An Ordination Paper

In Three Parts

Erik Edvard Breddin

Part 1 – (The purpose of part 1 of the ordination paper is to provide a way for the candidate to share their present grasp and understanding of the teaching and traditions of the Christian Church down through the ages and to relate this to their own theological perspective.)

Since the founding of the Christian faith, the faithful have sought to put into words the things they believe. At times these beliefs have taken the form of prayers, at times creeds, at other times statements or testimonies of faith. One of the truths of the Christian faith is that it is always growing and adapting to the times and contexts in which we as believers find ourselves. As such, though we look to the historical testimonies of faith as guides, we must always seek to interpret and understand their words in ways that are applicable to who we are and where we are at this time and place.

One of the things I enjoy doing is cooking. I enjoy the process of preparing food, of slicing and dicing, of mixing ingredients together to produce something that will hopefully be delicious in the end. My mother made sure as I was growing up that I could follow a recipe. I could read and follow the list of ingredients, the process of mixing and kneading, the temperatures and times for cooking. I often turn to recipes even now when I make something. But, it is a rare thing that I follow a recipe to the letter, especially if it’s not the first time I’ve made it. I might add more of a specific ingredient, I might substitute one for another, I might change the temperature it bakes at or the length of time. The end result when it comes out of the oven is uniquely mine. It’s still Grandma’s tater-tot casserole, but I’ve put my own unique flavors into it.

When someone declares, “I believe in God” or “I believe in Jesus” they are making a declaration that carries a great deal of meaning. Some of that meaning is directly connected to the histories and traditions of the Christian Church throughout its history. Some of that meaning is far more personal in nature, a reflection of a person’s unique understanding of God and God’s relationship with them. The reality and nature of faith is that each of us in many ways takes the teachings and understanding of the Christian Church; and then examines them within our own experiences. We each formulate our own understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus; just as we look to a recipe and follow it, sometimes very closely and sometimes with less adherence.

When a person says “I believe…” they are sharing their recipe for who God is. Each of us has our own understandings of the ‘recipe’ that has been handed down to us by our ancestors in faith. Though, the recipe we use on a daily basis may be different, it’s important that we know what the original recipe was and is. Thus, we can always return to it if we find that what we have created is leaving a bad taste in one’s mouth, or in the mouths of others.

I will be using the Apostles’ Creed as the “recipe” in presenting what I perceive as the basics of the Christian faith as it has been transmitted through history. I choose to use this creed as it is traditionally understood to be the oldest of the statements of faith created within and by the church, and it is also the shortest in length. I am choosing to use a Creed rather than the United Church of Christ Statement

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of Faith because the statement of faith is in itself a representation of a specific theological interpretation of the historical teachings of the church. The text of the Apostles’ Creed is as follows:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died, and was buried;he descended into hell.On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.1

In these words we have a brief summation of the traditionally held beliefs and understandings regarding God and the work of Jesus. Here, we see the understanding of the triune nature of God (stated here as Father, Son, Holy Spirit). We make the declaration that God is the creator of all that is. Jesus was God’s only Son, born of a human female through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was tried and executed by those in power. Following his death he descended into hell where traditional Christianity states that he paid the price for our sins. After three days, Jesus rose triumphant from the grave. He then ascended into heaven where he sits in a place of honor. On the last day he will come again to judge all humanity. The final few lines point to the belief and hope within the church itself: the church universal (the intended meaning of catholic) is holy (having to do with God, being blessed and chosen by God), that all believers are united with one another in faith, that in Jesus we receive the forgiveness of our sins, the resurrection of our bodies from the dead, and eternal life.

This is in brief the traditional beliefs of the Christian Church; this is the basic recipe that we use when we begin to speak about God. What follows is my recipe:

We believe in God the Parent Almighty,Creator and Owner of Heaven and Earth.

We believe in Jesus the Messiah, God’s only Son, the Sovereign One,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary,who lived the life of a servant without limit,was crucified, died and was buried.

1 The version used here was created in 1988 by The English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), an international ecumenical group whose primary purpose is to provide ecumenically accepted texts for those who use English in their liturgy. This version is distinguished among other things by its avoidance of the word "his" in relation to God. http://www.englishtexts.org/survey.html

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The third day God raised the Son from the dead, and declared Him Ruler over the universe, death and eternity.Jesus is still within and among us. Through Word and Sacrament we encounter His presence, His message and His mission.While we wait for Jesus to reappear on the Last Day when he will raise the dead and judge all people, we live to make Him known as Savior and Lord, and to serve Him by serving those around us.When He reappears, he will greet us in forgiving grace, thank us for having served Him in his unknown presence, and then welcome us into the eternal home where we will be in God’s presence forever.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,the Holy Christian Church, the community of forgiven saints, striving to live in unity in Christ-like servanthood.We believe in the existence of evil, and the many ways it seeks to turn us from serving God and others to serving ourselves.We believe in the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.

Each and every person is called to a personal faith, a personal and intimate relationship with God, but we are not called to a private faith. The concept of a private faith is incompatible with Christianity. Christianity is a faith that is meant to be lived out in community.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus’ teachings stressed the importance of life in community. In teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus did not teach them, “My Father”, but “Our Father”, and “give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In making our confession of faith we first declare what we believe and do as individuals within a community and second, we express our calling to assist others grow in faith and discipleship.

Believing in God, being a part of the community of the faithful is more than just knowing a few Bible verses or truths about God. What begins in our heads must move through our hearts to our lips, hands and feet.

The relationship between every parent and child is unique. When we declare God as parent we simultaneously declare ourselves to be the children of God. God loves us immensely and knows our vulnerability, our helplessness, our childishness, our foolishness, and is patient with us because we have been named and claimed as children.

There is perhaps no greater love in this world than that of a parent for a child. The agape2 love of God is far greater than the storge3 love between a parent and a child, but it’s something most of us can understand. We are God’s children; that we are God’s makes all the difference in the world. When a

2 Agape is understood in the New Testament as the active love of God for the Son and God’s people, and the active love we are to have for God, each other, and even enemies.

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child is your own, you love them deeply. You love them in spite of their faults, in spite of their irritations, in spite of their problems. You love them. And so it is with God our heavenly parent. We are God’s little children. We belong to God. Our being named and claimed as children reveals the patient and intense love God has for us.

