The Address of the Conference Minister

How Will We Be Christ's People?

by Davida Foy Crabtree, Conference Minister

Connecticut Conference, United Church of Christ
October 19, 2001

People keep saying that the world changed on September 11. I am not so sure. Our perception of it has certainly changed. you and I are now aware of the toll of hate and violence as we have never been aware before. We now live with far more questions than answers, with a rising insecurity and wariness we've seldom known.

The world, however, is the same.

It is the same world in which Ricardo Esquivia makes his Christian witness to a Colombia torn by enmity and war. The same world in which ancient rivalries stoke conflicts that seem eternal in Ireland, Korea, the Middle East, parts of Africa, and the hills and cities of America. The same world in which fundamentalist and authoritarian religious misunderstanding and intolerance have been the source of hatred since the beginning of time. It is the same world that God so loved two thousand years ago and still loves today through the living presence of Christ.

It is not the world that has changed. It is our easiness of life, our insulation from the trials and terrors that have occupied much of the rest of the world in these years of our comfort.

So, to quote a member of one of our churches who said to his pastor on September 11 as the church gathered for prayer, this is not a time for platitudes. His pastor agreed, and so do I. All of us need to get beyond the easy words and phrases that are heaped atop one another. We need to call one another to the best thinking and the deepest faith we can muster. We urgently need to ask the one central question that looms before us: how will we be Christ's people in this time?

As I begin, I want to pay tribute to some among us who have been on the front lines of care giving. Will all the pastors of our local churches stand, please? You have been at the emotional and spiritual epicenter of these events. You will be for a long time to come. You are the pastors and teachers of the Church. It is through your guidance and your teaching that our members learn the depth of faithfulness and the utter joy of living according to Christ's way. Over and over again, you pour yourselves out for the Church and its ministry. In the days and weeks since September 11, some of you have barely slept. In particular, the pastors in Fairfield West and East and Litchfield South Associations have been giving extraordinary service. You are each the minister representing the whole United Church of Christ in your community, and we are all grateful. Now I ask you to sit, while the rest of us give you a standing ovation for your lives and ministries.

So let us return to our question: how will we be Christ's people in this time? What will be our witness as the body of Christ in a time of terrorism and war?

In 1984, this Conference voted to make justice and peace central to its life and work. Since then we have worked hard to live that commitment in our advocacy, our internal administration, and our manner of carrying out every dimension of our work. We have enacted global partnerships with the Kyung-ki Presbytery and the Iglesia Mennonita de Colombia, two churches with a similar commitment who have learned to live it under very difficult conditions. We have used the income from a major bequest to support an essentially full time public policy advocate at the State Capitol in the person of Kim Harrison. We have tried to connect our work for justice and peace with our work of evangelism, education, and youth ministry. There are so many ways we've sought to be faithful to that vision, I cannot possibly cite them all!

Now we confront different circumstances. The tension between justice and peace is always present, but never in my lifetime so fully. How does one work for peace in an era of terrorism? The easy answer is the one we've always given: that we continue to work for justice, God's kind of justice, the justice that puts relationships right and ensures that all God's people are healthy and secure, God's shalom and salem. In working for peace, we seek to comprehend the reasons for all that hatred. We struggle to discern the shape of faithfulness for these times.

Like you, perhaps, I cling to our shared vision of a world more akin to God's creation. I find within myself a nagging fear eating away at my edges, a fear not so much of terrorists as a fear that ours will be the generation that springs the world into a global war. I worry that the truth born of those who know Christ will be lost, and violence responding to violence will escalate out of control. I worry that in government's headlong rush to security, it will be the poor and the immigrant, the elders and the infants who will bear the brunt of the cost. Indeed, they already are. As people have focused on giving for the victims, awareness of the ongoing needs of the poor has dropped, and food banks are running out of food. I worry that the fear and panic I observe will swell around us, giving rise to acts of hatred, giving popular legitimacy to racism and nationalism. This too has been occurring with frightening regularity.

The easy answer is also the challenging answer. It is most certainly true that if we want peace, we will work for justice. Likewise it is true that if we want justice, we must first have peace. The challenge beyond the easy answer is discerning the astute and faithful ways of living as a Church and as believers that will generate a just peace and a peaceful justice.

As I have lived through these weeks, I have found myself reaching back to the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For though the circumstances are different, his writing remains inspiring. Listen to him in 1934 as he worried about the prospects of a wider war. "How does peace come about? Through a system of political treaties? Through investment of international capital? Through big banks, through money? Or through universal peaceful rearmament? Through none of these, for the single reason that in all of them peace is confused with safety. There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is the great venture. It can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of safety."

And so I ask again, how will we be Christ's people in this time? What will be our witness as the body of Christ in a time of terrorism and war?

In order to know the answer to that question and all the questions at its heart, we must plumb the depths of our faith and the scriptures. It is absolutely critical that our response be rooted in our Christian identity. No matter what we think as citizens or patriots, no matter our party allegiance, no matter our source of income or our financial condition, it must be our Christian faith and understanding that guide us through these times. All else is vacuous, fleeting, thin.

In addition to my worries about the world out there, I have a set of worries about the world of the Church. I worry that the complacency engendered by relative comfort has rendered us all theologically unprepared to think deeply about much of anything. I worry that our authorized ministers have not pressed the limits of their pulpit freedom for too long, and congregations have no basis for understanding the prophetic vocation as part of the call of every minister. I worry that few have the courage or moral fortitude to speak truth to power and then live the implications of their truth telling. I worry that we care too much about being liked, about being the largest Protestant denomination, about being the church in whatever town or city.

How will we keep our commitment to be a Just Peace Church in a time of war? To vote that commitment in 1984 was one thing; to live it now is another. No more platitudes. No more easy answers. Now we must be a people of God's Word as well as a people of our own word.

If we wish to be Christ's people for out time, then we must first of all know what it ever means to be Christ's people. That requires serious work. Theological work. Scripture study. Courage-building work. It means we must face issues that too many have sloughed off for too long: the nature of evil and sin, the lure of principalities and powers, the requirements of Christ for a faithful life, the seduction of violence and of demonizing the enemy. It means we must be constantly at prayer for God's world, praying for those who have been cast as enemies and for all leaders of government. It means our pastors and lay leaders must pay serious attention in a new way to Christian formation, not only of individual members but also of the church as an organic body. And it means we must do not only intellectual work, but also the even more difficult work of spiritual deepening. For if we would be Christ's people in this time, every member of the United Church of Christ must be spiritually centered in the One who gives us abundant life. Then we will be people of faith, not fear. Then we will be able to serve God as signs of love and hope, able to face our own trepidations and sins, able to be the reconciling and courageous community God has intended us to be.

In order to enable us together to do the theological work we need to be doing, we will be taking several steps following the annual meeting. We will appoint a diverse panel of clergy and laity, scholars and practicitioners to explore theology in a time of terrorism. We will ask this panel to discern the theological challenges inherent in this era, endemic to a time we are torn between the cries of victims and the vocation of peace making. We will ask them to develop one, or several, resources that will be useful in local churches for study and for growth in faith and depth. Our denomination may be doing the same simultaneously. Carole Carlson and I will provide the staffing.

Secondly, within two weeks of this meeting, we will reorganize our web site to include a new section where we will post the best theological thinking we can find for this time. We will not worry whether it is UCC or Roman Catholic, Mennonite or Lutheran. Some may be from the 1930's or '40's, and some from yesterday. These will not be sermons or prayers; we have sections already dedicated to them. These will be pieces that challenge us to the deepest thought about god's intent for our witness in these times. The specific details are in the process of being worked on right now, and we will post them on the site.

In line with that, we will open some new FIDO on line conversations. One will be a place where members of our Conference can dialogue about the theological pieces that are up on the web site. Another will be a place where both pastors and laity can share insights and wonderments about pastoral care and assisting people to recover from the trauma of September 11 or to manage the fearfulness that seems rampant. Hal Chorpenning and Eric Anderson will be working on all our electronic media communications in this regard.

Thirdly, we will be offering for pastors of our churches a number of options for their own spiritual renewal and deepening. Ranging from the "day apart" model to overnight retreats, these events will be available in a number of different locations throughout the Conference. We believe that it is only as pastors are spiritually fortified that they will be able to preach and teach with integrity and power in the months and years ahead. Carole Carlson will be developing these opportunities.

And, fourthly, we anticipate offering retreats for laity, or for that matter, anyone, to wrestle spiritually with the meaning of these times, the call of Christ, and the gifts of faith that enable us to face the future without fear. Kathy Peters will be coordinating them, with the assistance of others, I'm sure.

Another initiative we will be taking with the leadership of Gordon Bates will be the development of resources to assist pastors in their teaching about peace and social justice. Specifically numbers of pastors have already identified to us the need for help in teaching about the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Some have inquired whether we will be prepared with materials related to conscientious objection in case we face a period of conscription. Still others have expressed interest in a social justice and peace curriculum for adult education. As these and other needs become known to us we will seek to respond, in collaboration with the national setting of the Church.

A Personal Testimony

Now, I would be remiss if, in the course of outlining the challenge before us, I did not speak from my spiritual heart and tell you what I believe about these times. I do this not to persuade you that I am right, but because I believe you have a right to know where I stand and where I will lead, absent a contrary decision by this meeting. I do this with care because I know there will be those among you who disagree. Yet I do it boldly because it is the word God has given me to speak.

I believe that we who are Christians are always called to work for peace. Our scriptures are replete with that call. With Christ, and as his body, we are to break down the dividing walls of hostility, to overcome evil with good, to live by the beatitudes and walk in love in the mist of alienation. Working for peace in the face of a global wary against terrorism is a daunting prospect. As one man in Roxbury said to me after I preached there on September 18, it is a hard road to take, but it is the right one. I do not believe that advocacy of peace will be popular. Nor do I think that matters.

In every cell of my body and every fiber of my being, I believe that meeting terrorist violence with more violence simply escalates the hatred and feeds the poison. There is no question that the perpetrators of these ugly acts must be brought to justice, for we as Christians are also charged to stand up against evil. In baptism, we renounce the powers of evil. In the wisdom of Christ, we know that evil has the capacity to clone itself many times over. Chop off one head and two more grow. But held up in the light of day, with the spotlight of God's justice shining on it, and evil will shrivel before us. So I say to you that the terrorists must be found, no matter how long it takes, and they must be brought to trial in an international court of law. It may take forty years to find some of them, as it did after Nazi Germany. Ultimately, truth and justice will win.

As many of you know, I have traveled extensively in many parts of the world. I do not claim to be an authority on any of those lands. Yet in my years of experience, I do know this: our image of ourselves as Americans blinds us to the way the rest of the world perceives us. We identify ourselves as kind, generous and concerned for human rights. Many in the rest of the world see us as pushy, greedy, and concerned only for our own economic advancement. So the fact that there is a terrorizing hatred of us out there does not surprise me in the least. Our nation's foreign policy, our corporate export of raw capitalism, our status as the leading supplier of munitions worldwide, our failure to stand with the most oppressed of the world when they are in need have indeed contributed to the popularity in some quarters of anti-American actions. I say this not to justify the deeds of September 11, not by any means, but to help us get perspective on ourselves. Our wealth and comfort are a daily slap in the face to billions of people. If we would be God's people and Christ's minsters in the midst of that world, then we'd better learn and teach some new ways of living and working. Instead of being an isolated, privileged nation, we need to become citizens of God's new creation, a global community of justice and peace.

I am not one who believes that the work of these terrorists has come to us courtesy of God. However, I do believe that God is at work in the midst of it, calling people of faith to help turn even this to the good. Already we have seen signs of the beginning of a new world community. May it grow and prosper! Already we have discovered common ground with Islam and with religions we barely knew existed before. May that common ground grow deeper and wider. Perhaps in days to come we will see an international movement for peaceful solutions to conflict, even as most nations participate in hunting down the terrorists. So it is with the ways of God. May God's ways increase and our decrease!

I am profoundly concerned for the lockstep climate in our nation right now. A healthy nation in one in which dissent is welcomed, even when there is a threat. Indeed, perhaps most importantly when there is a threat. The dangers to our future as a democracy during this time are serious. If we do not exercise our civil liberties and our human rights, they will erode. Once years ago, I was privileged to hear Senator Jovito Salonga of the Philippines speak to a group of us in Manila as we were learning about the context of mission in that country during the Marcos regime. Mr. Salonga was under house arrest for his dissent but managed to come to our meeting place to speak with us. I will ever forget his words: "We are as free as the freedom we assert." To know the risks he took with his life for that freedom means that I can never be silent in the face of repression of our democratic rights.

