally and in the local churches I have been a part of, I have come to experience intellectual freedom, accepting, loving community and spiritual homecoming as I had never experienced earlier. And, others have as well, coming out of other religious backgrounds and discovering the same freedom of conscience, democratic polity, and covenantal relationship that characterize the United Church of Christ.

The other day while driving up to Silver Spring I listened to Susan Stamberg on NPR interviewing Edward Vallela, now retired from the N.Y.City Ballet Company. He grew up in a tough neighborhood in Queens, but wanted to dance. He was encouraged by his teacher to "make your own comment"! So he developed his own dazzling, energetic style of dancing with abandon. It’s possible to make your own comment in the UCC.

While serving on the Potomac Association’s Church & Ministry Committee, I was struck by how many candidates for ministry had left other traditions and found this kind of freedom in the UCC. And I know that many of you have experienced a similar faith journey that led you here to Christ Congregational Church, a place where you can "make your own comment."

Now while denominationalism appears to be becoming less important to younger adults today, ( except, of course, for the Southern Baptists) it’s important for us to affirm and celebrate the broad vision of the United Church of Christ and its progressive witness in society and the larger church community.

Maybe some of you saw the PBS documentary, "Scout’s Honor" the other night. It was a very moving piece about one boy’s tireless efforts to overturn the Boy Scout’s anti-gay policy. Steven Cozza, a scout himself, working toward his Eagle rank, was offended by this policy of discrimination and mounted a petition drive in his hometown of Petaluma, Calif. An older man, Dave Rice, is also featured in the documentary. He has been thrown out after 50 years of involvement in the Scouts because he has been speaking out against this policy. Dave is a member of the UCC church in Petaluma.

And, here at CCC as we are continuing on our own wilderness journey, we have yet another reason to be grateful for our UCC ties. While, like the Psalmist in this mornings reading, we have experienced loss, and we remember those times in our temple, our past history and blessings, we too long to return. But, in the midst of our journey the denomination has been there for us through the efforts of our Conference Minister, John Deckenback, and the financing by the UCC’s Cornerstone Fund.

While some have criticized the UCC’s emphasis on social activism, its freedom and the radical inclusiveness we espouse and attempt to live out, we believe that as followers of Jesus and in faithfulness to the gospel, this is the light and truth that guides us.

This morning’s scriptures speak to these very issues of inclusiveness and broader human connections. Paul, in his epistle to the Galatian Christians, speaks of God’s love being offered to all without distinction. He asserts that there are no distinctions between Jew and Greek, between slave and free, male and female. All are one in Christ.

What’s the context in which this comes up for him? Well, you see, Galatia was a Roman province in Asia Minor near the Mediterranean Sea. Several churches were established there, but there is conflict within this Christian community. Jewish Christians are demanding that the new gentile Christians adhere to the requirements of the Jewish law, especially with regard to circumcision, which they see as essential to establishing their identity as the people of God. But this is contrary to what Paul had taught them. So, Paul is writing to remind this new Christian community that salvation comes through faith, not legalism. In Christ and the gospel of love we are led to a new way of living in relationship.

Paul is also speaking here to the fact that under the law there were class distinctions; distinctions between Jews who were blood descendants of Abraham, and all others; between slaves and masters; and between men and the women, who were considered the property of men. Instead, he says that one’s ethnic and racial heritage, social status, and sex are not the last word. All are one in Christ, the old distinctions are gone, and all are encouraged to claim this new freedom and participate in the inclusiveness of grace.

Paul’s reminder to the community in Galatia is still a timely reminder for the churches today. Christians today are still tempted toward all kinds of legalisms that might provide some sense of security, entitlement and certainty of one’s place in society and our changing world, as well as in the life to come. These legalisms also allow and lead people to distinguish themselves from others, and like the Galatians, separate portions of humanity from one another and set one against the other.

On the last Saturday in March on the Religion page of the Washington Post, all five articles had to do with this very sort of conflict in and among religious groups.

· The Southern Baptists were halting 30 years of talks with the U.S. Roman Catholics because they were upset about the Catholics ecumenical discussions with other Christian groups.

· The Eastern Orthodox leaders in Istanbul rejected a bid for increased self-government from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in America.

· The Taliban movement, which controls most of Afghanistan, was destroying ancient Buddha statues.

· The Presbyterian top officials told churches that they cannot use traditional marriage liturgies for same-sex union ceremonies, because such unions are not spiritual or legal in the same sense as traditional marriage.

· Christ Episcopal Church in Accokeek, Maryland was in a standoff with Jane Holmes Dixon, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, over the issues of ordaining gay men and lesbians to the priesthood, the blessing of same-sex unions, abortion rights, assisted suicide, gender inclusive language, and the ordination of women themselves.

In the Gospel reading this morning Luke tells the story of Jesus going outside the strictly Jewish parts of Palestine into Gentile territory. There he heals a man ostracized by society and imprisoned within by many conflicting demons. When Jesus heals him the demons come out of the man and enter the pigs that are grazing nearby, causing them to rush into the lake and drown. The herdsmen who saw this tell the townspeople, who then come to where Jesus is and see the man who was healed sitting at Jesus’ feet "clothed in his right mind." They were fearful and asked Jesus to leave, which he does. But before he leaves the man who was healed begs to be able to stay with him. But Jesus sends him home to his own people to tell them about what God has done for him.

Luke’s purpose here is not just to tell a miracle story emphasizing Jesus’ powers, but to point out that Jesus’ teaching and healing reaches out to the gentiles as well. This foreshadows the future of the church that will reach beyond the earlier laws and boundaries into the larger gentile world, which Luke writes about in volume 2 of his work, the Book of Acts.

One thing is still missing for me though. Don’t you feel sorry for the herdsmen losing their pigs? The story still represents a cultural bias about pork. Nevertheless, this is yet another gospel story that would reveal God’s inclusive love reaching beyond the established boundaries and distinctions.

One of the peer groups I belong to is a group of clergy, all UCC except for one American Baptist. We get together monthly to play poker! But we also talk about our personal lives and issues having to do with church and society. At a recent gathering we got into a discussion of what we thought were the most pressing issues to be addressed by the church and in seminary education today. The overarching concern expressed that night had to do with the broad implications of globalization and corporate structures and how these relate to the disparity of rich and poor and access to the world’s resources, the difficulty embracing diversity, and damage to the environment.

These concerns all had to do with issues of openness and inclusiveness; being able to live together in spite of our differences; protecting and caring for the earth; cooperating and working together for the common good; and realizing that beyond religion, ethnicity and race, sex and class, we’re all in this together, and we’d better take that seriously.

In a world of 6 billion humans, in which there are an estimated 10,000 distinctive religions – nearly 34,000 denominations and sects among Christians alone – we need a broad faith that proclaims that we are all connected, and a faith that strives toward the goal of world community in the midst of our diversity.

We rejoice today that we’re part of a denomination that tries to take these things seriously. However, as individuals and as a people we too must be open to seeing what part of our lives we live outside and apart from that which is larger and life giving; that which keeps us from opening our souls to freedom. What are the fears that hold us back from one another and our neighbors, keep us clinging to old ways, and keep us from acting courageously and stepping out in faith into those places that God would have us go and care about.

The Apostle Paul says to Christians that if we really put on Christ and are restored to participation in the love of God, we are able to move beyond divisiveness and that which keeps us from what God intends for us – our true humanity. It’s then that we see ourselves as part of a broader picture, and experience movement into the healing spaciousness of love and community. This is what we have been created for, and I believe that this is our salvation as individuals and as a people. Amen.

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