Though we as human parents are limited in terms of what we can do for our children, there is no limit to what God can do with us and for us as God’s own.

The uniqueness of our creation is not an accident of chance, of atoms randomly coming together. In, with, and under, it is the Almighty God revealed in Scripture who, “In the beginning” spoke all things into existence.

The first chapters of Genesis speak of God’s creation of the universe and humanity, but they do not speak of God handing over ownership of that creation to us or to anyone else. Dominion (Genesis 1:26,28) does not imply ownership, but management. God remains creator and owner of all things, and calls us to manage responsibly what continues to be owned by God (Psalm 24:1; 89:11). That ownership includes all of creation including ourselves as humans. We do not “own” our bodies.

In the parable of the “rich fool” in Luke 12:13-21, God reminds the man that he does not even own the life he is using. God has merely loaned it to him. God lends us body, food, money, family, home and whatever else we might like to call “ours.” We are caretakers not only of ourselves, but also of each other and every other thing on Earth. In response to the graciousness of God, we are called to live lives of thanks and praise, of servanthood and obedience.

The name Jesus is the Latin form of the Greek translation of the Hebrew name(s) Joshua or Jehoshua, and it means, “He whose salvation is YHWH.”

The church has become complacent in naming Jesus as Jesus Christ, rather than Jesus the Christ. Christ is not a name but a title; it is the Greek translation of the Hebrew term “Messiah”. The New Testament presents Jesus as the Messiah, the one who brings into being the Messianic Age4.

The hope within the nation of Israel was for a line of kings that would last for all eternity. In the Babylonian exile, the last of those kings was lost (2 Kings 24:10-12; 25:6.7). It was the hope that the line of kings would one day be restored. Many ideas existed as to the nature of the Messiah, the “anointed one” who would bring about that restoration. Our understandings of Jesus and of the Messiah follow.

In Jesus, God became incarnate, clothed in flesh. That which was fully God was united with that which was fully human. Jesus was not God masquerading as human, Jesus was fully human. Jesus was also not just a man with a close relationship and understanding of God, he was God incarnate.

3 Storge is understood to be familial love, like that between parent and child, it is centered in the commitment of one person to another.4 The Messianic Age is understood to be that time when God will bring about universal peace and unity on earth, when there will be no poverty, war, or crime.

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In speaking of Jesus as God’s Son, we recognize the words of Jesus himself in speaking of his relationship with God. The focus of the word should not be on the male gender that is presented, but on the relationship between parent and child. We also recognize that in the words and actions of Jesus we encounter God. By becoming familiar with who the Son is, we also gain insight into the Parent (John 14:9).

Traditionally the title of “Lord” has been used. In using that title it was intended to transmit the all-powerful aspect of God. It was also the term used to refer to all individuals who had power over almost anything, from implementing laws to making decisions over property and assets. It was a term that was used for Kings as well as other people in authority. Over the years, it came to be used to refer to almost anyone who seen, or felt themselves to be in power. Thus, you could speak of someone being ‘lord of the house’. The term itself, separate from cultural influences, is a wonderful descriptor of God’s rule and power.

However, many often think of the “Lord” in a negative way, associating it with past negative experiences of father figures or other men, or with an oppressive use of power (i.e., ‘lording’ it over someone); thus the language here has been changed. When we speak of the Sovereign One, we speak specifically of the one to whom we look for sustenance and direction in life. Jesus, as God incarnate and Sovereign, provides for our needs and guides us in all we believe and do.

In Jesus we do not encounter God in a human shell, we encounter someone fully human. From his very beginning he was the full union of both human and God. Jesus was the result of God acting powerfully in the life of a young woman. Jesus was not the unclaimed child of another man, but the very Son of God.

The traditional Apostles’ Creed moves from crib to cross without making reference to the life and ministry of Jesus, which is unfortunate as Jesus’ life is the example of the kind of life we are called to live. Throughout his ministry Jesus often refers to his own life in terms of servanthood, and to the life of servanthood to which he called his disciples (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 8:34-38; 9:35-37; 10:42-45). Jesus, though he was God incarnate, did not use that reality to rule over others, but lowered himself and took the role of servant again and again. His life was one lived not for himself, but for others (Philippians 2:4-11).

As Jesus’ life was one that was lived in servanthood without limit, it follows that his crucifixion was his highest and most perfect form of servanthood. John’s gospel makes it clear that Jesus was not killed, but that Jesus died because he gave up his own life (John 19:30). Though crucifixion was one of the cruelest and most humiliating ways to die, Jesus transforms the timbers of the cross into his throne, and the wreath of thorns into the crown of coronation. When the Romans and the Temple authorities joined forces against Jesus to do their worst, they enabled Jesus to do his best.

For most people in today’s world the motto of “live for yourself” reigns. Jesus’ message and life were in constant opposition to that claim. His crucifixion as the servant without limit placed an exclamation point on that fact. The way in which Jesus defined his kingship and coronation defy human logic. His call to follow in his footsteps, to work for his Kingdom is heard by all the faithful.

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Jesus told his hearers in John 10:17, 18 that he alone had the power to lay down his life, and to take it up again. In Acts (2:24, 32; 3:26; 4:10) we find Peter telling his hearers that God raised Jesus from the dead. In raising Jesus from the dead we see God placing a large “yes” to Jesus and his ministry in opposition to the “no” voiced by Jesus’ opponents and executioners. In raising Jesus from the dead God vindicated his Messianic servanthood (Philippians 2:9-11).

In the traditional language of the Apostles’ Creed, we read that Jesus “descended into hell”. Many people may read this and believe that Jesus went to hell to suffer more (as if suffering death wasn’t enough.) This phrase is not about Jesus descending into hell to suffer. The phrase itself reinforces the fact that on the cross Jesus did in fact die (you couldn’t enter into the realm of the dead unless you were dead) and that in Jesus descending into hell, those who were there would also be included in the salvation that God in Christ was bringing about. Jesus is ruler of every corner of the universe, including the abode of the dead, even hell itself. Jesus’ reign encompasses all – countries, races, time, even death and the life to come.

Following his resurrection and prior to his ascension Jesus appeared to his disciples and followers a number of times. These visits assured them that he had indeed risen from the dead and was still present. When I think of how Jesus appeared before his disciples’ eyes I think of it not as appearing out of this air, but allowing the disciples to see that which was always there, much as the two travelers came to see Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). When Jesus appeared among his disciples, he didn’t appear out of nowhere, he was always there. And when he disappeared from before their eyes, he didn’t go anywhere, he remained amongst them.

Jesus’ ascension was not a departure, but a transformation of his presence. Jesus ascended into a cloud, a long understood symbol of God’s presence (Exodus 14:19; 1 Kings 8:10; Mark 9:2-8). Jesus’ ascension was not his saying, “goodbye”, but “No more visits like before.” But this is not goodbye. “You will continue to live in my presence until I appear.” The risen Jesus fills creation with his presence. We cannot find a place where Jesus’ authority and presence does not reign supreme.

Through the means of grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ teaching and mission continue. In the hearing of God’s words, in the waters of Baptism, and in the sharing of Bread and Cup. The Holy Spirit delivers and supports Jesus’ message and mission, his work of salvation, his constant presence, and his desire for us to live in community with one another.

Jesus’ presence fills the universe; he does not need to return from anywhere to declare the end of history. Jesus will simply appear in all his glory, bring together the living and the dead and judge each of us (Matthew 25:31-46) not according to our theological understandings, but our measure of following his call of love and service.

Having been the unworthy recipients of God’s grace and forgiveness, we are to live our lives in such a way that we show his “servant lordship.” Our goal and calling is to become the people that Jesus desires and created us to be, so that we can be all the more able to help others become who Jesus wants them to be. Christianity is not about putting God first in our life, but putting God only in our life. Christianity is to embrace all of life in God’s name and service.

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In the 25th chapter of Matthew, Jesus teaches us that we are to live expectantly (25:1-13), responsibly (25:14-30), and compassionately (25:31-46). As we live our lives following the desires of our Lord we must remember that on the last day we will not be rewarded or commended for ourselves, but for what we did in service of others. It is what we have done in the service of the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely, the naked, the sick and the prisoner – those with whom Jesus himself identifies (Matthew 25:35.36) that will be the basis of our defense. However, we must also remember that nothing we do will make us worthy of receiving the welcome on the last day. Our obedience does not create our identity as God’s people, it reflects it. We remain fully dependent on God’s grace and forgiveness.

The same God created and redeemed us. The same God who prepared eternity for us will welcome us into that eternity. A home is where a family gathers. God has declared us, claimed us, and named as God’s own children. In Jesus’ day, to eat with someone was to declare them family. Thus we remember and practice for the coming Kingdom each and every time we gather around the table and celebrate our Lord’s Supper. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives himself in the bread and wine, and provides the assurance of our forgiveness and place in God’s family.

When we speak of the Holy Spirit we speak of the mysterious, unseen and irresistible presence of the Divine being. From the first moments of creation the Spirit was a part of our story (Genesis 1:2). In our Scripture we see how God communicated with humanity through the voice of God (Judges 6:11), or a voice from heaven (Mark 1:11), by the Spirit of God and through inspired prophets (Isaiah 61:1).

The Holy Spirit has empowered, guided and raised up faithful servants and prophets. The Holy Spirit came upon kings Saul and David (1 Samuel 10:10; 16:13). Following the Babylonian exile most Jewish teachers and rabbis felt that the Spirit of God had withdrawn and no longer dwelt in their midst. However, though God may have no longer spoken directly to them, they did believe God spoke through the Torah.

The Jews of the first century referred to the Torah as the Bread of Life, the Water of Life, and the Light of the World. They taught that wherever two or three were gathered around the Torah, the shekinah (divine presence) was there. It was this understanding that Jesus built on in Matthew 18:20.

The role and understanding of the Holy Spirit is primarily one of translation and empowerment. The Holy Spirit is the one who hears the words of God, makes them known to humanity, and empowers those who hear to understand, believe and do them. Jesus himself defines the role of the Holy Spirit in John 16:12-15.

The word ‘church’ is derived from the Greek word used to refer to the council or governing body in a city or town, basically the city council. These people gathered together to discuss the affairs of the community and then went forth to act upon the decisions made. The church is that holy community of forgiven saints that have been brought together and formed into a community through and in Jesus. The church seeks to extend the message of God’s actions in Jesus the Messiah, develop faith, and equip the faithful to live their lives in community as God intends.

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God’s intention for humanity is that we live our lives in a servant covenant with one another and with God. Though we as Christians are to go to church, we are above all called to be Jesus’ church or community. We are not merely to speak about Jesus, we are to show others and assist them through our lives and servanthood to become the people Jesus wants them to be.

I appreciate the words of the Anglican Catechism in response to the question: “What is the mission of the church?”

The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. In short, the Church’s mission is to equip people to reflect God’s original intention to humanity prior to the fall into sin, and to model God’s ultimate intention for humanity in eternity.

Within the pages of the Bible we find many references to evil, the devil, Satan. From the very beginning of his ministry Jesus fought against the power and pressure of evil. Jesus unmasked the demonic and revealed it is in every thing, every power, institution or pressure that seeks to draw us away from our living to serve God and others. As the fight against the beguiling force of evil never ends, our Christian faith is not “just” a part of life. There is no separation between secular and sacred. At all times as Christians we are being directed either by our Risen Savior or by the forces of evil.

In Christ, God has declared the world forgiven. Faith, or lack thereof, does not create or deny forgiveness. It merely claims, grasps hold of the forgiveness that God has already offered to all, graciously and without a cost to us.

When we come to faith, when we claim the forgiveness offered to us, we have not found God. God was never lost. No, it is God who has awakened within us the awareness of being found. God does not change in order that we as humans will be more acceptable to God. No, God changes us, and acts to reconcile a sinful yet forgiven humanity to Godself (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

We look with hope and trust to being raised, transformed by the power of God. We are not speaking merely of the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. “For the perishable body must put on immortality, and this mortal body must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53). Exactly how this will be we do not know; but we know that in Jesus we have experienced the first of the resurrected. We will not be the same, yet we will be who we are and are created to be. It is one of the mysteries of the church that we will not fully understand until the last day.