On that same trip our group had just two weeks before that spent two hours with Indira Gandhi discussing a wide range of topics. The most sensitive subject was the state of emergency that she had imposed on India the year before our visit. We challenged her about human rights and freedom of the press. Her response was the emergency was necessary to the national security of India. When pressed further, she insisted that we could not understand because the United States is not a developing country. Her argument was that the people of India could not be trusted to make up their own minds because they were in their infancy as a democracy. Friends, we are not in our infancy as a democracy. We must be vigilant to ensure that the spirit of fear afoot in our land does not deprive us of essential freedoms. And we must be especially careful that our national fear does not result in deportation and incarceration of people just because of their nationality or physical attributes. Already we are seeing articles justifying rounding up persons of Arab descent or Muslim faith. Perhaps we should print up wallet cards with the words of pastor Martin Niemoller, peaking in the Germany of the 1940's:

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

There is no question that certain nonessential freedoms, certain conveniences of life, must be forfeited for the common good. However, when government authorizes secret searches, legislates indefinite detention of persons without probable cause, or enacts laws that would squelch our freedom of speech, then we must speak up. The terrorists must not be allowed to kill our fundamental democratic freedoms, nor silence the voices of protest by the citizenry as our government insists on the appearances of a united land. For days now, I have been seeing placards and billboards proclaiming "United We Stand!" I do believe we are united as a people who love our country and who want to end terrorism for all of the world. What worries me is the unstated portion of that, the unspoken implication that "divided we fall." It takes my breath way to imagine a United States in which we are not free to express our convictions about public policy, but that unspoken phrase is planting just such a suggestion in the minds and hearts of our people. We are not infants in our democracy, but if we continue down this path, we may as well be.

Many of you know that during my years as Conference Minister in Southern California and Nevada, we went through two major earthquakes, a civil uprising, and numerous serious wildfires and mudslides. For those years, I bring to this moment a great concern for the life of our churches. Disasters such as we are now experiencing takes a terrible toll on people's resiliency for a longer time that most are willing to see. Nerves are frayed; people snap at each other, relationships are torn. It is hard enough to go through in the aftermath, but when the disaster threatens to continue or is followed by a war, the toll is even greater. The need for pastoral care will remain high for a long time. The challenge for pastors will be difficult and many will fail to take care of themselves. That is why both lay leaders and the Conference need to stand ready to assist. Yet I have another concern as well. The people of our churches will not be of one mind about this war, nor about human rights concerns. The way in which we address these concerns is important. Not only must we do so in a context of reduced resiliency and frayed nerves, but also in the context of big generational differences. There are people in our churches who fought in World War II, people who remember the internment of Japanese American people. There are people who fought in subsequent wars, who lost sons and daughters in one Asian arena or another. There are good numbers of people who opposed the war in Vietnam, and there are people who have never known a time of war. Creating ways for them to talk with one another, speaking honestly of one's own convictions as well as one's doubts and struggles, become important ministries. Let us seek the mind of Christ for this situation, and in doing so; let us be careful to honor the heartfelt convictions we each carry.

Finally, it is important that I contradict myself. For though this message has been entirely about the events of the last five weeks, I believe that the Church must be fully the church in this era. We must continue to preach and teach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. With the headlines of this week, this is a time for bold proclamation of the faith! We must be able to celebrate with joy, plan for the future, and reach out in evangelism and mission. It is essential that we not become fixated on the perils of life, but instead keep focused on the abundant life Christ gives. Our ministries are even more important to our communities than they were five weeks ago.

Let me end with a story. About two weeks ago, one of our churches held an all-church retreat at Silver Lake. Among the attendees were four men who had run for their lives from the World Trade Center. While at Silver Lake, one of them went on the high ropes challenge course with his family. His minister asked him afterward which element of the ropes course he liked the best. He replied that it was the privilege of being in a place where he could face his fear and know he would return to his family afterward, something he wasn't sure he'd ever know again.

So the ministries of the Church are essential to our lives, sometimes in dramatic ways, and sometimes in quiet ways. The confirmation retreats, ropes courses, prayer groups and Bible studies that seemed so run of the mill now take on a new character, even a new urgency. And God continues to work with us and through us to create a new heaven and a new earth.