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HARTFORD (06/24/2007) -- What does God do when a denominational gathering commits to a day-long celebration of its legacy, and invites fifty-seven speakers and performers of enormous talent and wisdom to speak and perform in several locations in a New England city?
God sends a beautiful day, of course.
Mild temperatures and bright sunshine lifted spirits already light at the prospect of a great day of celebration. With so many speaking on such a range of ideas, identifying any particular theme would be impossible, but a substantial number of the presenters offered a challenge to their United Church of Christ hearers: "Your church has been a great leader in the past. Go on, and make a difference in the future."
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| Bill Moyers |
Morning keynote speaker Bill Moyers, an ordained Baptist minister and member of a UCC church, promised to tell the assembly what the mainstream media has not told them, "For years now, our political and economic system has been fixed to favor those at the top." In 1960, the gap between the wealth of the top 20% and the bottom 20% was a factor of 30. Today the top 20% own 75% more than the bottom. 80% of gains in income have gone to the top 1% of earners in the last 30. Moyers compared it to a pie offered to 100 people. Divided into five slices, one person gets four, and the other 99 get to share the rest. Is it any wonder, Moyers asked, that they fight over it?
Moyers reflected on the gospel story, in Matthew, of Jesus' herding the money changers from the Jerusalem temple. In contrast to the unflappable Jesus of so much of the gospel, "Jesus turns angry. He renders judgement. He takes action." Turning to his "altar call," (Moyers smiled that you can't take the Baptist out of the boy), he summoned UCC hearers to take courage and resist the hijacking of their country, their faith, and of the Jesus who had been used to defend the privileged.
"They say your church is dying," Moyers said. "And lame. And limp. And liberal. But it is a small, committed community of people of conscience who can turn this country around. To see whose side God is on, just go to the record," the Bible record where we see God's allegiance to the poor and the widow.
As the day went on, the theme was repeated. Hartford Seminary Professor Ingrid Mattson, one of three women theologians speaking on peace, challenged women to consider the issues of consumption, and how, with wars fought so frequently over resources, how they have a direct connection to peace. Colombian peace activist Ricardo Esquivia, lamenting the United States' loss of its reputation for freedom and integrity, said the UCC "is the hope, the yeast of this society. It's been fifty years of courage, commitment, and the struggle for peace."
Afternoon keynoter US Senator Barack Obama likewise emphasized the responsibility of faithful people to take action to make their community, and the world, better than they are. Recalling the UCC's role in the American Revolution, the abolition movement, the women's rights movement, and the civil rights movement, Obama said, "There is real evil and hardship and pain and suffering in the world and we should be humble in our belief that we can eliminate them. But we shouldn't use our humility as an excuse for inaction. We shouldn't use the obstacles we face as an excuse for cynicism. We have to do what we can... we can still make a difference."
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| Peter Gomes |
Harvard theologian Peter Gomes, humorously needling the UCC to be less respectable and do something, said, "That you have survived to fifty years is evidence of the mercies of God. The best years of the UCC are yet to come."
"Christians have been feared," Gomes said, "not for our numbers but for our imagination, and ability to see a world better than it is."
The day closed with a celebration of UCC members who had made a difference. Valerie Tutson told the compelling story of how UCC communications director C. Everett Parker helped demonstrate racist and illegal media censorship during the Civil Rights movement. The Synod honored Nobel Prize laureate, Templeton Prize winner, and UCC member Dr. Charles Towne, the inventor of the laser, with a special laser light show. Youth prepared a video time capsule of reflection, movement, and commitment that they hope to offer to the 100th anniversary Synod in 2057.
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| Dancer framed by lasers during the Birthday Bash |