Jesus has promised us that a place has been prepared for us in the presence of God (John 14:1-6). We, naturally, desire to know what this place, this heaven will be like. However, we must be prepared to wait and anticipate and focus instead on living lives now as a reflection of the Kingdom to come.

It is in this hope and faith that we look forward to the day when we will gather together with all the faithful of all times and places around the throne of God, praising and giving thanks to God for the grace, love and forgiveness that have been showered down upon us. (Revelation 7:15-17)

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Part 2 – (Part 2 of the ordination paper is intended to provide an opportunity for the candidate to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the history, theological roots, polity, and practice of the United Church of Christ.)

The history, theological roots, polity and practice of the United Church of Christ are all woven together in a rich tapestry. It is difficult to separate each of these from each other as they are so intricately connected. In a paper such at this, there is always the risk of including too much information, and as a person who has the tendency to be long-winded at times, I will do my best to be brief and succinct, presenting what I feel is of most importance to the subject.

As a member of the Christian family of faith, we share a mutual history with all Christian churches that can be traced to the radical message of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. Our unique history was influenced by the Reformation movements in Europe in the 16th century; most prominently through the actions of Zwingli and Calvin, as well as through Luther and the English reformers.

The uniqueness of the United Church of Christ however, is best understood and explored through an examination of the four church groups that came together in the 1930’s to form the Congregational Christian Churches, and Evangelical and Reformed church; eventually these also came together in 1957 to form the United Church of Christ.

Congregational Christian The Congregational Church has its roots in the English Puritans and Separatists. The Puritan, John Cotton, labeled the church movement in Massachusetts Bay, the ‘Congregational Way.’ Congregationalists rejected creeds and confessions and insisted Christians should demonstrate a ‘saving faith.’ Scriptural authority and the autonomy of individual churches were affirmed.

The 19th century moved Congregationalism into the era of denominationalism. Many Congregational churches had been tax supported. Civil establishment and government support disappeared after the American Revolution. As other traditions including Lutherans, Unitarians, Presbyterians, and Baptists increased in number, Congregationalists became one denomination among many.

Many Congregationalists in the 19th century rejected the strict doctrine of Calvinism and Congregational churches embraced wide theological diversity. The willingness to embrace such diversity became a unifying principle. By the end of the century Congregationalists were committed to seeking fellowship, consultation and cooperation among the churches.

The Christian Church was a distinctly American church movement. When a group of churches that called themselves ‘Christian’ joined with one another in 1820 they became known as the ‘Christian

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Connection.’ The Christian church grew out of a culture of freedom and individual liberty in the new democratic United States of America. In 1820 at the first United General Conference of Christians they unanimously adopted six principles:

Christ, the only head of the church. The Bible, sufficient rule of faith and practice. Christian character, the only measurement for membership. The right of private judgment, interpretation of scripture, and liberty of conscience. The name "Christian" worthy for Christ's followers. Unity of all Christ's followers in behalf of the world.

In 1844 the New England Convention of the Christian Connection strongly condemned slavery, and fellowship with the white Christian churches of the South was cut off until after the Civil War. Christian churches in the South also included black members, and following the Civil War many black Christian churches were formed in response to their desire and need to worship in a way that was more representative of their unique culture and history.

By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Congregationalists and Christians had expressed interest in uniting with other denominations. At a meeting in 1926 these two groups decided to move toward union. In 1931 the 100,000 member Christian denomination, which included 30,000 members in African American congregations, joined with nearly a million members in the Congregational churches. The full names of the two bodies, which joined were the National Council of Congregational Churches and The General Council of Christian Churches. The official name of the new body was The General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches.

Evangelical and Reformed

German refugees came to America in the 18th century in great numbers. Many of them were fleeing poverty and war in their homeland. Many of these German refugees settled in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic area. They did not come for specifically religious reasons, they came seeking a better life and they did not bring pastors with them. Their Reformed faith was sustained by worship in homes. They had their German Bible and the Heidelberg Confession. The Heidelberg Confession had been written in 1563 to address the concerns of Fredrick III, Elector of the Palatinate. In the Palatinate there was continual tension between Lutheran and Calvinist reformers. Frederick embraced the Reformed theology of Calvin. He wanted a peaceful church and assigned the duty of writing a catechism to bring peace between the churches to Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus. The Heidelberg Catechism they produced formed and informed the identity and piety of the German Reformed churches.

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Between 1840 and 1870 large numbers of Germans moved to the Midwest, including Iowa. There was tension between German speaking Reformed churches and those reformed churches in which English was the dominant language. In 1867 the word ‘German’ was dropped from the official name of the denomination. However, many individual congregations continued to worship in German until well into the 20th Century.

In Northern Germany, in 1817, the Lutheran and Reformed churches united. The church became the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union.

This union in Germany is the heritage of the Evangelical Synod and offers a middle ground between strict doctrinal orthodoxy and freethinking rationalism. It embraces a piety, which values prayer and devotion along with the Bible and theology and remains a valuable model for the United Church of Christ. The motto of Eden Seminary is: "In essentials unity, in nonessentials freedom, in all things charity." This statement reflects the piety of the Evangelical Synod.

Many of the Germans who came to the Midwest in the 19th century came from Prussia and the Union Church. In 1840 they formed the German Evangelical Church society of the West in St. Louis, Missouri.

The idea that creeds are testimonies, not tests of faith, came from the Evangelical Synod and is embraced within the United Church of Christ.

In 1929 the word "German" was dropped from the name of the denomination and they became the Evangelical Synod of North America. The church was already deeply engaged in talks to join with the Reformed Church.

Affirming the authority of Scripture and their Reformed heritage, these two denominations became the Evangelical and Reformed Church In 1934. They agreed to unite as one church body and then to create their constitutional and organizational structure, in that order. That pattern of union would be repeated again in 1957 when the United Church of Christ was formed. From its beginning the Evangelical and Reformed Church was committed to unity first.

The United Church of Christ

As early as 1937 the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church began to explore the possibility of uniting. The path to unity was not easy. It took many years to work out a plan for union and then the efforts were put on hold for several years during the 1950s because some who were opposed brought legal action seeking to block it.

