Body Politic

It was all over the news this past weekend, "Obama resigns from his church." Political pundits said that it had to happen. In fact reported anonymous Obama campaign insiders said that he wanted to do it earlier than he did. Trinity UCC was just too controversial. Anything that was said or preached or any ministry that was performed by this congregation, the Senator said, would automatically be associated with him. He had to put it all behind him.

John Thomas, General Minister and President of the UCC, wrote a very kind pastoral letter about the news.

Obviously, we are saddened that Barack and Michelle Obama have decided to
resign their membership at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. And we are hopeful that, as they discern their future church membership plans, that they will consider retaining their United Church of Christ membership in another UCC congregation.

Of course, we hope these things. And well, I get it. Don't you? I get it, but I don't like it. As a citizen that understands politicians being politicians, I get it. As a clergyperson that seeks to build up congregations, I don't like it. And the bloom has come off the rose for me, I have to admit.

Still, the conversations about the Obama's relationship with their church has brought my own thoughts on the meaning of church membership to the fore once again. Such thoughts are usually close at hand. Whether discussing the notion of covenant with students in a UCC Polity class, or working through a pastoral call agreement with search committees, or in dealing with church conflicts, or in former years while teaching confirmation or leading new members' classes, questions of what it means to be a member of the church are very present.

I used to teach my confirmation classes that they needed to get at least one thing right, if they were going to be confirmed. They needed to know that the Church is the Body of Christ. We spent a good deal of time talking about this metaphor that Paul used in the 12th chapters of both Romans and 1 Corinthians about the Church being like a body. All the parts are necessary. If one suffers, all suffer. If one rejoices, all rejoice.

Many use the word community to define the Church. We're a community of faith, of grace, of love. Yes, we are these things. There have been rich communities of the faithful. Monasteries and nunneries were built upon a "rule" or contract of community living based upon poverty, chastity and obedience. The individual is totally reliant upon compliance to the rules of community through which the grace of God is imparted.


In present day independant church circles congregational membership might be described as a community of believers. The implication of this approach to church life seems to be that each believer is the church, and that as such they freely associate with other believers-as-church. In this view the congregation is justified before God through the righteousness of the individual members.

But the more I think about it, I don't believe God calls us into a community as much as that God calls us into relationship. More than being a matter of "proof texting" from the Bible, or in developing any kind of doctrinal statement, to me this metaphor the Church as a body points to relationship. Being the Body of Christ means that we are in relationship with each other -- through, for and in Christ -- in order to love, praise, know and serve God.


I believe that the so-called Free Church tradition of which churches of a congregational polity are a part, value relationship. We call this relationship a covenant. We know that we are not free agents. We are not the Church unto ourselves. We have the right and responsibility to come to our own understanding of faith and faithfulness. But we can only come to fully express our faith through the relationship that we have in the Church, the whole Body of Christ.


Indeed there is a balance in our Free Church tradition between freedom and accountability. With our religious forebears in Salem, Massachusetts, "We [freely] covenant with the Lord and one with another and doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, to walke together in all his waies, according as he is pleased to reveale himself unto us in his blessed word of truth."

We Relate with each other THROUGH Christ

We relate with each other through Christ. That is, Christ called the Church into being and through the gift of the Holy Spirit. We proclaim this whenever we say the UCC Statement of Faith. "You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races."

The Church is a divine institution. It is run by humans, to be sure. But we are only faithful members of the Church as we rely upon God to direct, counsel, encourage and inspire. As the Psalmist sang, "Unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain." (Psalm 127:1)

And so, we always need to be aware of how we try to put our own will and way before God's will and way in our church life. We need to continually ask ourselves how we are building up the relationships that God calls us to have -- relationships built upon love, mutual respect and empowerment, gentleness, compassion, justice and grace.

We Relate with each other FOR Christ.

We are called to relate with each other by serving Christ. St. Ignatius of Loyola prayed, "Fill us, we pray, Lord, with your light and life that we may show forth your wondrous glory. May your love so fill our lives that we may count nothing too small to do for you, nothing too much to give, and nothing too hard to bear."

We serve because we love Jesus. We love Jesus because we are grateful. We are grateful because Jesus loved us, and that completely. In reality we can "do" nothing for Jesus that Jesus hasn't already done. We cannot complete the One that is already complete by anything that we can do, by our good deeds. But Jesus did say, "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

No we do good deeds, we love, we feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead, visit the imprisoned and preach the Good News of God's love to the poor, because he asked and empowered us to do them, for our own well being as much as his. We do so for the well being of those that have been placed on the margins or not included in the abundance of God's love, as much as we do so for our own well being.

We Relate with each other IN Christ.

And, we relate with each other in order to grow up fully to him. The breastplate of St. Patrick's tombstone effigy speaks of this relationship. "Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ above me, Christ beneath me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger."

God hopes as Jesus prayed that we will have the same relationship as he had with God. He prayed that we may all be one, unified in our love of God in Christ and in our love for one another. (John 17) God hopes as the ancient Christian hymn proclaimed that we will have the same mind as did Christ. (Philippians 2) Therefore, God hopes that we will not count equality with God as something to be exploited, but that we will empty ourselves, humbling ourselves and becoming obedient to living the Good News of God's love until we die, even if our death is like his. Even if it is not.

I hope that the Obamas find a church where their relationship with the people of God can grow into fruition, can become complete in finding the Christ within ourselves, serving the Christ beyond ourselves, and living through the Christ that is life itself. Indeed, I hope that we all can.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles