How many of us were here a hundred and twenty five years ago?
Not many.
But 125 years ago, the First Congregational Church of Eureka merged with the Second Congregational Church. And eleven years ago, the First Congregational Church of Eureka merged with the First Christian Church of Eureka, forming the United Congregational Christian Church.
While we see division among the followers of Jesus, there is hope for unity.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
On June 25, 1957, two United States denominations joined together: the Evangelical and Reformed Church, and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches.
Each of those denominations were themselves mergers of two denominations:
The General Council of Congregational Christian Church was formed by a merger of Congregational Churches that trace their roots back to the Pilgrims, and some of the Christian Churches that were formed in the United States from movements inspired by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell.
And in 1934 the Evangelical Synod in North America, a mostly German-language church that mirrored the Prussian Union Church in Germany, and The Reformed Church in the United States, a mostly German-language church that mirrored the German Reform Church.
And even the Evangelical Church was a merger of some of the Reformed Churches and some of the Lutheran Churches.
In an age of denominations splitting into smaller and more numerous denominations, the United Church of Christ is brining\ together people of different doctrines and traditions.
How different?
The Congregational Church began in what would become the United States, formed by the Pilgrims who sailed the Mayflower to Plymouth Rock. This is an important part of their heritage: while some Congregational Churches are obviously named things like The First Congregational Church or Anytown Congregational Church, many have named like Mayflower or Plymouth or Pilgrim.
The Pilgrims – largely Puritans England who fled oppression in Europe from governments with official religions like the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, and the Church of Scotland, none of which were austere enough for the Puritans.
Strongly Reformed churches like the Puritans rejected the naming of Saints, a hierarchy of church leaders, and most church decorations – some even refusing to have a cross in the church.
The Stone-Campbell movement that led to Church of Christ (instrumental), Church of Christ (non-instrumental), and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) came from American churches that rejected much of the restrictions of other denominations and declared they needed no other name than Christian and no other creed than the Bible.
Meanwhile, the German Reformed church was also a reformed church founded by German immigrants. Many did not speak English and needed a Reformed Church that worshiped in the German Language.
The German Evangelical Church was a reflection of the Prussian Union Church. In 1817, Frederick William III of Prussia made a series of decrees that united the German Lutheran Churches and the German Reformed Churches.
The Lutheran Church recognized saints and often had images of holy people in the stained glass windows, both decidedly different from the Reformed Church.
It was an uneasy union, and rather than creating one united denomination from two, there were Lutherans and Reformed Christians who would not join the united church, leading to three denominations: Lutherans, Evangelicals, and Reformed.
So the Evangelical UCC churches are usually identifiable because they will have names like St. Paul’s or St. John’s UCC, while the Reformed Churches are often named for things other than people: Elim UCC, Bethany UCC, or Trinity UCC.
You have to be careful with using only names, however: Trinity UCC in Weaverville is a Congregational Church named for the Trinity region of California, and Trinity UCC in Chicago, made famous by being Barack Obama’s church, was formed after the founding of the United Church of Christ.
During World War One and World War Two, many German-language churches were suspected by Americans as being allied with Germany. This led many of the Evangelical and Reformed churches to start having worship in English, and to put American Flags in the sanctuary.
Other churches, not wanting to look less patriotic than the German churches, also added flags.
There are also a number of Black churches that joined into the United Church of Christ, many of them with Baptist roots.
So when these different congregations joined together, there was a lot of doctrinal differences. Different teachings, different creeds, different ways of worshiping, and different ways of governing.
All of these differences had to be resolved.
Churches with congregational polity – meaning the local church is the basic unit of church, did not want a hierarchy where what people were to believe and how they worshiped was decided from a person or persons “at the top” of the denomination.
Churches that recognized saints did not want to stop doing so. Churches with stained glass windows with holy figured did not want to tear them down.
What resulted was a denomination with a very permissive denominational structure that allowed for the local church to have its own flavor. As the UCC says: not tests of faith, but testimonies of faith.
And as a slogan, they chose a verse from today’s Gospel reading:
That they may all be one
That’s from John 17:11.
Is Jesus saying they should all be one denomination?
Maybe not.
But he’s saying that people who follow Jesus’ teachings should not be pitted against each other.
And that’s a difficult thing, because when someone believes something they think came from God, someone who says something different – even if they think their beliefs come from God.
There’s a humility required of believers, recognizing that we have a limited understanding that may not be superior to that of others. Remember that Jesus taught his followers to love one another, to love neighbors, and to love enemies.
And the UCC crest itself is based on scripture.
The cross is a familiar symbol of Jesus.
The crown represents that Christ is sovereign. That’s also not surprising.
But the orb: What is that about?
That comes from our reading in Acts 1:8:
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8, NRSVue
That’s the orb.
As members of the United Church of Christ, we are not only called to be one with each other, but one with Christians who believe differently. We don’t have to agree, but we ought to be able to recognize other Christians also as Christians.
And our mission, as taught in Acts 1:8, we are to be Christ’s witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all of the world.
Remember that Jerusalem was the holy city.
Remember that Judea was the land of the Jews.
Remember that Samaria was the land of people who were considered not Jews, and often less than Jews.
And remember that even then the known world was much larger than Judea and Samaria.
And how can we be witnesses? They will know we are Christians by our love.
So my challenge this week is to remember that we may disagree with the teachings of other Christians. We may disagree with the actions of other Christians. But we ought not let those differences cause us to dismiss the faith of other Christians, just as we would not want others to dismiss our faith.
Let us recognize that we are called as partners in Christ’s service.
Amen.
Let’s sing NCH 495 Called as Partners in Christ’s Service
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
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