On Tuesday, June 25, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Evangelical and Reformed Church and Congregational Christian Churches joined together as the United Church of Christ when both groups adopted ‘The Basis for Union.’ Like the 1934 merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, the United Church of Christ was begun without a constitution or structure. The General Synod of 1959

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received a first draft of the constitution and approved a ‘Statement of Faith.’ The Constitution and By-laws were adopted at the 3rd General Synod in 1961.

United Church of Christ Polity

The word most frequently used to talk about the polity or church structure in the United Church of Christ is ‘covenant.’ The United Church of Christ consists of Congregations, Associations, Conferences, General Synod, and four Covenanted Ministries. Associations are regional groupings whose members include congregations and clergy who have been granted "standing" in the Association. There are 38 Conferences, regional gatherings of the church. We are part of the Iowa Conference of the United Church of Christ. General Synod meets every two years with representatives from each of the Conferences. The four Covenanted Ministries support congregations and work on behalf of United Church of Christ members. These four Ministries are: the Office of General Ministries, Local Church Ministries, Wider Church Ministries, and Justice and Witness Ministries.

As I write this, the Conferences of the United Church of Christ are in the process of enacting a change to the way in which the United Church of Christ will be governed at the national level. This change referred to as ‘Unified Governance’ will be a centralizing of the oversight and direction of the Church. The primary change that this proposal will bring is the creation of a United Church of Christ Board. This board will consist of a diverse group of individuals representing the diversity within the United Church of Christ. The board will be formed from a group of 52 individuals (36 members through nomination, the rest by virtue of their official positions within the church.)

The role of the Church Board is to be the primary governing body of the United Church of Christ in the time between General Synods. The creation of the United Church Board will result in the dissolution of the Executive Committee and the Office of General Ministries. There are many other changes that will occur with the implementation of Unified Governance. The driving impetus for this change in governance is in response to many factors including financial as well as a sensed need to unify the work and position of the church. There is a feeling within many that the United Church of Christ is currently laboring under a situation where there are “too many cooks in the kitchen.”

The United Church of Christ Constitution states: “The autonomy of the local church is inherent and modifiable only by its own actions.” That assurance was especially important to people with a Congregational Church background.

The various expressions of the church are in “partnership covenant” with one another. That is intended to be a relationship based on mutual respect, not mandated authority. The covenant relationship is to be one of mutual care and mutual accountability.

When the General Synod speaks on issues, United Church of Christ members and congregations are not bound by what it says. The General Synod speaks “to” the church, not “for” it. That distinction is often not well understood by those outside of the denomination, and perhaps not by many within.

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A paper titled, UCC Polity, which is available on the UCC.org website5, describes “congregational polity,” “Episcopal polity,” and “Presbyterian polity” and suggests that the United Church of Christ exhibits all three kinds of church polity. Leaders, such as the office of conference minister are chosen and authorized to act on behalf of the church in certain ways. The paper categorizes this as “episcopal polity.” Some decisions are made in meetings of associations, conference, and General Synod. In that respect its polity is understood as being Presbyterian. “Congregational polity” is shown by the autonomy and authority local congregations retain in making their own decisions. “The United Church of Christ is on its administrative side, Episcopal; on its legislative side, Presbyterian; and on its judicial side, congregational.”6

In practice the United Church of Christ, due to its history, has both strengths and weaknesses as it seeks to share the gospel of Jesus the Christ with the world. One of its strengths is that the United Church of Christ has always looked to shared views and similarities rather than differences in our relationships with other churches and practices of faith, and among our individual members. This gives the United Church of Christ a great deal of flexibility. This flexibility allows for greater freedom and personal creativity; a freedom to be who God is calling us to be at that time and place. This freedom has also had the effect of the United Church of Christ being at times more aware of and active in seeking justice and peace.

To be concerned with the issues of peace and justice; to reach out to the poor, oppressed and hungry; and to seek to right the wrongs that oppress people should be central to the church and the people of God. There is no place or circumstance of life where we can justify turning a blind eye or deaf ear to those in distress amongst us.

As James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

However, the freedom of thought and inclusivity of the United Church of Christ is also a potential weakness. One of the realities for being an organization or a group is the necessity to be able to identify who you are. As a culture and a society we like to be able to know who someone is, what it is that someone stands for and believes in. The desire of the United Church of Christ to make a space for all people, regardless of their current location in their faith journey has caused many to level the accusation of poor theology and false doctrine.

It is the burden of the United Church of Christ that we must walk that fine line of embracing our inclusivity while finding ways to ensure that our inclusiveness does not lead to vagueness and from that to a potential loss of identity or meaningfulness.

5 http://www.ucc.org/ministers/leaders-box/a19.pdf6 http://www.ucc.org/ministers/leaders-box/a19.pdf - first full paragraph, fourth column, page 1

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That is the paradox of the United Church of Christ. We are a people with a strong sense of our history, but it’s a history that is continually evolving. We are individual churches that come together to be a church. We are committed to individual freedoms while also aware of communal responsibilities. We are free to be as we were created, while at the same time bound together in love and service. We are strongly denominational, yet actively ecumenical. We look to the Bible as our source, and the Spirit as our guide. We embrace our history and find our identity within it, and yet declare with joy that, “God is still speaking!”

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Part 3 – (Part 3 of the ordination paper is intended to be an integrating statement that invites the candidate to relate the faith & practice of the Church to their own pilgrimage of faith and understandings of and intentions for their ministry as a person ordained by the United Church of Christ.)

Jesus’ final words to the disciples before his ascension were: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20a) A small group of people who had witnessed and experienced wonderful things both individually and communally were brought together by Jesus’ words and given an incredible task: The Great Commission. How would a ragtag group of women and men ever accomplish what was being asked of them? They each knew what they believed, what they had seen, what they had heard, they had faith.

Faith is both an individual and a communal act. Each of us individually knows what we believe, each of us individually knows of our relationship with the Triune God who created, redeemed and sustains us. Our faith may be solitary, but it is lived out in community; a community of people who come together to share our faith, to encourage one another in our moments of pain and doubt, to learn from each other, and to provide correction and guidance if necessary. As we come together, we do so, trusting that we are not alone, Jesus is with us. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) That gathering of people of faith is what we call the church.

From its very beginnings the church has seen the necessity of individuals being chosen and trained up to guide its faithful. If we look to our Jewish roots we find the dedication of the first-born son to the service of the Lord, which was later adapted to the full tribe of Levi. (Exodus 13: 1-2; Numbers 3:11-12) In the first few decades of the Christian Church, as the fledgling group stumbled ever forward in seeking how best to live out and witness to the life and words of Jesus, they sought to identify within their number those that they felt were gifted or called to be raised up as leaders of the church. We see it first in the selection of Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:22-26). At that time, the requirement was to have been a witness to all that Jesus did from his baptism in the Jordan River by John through and following his resurrection. The final decision was made by the casting of lots (perhaps leaving the final choice to God?).

In the sixth chapter of Acts, the church appoints seven leaders to guide the church, these seven men were the first pastors selected by the church and set aside specifically for ministry. These men were to be of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3). As the church grew there continued to be a need to recognize those who were to guide the faithful in their walk of faith. As the church sought to discern who these people were, various titles and responsibilities are mentioned: apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). It is within these early traditions of the church that the modern church seeks to define and understand how it discerns, sets aside and trains leaders of its own. All of this is done while understanding that all believers are called to be part of the sharing and living out of their faith in the Gospel of Jesus the Christ through servanthood and love .

Though faith is both private and communal, far too often faith is thought of as a private thing, a private relationship between oneself and God. As a person called to be a minister, that very private aspect of faith is also required by nature of the calling to be expressed publicly. It is important that I have a strong spiritual foundation upon which I can depend and lean as I move forward in my life of servanthood.

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I grew up within the church, part of a family of “career Christians”. My parents were missionaries serving in Papua New Guinea; first as secondary teachers, later in a pastoral role, before finally serving in a Seminary setting as teachers and administrators. I was raised with the Bible in my hand. I went to bed every night and said my prayers (to this day I still find it difficult to say the Lord’s Prayer without yawning – stupid Pavlovian response). As a family we rarely if ever missed attending services on a Sunday or holy day. I was the annoying kid at church who knew all the answers.

However, my closeness to the church did not immediately translate into a desire to serve. In fact, ministry was in many ways the furthest thing from my mind in my teenage years. It wasn’t until I had graduated from college and was in the “real world” that I began to hear the call; a call that I now realize had been there all along, waiting for the right moment to be heard.

I had always been a person who read the Bible and who participated in the life of the church. In the years after college I began to read extra-biblical theology. I discovered within myself an interest and passion for Christology and Systematics. My faith exploration prompted me toward a greater involvement in the leadership of the church I was attending at the time, serving as a member of the church council, as a cantor, and as a youth volunteer. These activities helped me to become more aware of the gifts I had for service within church. That realization prompted a response to the call to serve the church in a way other than serving on church council or singing in the choir. Recognition of that call involved both an internal sense of call as well as an external recognition by those around me. The primary impetus in my response to the call was the encouragement of pastors and friends that God was indeed calling me to something; and that something was serving the church and community in a ministerial vocation.

During my time in Seminary, as well as my time serving as a licensed minister I have continually sought to be aware of the moving and prodding of the Spirit in regard to my call to serve. How am I called to pastoral ministry? Is it within an urban or a rural setting? Is God calling me to further study, doctoral or other? Is God calling me to specialized ministry: international missions, LGBT outreach? I am open to the reality that God’s call upon our lives is in constant flux, and that as my abilities and interests change, as the needs of the community in which I live change, I may very well be called into new and varied forms of ministry.

What does it mean to be called by God? God calls us in our baptism to be God’s own; we are marked and claimed in the waters of the font. As we grow in years and in faith we come to a firmer understanding of what this means until we confess our desire to accept God’s call upon our lives in an act of personal affirmation or confirmation. We live out God’s call in our daily lives, in our dealings with those around us: family, friends and fellow workers. I understand the call of God to be extended to all people. God’s call takes many forms, and requires different things from each individual. For some, God may ask for a life of celibacy and service in a separate community; for others, a life of church attendance on Sundays and little more. And for others, it is to a life of service within the church as individuals called by God and the community of faith to serve.

The church today is not the church of yesterday, nor is it the church of tomorrow. The church needs leadership in ways it may previously have never needed. The church needs leaders who have a vision of working with other denominations as sisters and brothers in faith, leaders who look to other religions not as ‘the heathen’ requiring conversion, but as fellow spiritual human beings whose beliefs need to be respected. The church has recognized that not every person is called by God to serve in the same way; we need strong leaders in all of the many ways in which it is possible to serve our God. In the ordained

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service of pastors, we need gifted leaders who are ready to lead the church into tomorrow, while remaining firmly within the theology, history and teachings of the church.

One of the central tenets of the Reformation church is the priesthood of all believers. We understand that in God’s kingdom we are all priests. We are all called to be bearers of Jesus the Christ to those around us. To me, the role of the ordained pastor is that of an individual called by God out of the multitude of believers whose calling is confirmed by the assembly. This individual is not any better than those in the assembly; they have just been singled out for a particular form of service to the community. The function of the ordained individual is to aid the community of faith in performing its mission more effectively. At times the community needs help in maintaining the vision we have received from God, or when contemplating decisions that impact the community. It is important for the community to have an individual to whom they can go when they have questions regarding theological issues, or when they are in need of spiritual assistance in a variety of areas. An important aspect to point out is that it is not only ordained individuals who can serve in this way, every Christian can serve in a pastoral, ministering way to those around them.

To me, the other very important aspect of the ordained individual is the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. In the sharing of God’s words and the sacraments of the church, the worshiping assembly encounters our crucified and risen Savior in a very special and intimate way. The United Church of Christ, in commonality with most Protestant churches, recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion. What is meant by ‘recognize’ is not specifically defined, but it is not as simple as saying, “Yes, these are sacraments.” In our recognition of Baptism as a sacrament we recognize the echoes of Jesus’ own baptism in the Jordan River, his commissioning of the disciples to baptize others, and the invitation to unite both with him and others. Through water at baptism, God embraces you — no matter who you are — and brings you into Christ's Church. That welcome, that entry into the church, is ever valid. Baptism is a once for life act that never needs to be repeated. In Baptism you become a vital part, not only of a local church, but the wider Church. You share in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. In the promises made at baptism, the church also promises to love, support, and care for you throughout your whole life. Baptized, you are now free to participate fully in life of the Church and God's realm.

