Here is an image from
Facebook a few weeks ago.
The church is not a group of
people who believe all the same things; the Church is a group of people caught
up in the same story, with Jesus at the centre. [Rachel Held Evans][i]
I will come back to it in a
few minutes.
Over the past four weeks we
have heard about Church from our guest preachers.
When we look at the New
Testament, the church is described in various ways. In the gospels, there is an
assumption that the people who follow Jesus will remain part of the Jewish
faith. Jesus calls people to follow him. To some he says give up riches, to
others it is count the cost. Jesus treated each person as an individual, each
conversation, each healing,
When we read the book of
Acts, we read about
- · the separation of the followers of Jesus from the Synagogue and Temple;
- · the discussion about whether circumcision, a Jewish requirement, was necessary to be a follower of Jesus;
- · the way people shared what they had with each other;
- · the planting of new churches throughout the Roman Empire
- · and imprisonment of Paul and his travelling companions.
In the letters of Paul and
others we read of the encouragement to keep the faith, remembering that this
was a time when being a Christian could get you killed. In Romans this morning
we heard how we know we are God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his
children.
Here is part of an
Australian paraphrase:
All those who dance to the
Spirit’s tune are God’s beloved children… we come running to God, and with
loving arms, God’s Spirit gathers us up, demonstrating clearly to whom we
belong.[ii]
In Ephesians we hear about
our unity in Christ.
Over the past four Sundays we
have heard from Dr Sureka Goringe, Rev Dr Chris Walker, Rev Dr Stephen Robinson
and Rev Simon Hansford.
Here is a summary of some of
the things we have heard about the Uniting Church in the past month.
- · UCA is a church that works in partnership with overseas churches.
- · UCA is a church that encourages thoughtful faith
- · UCA is a church that walks beside people after disasters, not for a day or a week, but for months.
- · UCA is a church that engages in difficult conversations, such as voluntary assisted dying, same gender marriage, domestic violence, Recognition of Indigenous Sovereignty, environmental crisis.
One thing that stood out for
me is the way the UCA is relational. We are called to relationship with God
through Jesus, but we are also in relationship with partner churches, other
denominations and the local community.
Next Sunday Dr Deidre Palmer
will be Installed as the President of the Uniting Church. On Monday 9th
July the business sessions of the Assembly will begin. The Assembly meets every
three years and has determining responsibility for matters of doctrine,
worship, government and discipline.[iii]
The meeting will consider a
dauntingly diverse set of issues. These proposals are all on the Assembly
website of you would like to look at them.
- · The Church’s response to the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse,
- · the challenge of domestic and family violence,
- · our continuing conversation on Indigenous sovereignty in light of the Covenant relationship between the UCA and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
- · There will be a landmark statement encouraging action and advocacy on Climate Change and
- · a consultation process proposed regarding voluntary assisted dying.
- · Assembly members will also consider a report and proposals on marriage and same-gender relationships. [iv]
There has been a lot of
discussion about how we stay as one denomination when there are diverse views
on some of these issues. My guess is that if I asked each of you about these
issues there would be a variety of views.
The proposal that seems to
be generating the most heat is from the Doctrine Commission on same gender
marriage. The proposal is that Ministers and Church Councils have freedom on
this matter. That would mean each Minister would be able to choose if they will
do Same Gender Marriages and each Church Council will be able to decide if the
church premises can be used for Same Gender Marriages.
As I wrote in this week’s
Grapevine, one way to look at the influences on our decision making is: Scripture,
Tradition, Reason and Experience.
For example, women in
leadership.
In 1 Timothy 2:10-12
Women who claim to love God
should do helpful things for others, and they should learn by being quiet and
paying attention. They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell
men what to do.[v]
So, we could say Scripture
forbids women to preach or teach adult men, but in other parts of the New
Testament women were leading churches.
Tradition: for many years
women were not able to be leaders.
Reason: we now know that
women are not inferior to men, mentally or spiritually.
Experience: we have seen
women in leadership roles in other areas of life.
There are still denominations
that do not allow women in positions of leadership, but the UCA, and others, do
have women in in leadership roles.
Using this fourfold method
does not mean we all come up with the same answer, but it is helpful to see
where our differences come from.
I encourage you to read the
column by the General Secretary in the current issue of Insights if you haven’t
yet. Rev Jane Fry writes:
“The Uniting Church, (on the other hand), seems to me to have a ‘shoulder to the wheel’ theology
in which disciples are called and gathered into the Jesus story and then sent —
individually and collectively — to work for the common good and to make a
difference in the world.”[vi]
Remember the image from the beginning
of the sermon:
The church is not a group of
people who believe all the same things; the Church is a group of people caught
up in the same story, with Jesus at the centre. [Rachel Held Evans][vii]
For me the Church is about
relationships: our relationship with God through Jesus; our relationship with each
other, and our relationship with the community into which God has placed us.
[i] https://www.facebook.com/rachelheldevans.page/posts/10156013107864442
[ii] http://laughingbird.net/LectionTexts/C40.html#Second%20Reading
[iii]
Basis of Union, Government in the church section e
[iv] https://www.insights.uca.org.au/news/assembly-2018-making-decisions-amid-gods-abundant-grace
[v] Contemporary
English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
[vi] https://www.insights.uca.org.au/features/editorial/faith-requires-courage-and-imagination
[vii] https://www.facebook.com/rachelheldevans.page/posts/10156013107864442
