The liberal UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST, the leader among protestant denominations in membership loss, is meeting at Synod 28 this weekend in Tampa, Florida using the theme of “SAND.”  According to the Synod Handbook  (page 8-9) http://www.ucc.org/synod/pdfs/general_synod_28_handbook.pdf describing the event’s worship focus, “sand remains a powerful image of an unimaginable quantity. It also reflects the rich imagery of desert, of journey, of shifting sands.” It goes on to say, “At the Twenty-eighth General Synod in 2011, the United Church of Christ finds itself in oasis and desert. Blessed with diversity of thought, vibrant life, and shifting sands, we journey through challenging times seeking possibility, engaged in thoughtful and difficult conversations.” Jesus used this image powerfully when he contrasted the wise man who built on the rock with the foolish, saying, “everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” (Matthew 7:26)

Renewal leader David Runnion-Bareford said, “This is indeed a powerful confession by the Synod of the UCC that, having rebelled against the word of God, is on sinking sand – with our members, churches, historic witness, and identity in Christ washing away before our eyes.”

Biblical Witness Fellowship, Confessing Movement in the United Church of Christ, has been speaking the “truth with love” since 1978.  David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director, can be contacted for comment at  207-505-0600.

Meeting at General Synod 28 in Tampa, Florida this weekend, the historic United Church of Christ will vote on an amendment to eliminate God the Father from Article 5,  lines 9-10 of its constitution. http://www.ucc.org/synod/pdfs/proposedconstitution.pdf The Constitution of the denomination has remained unchanged in its theological core since the United Church of Christ’s founding in 1957, and remains the covenant connection with the basic truths of Christianity that keeps many churches affiliated who are otherwise alienated by the denominations very liberal agenda.

According to renewal leader David Runnion-Bareford, “Rejecting God as Father in an age of fatherlessness is unthinkable. God acted toward us in amazing grace when He offered to be our Father through the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus Christ who offers us life in his name. This is not something we as humans made up in some other time. Rejecting our Father is act of arrogant rebellion in the name of cultural conformity that only further alienates members, churches, but more importantly God himself. We call the delegates to reject the change for God’s sake.”

Biblical Witness Fellowship, Confessing Movement in the United Church of Christ, has been speaking the “truth with love” since 1978.  David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director, can be contacted for comment at 207-505-0600.

The sudden emergence of a relative unknown, Rev. John Thomas, to fill the position seemed at the time to be merely a safe choice.  I had the opportunity to have the first interview John gave after receiving the nomination, during which he articulated his personal faith in Jesus Christ and in most of the central truths of the Christian faith without equivocation.  While not entirely surprised, I was disappointed to watch him, after he assumed office, devolve into a fervent advocate for the religious legitimization of sexual license.  Now, sadly, we know the extent to which taking that path wounded his soul and impaired his judgment.

But why does it matter? Although the priceless line “divorcing his wife to live in a committed relationship” from his original press release will live on in irony, shouldn’t we just chalk this up as just another clergy affair?  Does it matter beyond the paralysis it seems to have caused in the Cleveland headquarters of the United Church of Christ where current President Geoffrey Black is reported to have been blindsided? Does it matter beyond whatever damage it has done to the credibility of all who serve and worship in the UCC? While we’re not all young, we probably will get over it.

No, it matters because John Thomas, has become an illustration for the failure of his own message. He appears to have believed that when he actualized his internal inclination to bond sexually with a younger woman with whom he perhaps shared a deeper friendship than he did with his wife, that he was engaging in a “love” that God would certainly understand and accept. If you preach that each person’s ‘natural’ orientation can be actualized with God’s full approval whether it leads to sexual relationship with someone of the same gender or both genders than of course why wouldn’t that apply to men attracted to more than one woman?  Wouldn’t it?

 So why on earth would he now have his ministerial standing suspended for such a thing? Is it merely some ‘boundary’ deal about their working relationship or some old school understanding of adultery?  And if the boundaries of what is right in the sight of God are, after all, evolving in our progressive enlightenment, why should some committee in Ohio get to make life miserable for these wonderful, important people who have traveled the world together advocating for peace and justice, just because they loved each other?

This affair is a graphic parable for where all this leads. The absurdity is an object lesson we cannot avoid. The truth is sin is sin, God’s boundaries on love, life and marriage have not moved. Thomas has exposed the fallibility of the progressive ideology in much the same way that Ted Haggard exposed the evangelical idolatry of fame and fortune that placed him in a position of trust. It is a shame that Thomas, a man who once had a strong faith and was theologically trained fell for his own sales pitch and reduced himself to just another shabby moral failure.

The times ahead will be hard on John and Lydia. They will not find doing relationship in the harsh light of disdain and scandal without their positions of influence and their international travel schedule an easy thing. Chicago can be harsh and gray in winter and even in spring.  The parable, however, must not be missed. Our own inclinations are fallen and self -deceptive. Without the redemptive power of Jesus Christ to transform our nature and renew our minds we cannot trust ourselves. The way of self-actualization does not lead to salvation or for that matter to true love. And yes, there is grace – but it comes by way of the cross. It comes by way of repentance, of dying to ourselves, all of ourselves, to be alive again, sexually and otherwise in Jesus Christ.

In His Grace,

David Runnion-Bareford