While Baptism is a once in a lifetime sacrament, gathering around the table to break bread and share the cup is done on a regular basis. In Communion we recognize and remember how Jesus shared meals with his disciples and others, we recognize how he shared with his disciples a final meal before his crucifixion, and how he was recognized once again in the breaking of bread following his resurrection. In the sharing of the meal, we anticipate and rehearse for the great banquet that has been prepared for all of God’s people. In the sharing of simple ingredients: bread and wine, we experience the presence of the Christ. As we gather around God's welcome table, we recall God's loving acts (especially in Jesus), we experience our oneness in Christ, hope for a time when all will be fed, and anticipate the fullness of God's love and justice being felt throughout creation.

In the waters of baptism and the sharing of the Eucharistic meal, we also declare and experience our unity with the entirety of the Christian faith; those who have been, those who are, and those yet to come. We experience the wideness of God’s mercy, and are called to remember all of our forebears in the Christian faith—those known to us and those unknown—who have carried the memory of Jesus through the generations, sometimes at great sacrifice. To envision the living members of the wider Church around the world—who have heard these same words of consecration in their own languages.

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In these acts we are reminded of the universal welcome that is extended in the invitation to the font and the table.

I am by nature a cerebral person; I spend a lot of time in my head, in my own thoughts. At times I have found that my interests and passions are not of much interest to those whom I minister. The relationship between sin and grace, the communal nature of sin, or discussions on the nature of justification mean little to a person who is worried about their ailing mother. I must always be sure that in my words, in my construction of worship experiences, in the writing of my sermons and Bible studies I do not spend too much time in far-off fields. I have found my spouse to be of incredible assistance in helping me to recognize when I have ventured into areas, or spent too long on minutiae or aspects that are of little interest and minimal value to those to whom I minister or speak.

In my private life, and in my time of pastoral service, I have found the presence and support of my wife and children to be of incredible importance. Melissa (my wife) is there to lift me up when I feel overwhelmed, to provide an ear when I am unsure, a shoulder to cry on, and to speak the words of wisdom and caution that I need to hear. She is one of the primary reasons I am able to serve as I do, I would not be the pastor I am if not for her. Our two girls, Adriana and Jasmyn, both of whom we adopted as infants, are the source of great joy, happiness, and frustration (isn’t that the way it is with kids?). Their laughter and smiles are a continual reminder to me of how God is able to take the most unfortunate and unlikely of situations and transform them through the crucible of grace; and their tendency to be children reminds me of how powerful God’s promise of forgiveness is.

At the core of who I am as a minister (outside of teaching) is worship. I find that crafting and putting together a meaningful worship is extremely rewarding. I seek to ensure that each week in worship there is a general theme to the entire service, a theme that is based on the readings for the day, and is woven through the service from the Call to Worship through the Words of Sending. For many, if not most people, the weekly worship service is the primary contact they have with God’s words and God’s people. I see my ability to lead a worship service as a strength. I feel that I am able to speak clearly, to make the spoken words meaningful. I feel that in worship, I am able to not simply speak words, but show in my words the faith that guides and empowers all of us, and inspires us to get up out of our pews and go out into the world in loving service to all we encounter.

In the last almost ten years, in both my private life, and as a part of my pastoral calling, I have been actively reaching out and working within and for the LGBT community. My wife and I have been blessed to be able to interact with, and work with some truly incredible young people. We have both been actively involved at both the high school and college level with young people who identify as LGBT or are allies of those who do. We have both spoken at local and state levels at meetings and institutions that are concerned with the welfare of LGBT young adults. I have found that my active work in this area has been formative for my faith as well. I have found a voice for speaking words of love, acceptance and welcome to a community that is so often pushed aside and excluded.

During the time I have been in discernment regarding my sense of call I have spent time reflecting on my calling, my theology and my future aspirations. At times I have spent this time of reflection in solitude; but at other times, I have done so in the company of others. Spending time with members of my discernment committee, with the Committee on Ministry of the Northeast Association, with individual members of my congregation, as well as with other pastors and church leaders has been an important part of this process. The time spent with others has challenged me to think more deeply regarding my

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faith and calling. Yet, it is also in those times of conversation that I have heard the affirmation from others regarding God’s working in my life and my calling to ordained ministry.

The affirmation of others in the process of discernment is important. In a very real sense that affirmation tells you that you are not alone in sensing God’s call on your life. Ordination is the next step in that affirmation. In ordination, the greater church affirms the call and declares that it too senses that God is calling you to ministry and declares its intention to support you as you seek to follow that calling.

Within the church, pastors and leaders are looked to as individuals who “know what they are talking about.” All leaders within the church deal with that additional weight of responsibility. In the United Church of Christ with our various forms of commissioned ministry, ordination carries with it additional weight due to its very nature of being a recognition of the greater church of that calling. The difference between a licensed pastor, a commissioned person, or an ordained person may be minimal in the way it is lived out in practice within the church; however, there is a different level of responsibility that goes with ordination. I am seeking ordination, not because I think I deserve it or feel I have earned it. Rather, I know that the title of “ordained” carries additional weight with it, and I’m ready for that weight.

One of the aspects of the discernment process leading to ordination that I have become aware of is how in discerning the calling in one person, that same discernment causes others to look at their own lives in new ways. As they watch and observe the ways in which God is at work within one person’s life, they also become much more aware of how God may be working in their own lives. God may very well be planting the seeds of future ministry in their hearts. I know this because I have seen in my own life that it’s often been in the hearing of other people’s stories and sense of call that I have been able to see mine with great clarity.

I came to the United Church of Christ as an adult after leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). I left that denomination because of what I perceived as its limited expression of the fullness of God’s grace and recognition of the call and acceptance of all people. In the spring of 2004 I joined the United Church of Christ of Cedar Falls, Iowa after seeing a news story on a local television station regarding its vote to become an Open and Affirming congregation. This was the community of faith that was to serve as my entry into the United Church of Christ.

I could have chosen to be a part of any denomination. I could have chosen to seek ordination in any denomination. However, I was drawn to and chose the United Church of Christ because of the ways it spoke specifically and personally to my own perspectives, theology and faith.

