Still Speaking To...

One of the oddities of our polity in the United Church of Christ is that our leaders are not empowered to speak for us, instead they may speak to us. Our church government is not a republic or a representative democracy. We elect our leaders to serve us, not represent us. This is also true when delegates gather at the various settings of our church: Association, Conference and General Synod. Some have argued that since these bodies cannot speak for us that they should not make statements of witness. A primary reason why we haven't gone that route is that we perceive a need to listen for the still-speaking God's prophetic call to the churches. So, when General Synod gathered in Hartford this past week, a number of resolutions called the churches out to social action and witness in the world. Some of us won't agree to do what we are asked to do by this body of delegates. That should come as no surprise since to the best of my knowledge all of the votes included votes in opposition, thus not even all of those speaking to us agree with each other.

And that is another odd strength of our denomination; our attempt to seek unity without simultaneously embracing diversity. There is a great story by an Episcopal priest named Martin Bell called Rag-Tag Army. In it, Bell describes an army on the march, led by God. This army contains some who are barefoot, some off wandering in the brambles and some playing with frogs. The drumbeat isn't regular and no one is in step. But God keeps stopping to make sure that no one gets lost. Some in this army hold hands but that leaves those on the end of the line without a hand to hold, so they join hands and make a circle. A large circle is deceptive because it appears that the marchers are going somewhere other than round and round. Still, God won't stop. The march goes on.

I love that story for the image of the variety of us Christians stumbling along, no matter who we are or where we are on life's journey. God refuses to move the march along if even one would be left behind. For that truth we can shout “ALL-eluia!”

I also have long loved that story for the simple truth it tells about human nature. We are indeed God's rag-tag little army, doing our best to stay on task following God. So sometimes we have to resist the temptation to take charge, but only speak to one another what we think we have heard are the orders of the one leading the march. Even when we hear more of ourselves or our fellow marchers and not enough of the true leader, we can still at least rejoice that God is still speaking...and still leading!