at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

Every year at this time, Christian faith traditions around the world join in prayer and reflection about our unity in Christ and the need to heal the divisions within the Church universal.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was established over 100 years ago, but the sad fact is that the ideal of Christian unity still seems to be a hoped-for dream rather than a reality. A cynic might even say that the term “Christian unity” is an oxymoron, because for generations, issues have divided the world-wide Christian church. These days, this dissension focuses on the interpretation of scripture, the role of women, the nature of human sexuality, and styles of worship, just to a name a few. But issues have been dividing the church since it was first established 2,000 years ago.

This morning’s scripture lesson comes from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church he established in Corinth, and in it he addressed the problems the Corinthians were experiencing living in community. The congregation mirrored the diversity of the city itself, and disputes broke out about Christian conduct, worship practices, and the marginalizing of the congregation’s disadvantaged members, all of which caused deep divisions in the church.

In his letter, Paul was summoning this factious and fractured congregation to demonstrate the unity that is essential in belonging to Christ, and he used the imagery of a body to make his point. By comparing members of Christ’s church to parts of a human body, Paul neatly explained two complementary truths that the Corinthians had failed to comprehend. Any part of a body, Paul said – such as an eye or a foot – makes a valuable contribution to the whole body, and all parts must cooperate to form a single, unified, functioning body. Paul looked at the conflict in Corinth and said, “Don’t you people understand that you are one body? Each of you is a part. Each of you is important.”

Achieving this sense of harmony, agreement, and accord is the reason for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity -- to commit to the unity that Christ prayed for his disciples in the Gospel of John [17:21]: “that they may all be one.” This phrase is the founding motto of our denomination, the United Church of Christ. But like many other Christian faith traditions, the UCC has experienced its share of contentiousness and division during its 53-year history. This was perhaps not unexpected when two denominations, the Congregational and Christian Church, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church, decided in 1957 to join together to form the United Church of Christ. This union brought under one roof varied theological, ecclesial, racial, and cultural communities. However, unlike some other denominations which have suffered permanent schisms, the UCC has been able to weather and withstand the storms of difference and disagreement. Certainly, Paul’s enduring imagery of the human body continues to provide a timeless metaphor for the diversity which proclaims unity in Christ, including in the UCC, and you hear me refer to the church as “the body of Christ” all the time.

And there is additional imagery which helps us to understand what has been called the “heady and exasperating mix” found within the UCC.¹ The metaphor that has often been used to describe this diverse gathering is a “big tent.”

The idea of a big tent conjures up an old-fashioned revival meeting, a place of healing, renewal, and transformation where the Good News is proclaimed, the lost found, the stranger welcomed, the sinner brought to repentance; a place where the waters of baptism enable people to become immersed in the grace of God and sent forth from the tent with a new commitment to discipleship.² I hope that is what this tent is for you.

A tent is made not of unbending wood or rigid and sharp-edged bricks which limit how many can fit inside. A tent does not have inflexible and unyielding doors which serve to shut people out. Instead, the cloth walls of a tent can stretch so that no one is ever excluded, and there is always enough room to welcome someone else in. I hope each of you has felt welcomed in this place.

A big tent also brings to mind a circus – festive, unruly, chaotic and joyful – with the three rings offering something for everyone. I hope you have found that here, too.

But there are problems with this “big tent” metaphor, for it is a static and sedentary image. A tent doesn’t go out to find a congregation, but instead waits to be found. Tents can be permanently secured to the ground, and even the great canvas flap can be brought down against any unwanted person who might try to venture in.

A newer image for the UCC is a grand parade. Think about it. A parade does not stand static and sedentary, but rather follows the direction and rhythm of the still-speaking God, who calls us ever forward. A parade doesn’t wait for people to show up but instead moves out into the world to meet people where they are, offering them the Good News of the gospel message. Not a military parade marked by rigid cadence and identical uniforms, but rather a small town parade where everyone is welcome to enter a float, where all kinds of groups are invited to walk together. The bands are playing. The twirlers are twirling. The fire engines and antique cars and gold star mothers and Boy Scouts and Brownies and VFW units pass by with more enthusiasm than precision; a parade where little children line the streets to grab the candy that is tossed their way, where older children weave in and out on their bikes and skate boards; a parade where everyone eventually becomes part of the procession as those who line the streets join in after the last unit passes by, so that by the time the parade reaches its end point, it is twice as long as it was at the beginning.

The unity of this parade is in its motion and its direction, following the Christ who calls us ever forward. And the diversity of the parade is honored, valued, and on full display. That is the United Church of Christ. And I hope that is also the First Congregational Church of Stoughton.

Because we have a chance to be that all-inviting parade. This coming Wednesday, we embark on our Open and Affirming Study Process to discern whether we want to unequivocally and publicly welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people into the full life and ministry of this church. Now, I know that some people might ask, “Why do we need to do that? We welcome everyone who comes through the door.” But that’s Big Tent thinking, and too many lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered people and their families live with the pain of having believed that when a church – any church – said that “everyone was welcome,” they thought it meant them too, only to discover otherwise. No one should have to guess about the “boundaries of inclusion” of this church. No current and future members of our church family should have to wonder if they will be met with silence or condemnation if they try to be their authentic selves.

A definitive message of welcome is important not only for people who are already here, but it needs to get to the people out there who have not yet found us, people who are yearning for a relationship with God, and yearning also for a faith community, a place of safety and welcome, within which to nurture and grow that relationship with God.

We need to be out there marching our parade down Main Street, bringing our message of extravagant welcome, overflowing hospitality, and radical inclusiveness to others, making sure that people know that we are truly a friendly place, a welcoming place, and a safe place for everyone.

So… what kind of church is God calling us to be? Are we a big tent, welcoming those who show up at our door? Or are we a grand parade, moving out into the world to proclaim our extravagant welcome to all people, young and old, gay and straight, single and coupled, rich and poor, all nationalities and all levels of physical and mental ability, all levels of economic status, all colors of the rainbow? I am only one voice. We need your voice. I hope you will plan on joining us this coming Wednesday at 7:00 pm.

And no matter how the discussion goes, no matter where we come out on the subject, let us never forget that whether we are a big tent or a grand parade, we are and always will be, the body of Christ. We are all members of that body, unified by the Holy Spirit. We all need each other. If one of us suffers, we all suffer together; if one of us is honored, we all rejoice together. Because despite all of our differences and diversity, we are bound together by God through Jesus Christ, who shows us the still more excellent way of love. Amen.

¹According to J. Bennett Guess in “A 'heady, exasperating mix'? - Don't forget 'beautiful,' 'hopeful,' too,” United Church News, June-July 2007, this oft-used description comes from a widely-read, widely-celebrated article written by the late Rev. Oliver G. Powell in the September 1975 issue of A.D. Magazine, a predecessor publication of United Church News. At the time, Powell served as the Boston area minister of the Massachusetts Conference.

² Adapted from a sermon entitled “The Big Tent and the Great Parade,” by Rev. John H. Thomas, UCC General Minister and President, June 22, 2008, which serves as inspiration for much of this sermon.