At the core of my understanding of God’s relationship with us is grace. Grace, that incredible tendency of God to act first for us without requiring a response on our part, to reach out to us when we have so often turned our backs. The grace that God has shown to us in Jesus the Christ is beyond our comprehension. Within the worshiping life of God’s people the central ways in which we encounter God’s grace is in the waters of Baptism and in the sharing of a meal at God’s table. In the water, and in the bread and wine, we encounter God coming to us in a very real way, we remember how it was that God came to us, and we receive and experience God’s grace in a very real way.

It is in these two celebrations of the church that we experience God’s grace in the most real way. If we believe that this is so, and we believe that God’s grace is a gift given to all humanity, is there any reason not to extend the invitation to all? If we declare that when we celebrate Communion we remember and commemorate Jesus’ life giving act on the cross that was made for all of us, sinner and saint alike,

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then should not Communion also be an event in which we declare the feast is for all, sinner and saint alike? To me the idea of a closed table at Communion is contrary to the very declaration of Communion being a place of encountering God. The United Church of Christ practice of open Communion is one of the reasons why I love this church.

The practice of an open table at Communion goes hand in hand with another of the traits of the United Church of Christ that I find resonates deeply for me: we are people of God’s extravagant welcome. How each congregation chooses to understand and live that out is up to them, but we seek to welcome in recognition of how Jesus’ life and ministry was one of welcome and hospitality.

Throughout his ministry Jesus actively reached out to those that society had cast aside or shunned: tax-collectors, women, the diseased and possessed, the blind and the crippled. The church (at its best) sees itself as carrying on in the way of Jesus as it seeks to feed the hungry, provide for the poor, defend the oppressed, comfort the suffering, welcome the stranger and declare God’s love and forgiveness. The church at its worst is seen as a place where boundaries are put up, where exclusion and judgment are commonplace, where forgiveness is withheld, where the stranger is ignored.

The declaration that the United Church Of Christ is a church and a people of God’s extravagant welcome means that not only do we seek to ensure that we are a place where all of God’s children will feel welcome, but also that we work in our communities and in our world to make them also places where those that the world so often pushes aside, shuns, and excludes are embraced as valuable parts of society. The welcoming church does not end at the church steps; it extends out into the world.

In The Underground Church, Robin Meyers expresses his belief that the church fails in its calling unless it is a force for transformation in the world, doing all it can in seeking to transform this world into the Kingdom of God. The church is not, and cannot be, true to itself, unless it is a church that lives out its faith by actively working to realize the Kingdom of God here in its words and actions. God desires us to live in community with one another, a community of love and service, a community that lives out its thankfulness to God by working toward the goal of a just and loving world.

One of the reasons I felt called to leave the ELCA was how I felt that the words I heard were just that, words. Where was the extension of welcome and God’s grace to all of God’s children? Where were the actions that followed? Where was the living out of lives of service? It was within the United Church of Christ that I found a people that understood that faith called for lives of service, called for more than just following but doing. One of the central aspects of my belief system is that faith, while it is best understood as being a complete and total trust in a higher power, is also best understood as a verb, something that truly only exists when it is in action.

The action of faith is done within a community, a community that has been defined for us by our Savior Jesus the Christ; it is not our community, it is God’s. And if the community is God’s, then all those who are part of that community also belong to God – not to ourselves. Within the Christian traditions we tend to understand the community of God as belonging to and united in Jesus. As Paul writes in Ephesians 1, “all things have been united in him.” Thus for me, the community that Jesus has brought into being is not limited by race, sex, creed, nationality or any of the other ways in which we as human beings separate ourselves. We are called to live together in peace and justice, seeking to ensure that all are cared for, that all are valued, that none are pushed aside. We belong to Christ; we all belong to Christ as Savior of the world.

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The central aspect of community is the sense of belonging, of identity, of being able to declare ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. This means that when you are a part of the community you are never alone. When we choose to identify as ‘I’, we are immediately choosing to exclude others; however, when we use ‘we’ we are uniting ourselves with others. This uniting of ourselves with one another is most often spoken of within the United Church of Christ in terms of covenant. It is the promise of God to us, and we to each other. This binding is not rigid, it is flexible. It can be pulled and pushed a great deal in different directions without being severed. The covenant is formed and held together by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit in its binding in covenant not only binds us together, uniting us, it also challenges and equips us to seek to extend that covenant to others. We are not only united in the Spirit, we are called to be uniting. We are called within the covenant to seek to bridge the differences and gaps that far too often exist between churches and denominations. The guiding verses of the United Church Of Christ from John 17, “that they may all be one” is not just a catchy motto for us, it is our guiding force and our challenge. Can we focus on that which binds us together and in so doing forward the kingdom of God, rather than focusing and arguing about that which we do not hold in common? Can we, living within the covenant listen for the guidance and words of God who desires us to be in community rather than in conflict?

I am perhaps very lucky to be able to say that for much of my time within the United Church of Christ the church has been living under the influence of the “God is Still Speaking” campaign. It was one of the reasons that I have found my home here, and I believe one of the strongest things upon which the modern church can grow. I believe in a living God, I believe in the scripture having life yet to share with us. With life comes change, with life comes movement. If there is no change, if there is no movement in something – it’s dead! I do not believe in a dead God. I believe in a God that is still pushing us, nudging us, urging us to see new things in scripture, to understand ever new ways in which the Gospel can guide us into transforming the world. God is still speaking.

I am doing my best to listen. God spoke to me in my childhood through the guidance and example of my parents, teachers and members of my community. God spoke to me in my youth, challenging me to see beyond denominational or cultural differences, to see others as fellow children of God. God spoke to me in my studies within Lutheran seminaries, grounding within me a theology centered in grace. God spoke to me from the United Church of Christ, calling me to come, challenging me to move from where I had been to where I am. God spoke to me within the United Church of Christ, asking me, challenging me, calling me to do more.

Am I confident that God has called me? Yes. Am I confident that I am the perfect person for the job? No. I am a person full of weaknesses and faults, yet I am also a child of God. I am ready to respond to God’s call, ready to do all I can in service to God and the community. As my favorite hymn says, “Here I am Lord. Is it I, Lord? I will go Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”

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