God Is Still Speaking – 40 Days of Thankfulness

This is a commercial for the United Church of Christ which was banned by a few TV stations since they found the subject matter to be too controversial. 

We spent today in Cincinnati at a denominational meeting. May not sound like fun, but when I get to spend time with fellow United Church of Christ (UCC) members I always have an enlightening time.

This is not a post proselytizing UCC or any belief system. It’s my way of saying Thank You to the UCC and to God for accepting me as I am and giving me confidence to be as I was born to be.

Paul introduced me to UCC (it’s the denomination he’s ordained in) and helped me re-embrace Christianity. Growing up Catholic I was an outcast since a lot of what I was taught didn’t make sense. I had to many questions and not enough blind faith to fit into most denominations.

Those questions have been answered for me in the UCC.

Me: I believe God is unlimited in love and doesn’t exclude people.

UCC: Jesus never turned anyone away and neither do we. God is love and unlimited.

Me: I don’t believe that being a woman, person of color, homosexual or any other marginalized group is a sin or mean that one is less of a person.

UCC: We’ve ordained the first women pastors in the U.S. (both black and white), ordained the first openly gay pastor and in 2005 became the only Christian denomination to support Marriage Equality! God is love and unlimited.

Me: I don’t believe that the Bible is the end-all be-all of God’s infallible word.

UCC: God is still speaking every day through the Spirit. We believe the only thing that is infallible is God, not a book inspired by God.

Me: I don’t believe there is only one way to get to heaven.

UCC: That’s OK. Many of us believe living like Jesus (social activism, taking care of those less fortunate, loving even the least among us, loving one another as Jesus loved us, sharing our gifts with the world to make it a better place) is more important than believing doctrine and a set of rules. Anyway “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a challenge from Jesus to us to make earth into heaven by acting as he asked us to.

Before, I believed religion was something from the Dark Ages, but Progressive Christianity has taught me that there is a place for people who question, think and live in the Spirit every moment (not just Sundays) to come together to learn, work and help make the earth a better place through love.

Our Religion May Be 2,000 Years Old – Our Thinking Is Not

Thank you UCC for being a powerful, positive voice and force in the world when we need it most. Amen.