United Church of Norman, UCC

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC.

It came to my attention this week that Walter Wink recently died.  You may never have heard of him and I only knew him through his history and reputation as a teacher.  He was a Methodist pastor who worked in churches for a short period of his career and then moved on to teaching positions at Union Theological Seminary in New York and later retired as professor emeritus at Auburn Theological Seminary, also in New York City.  For a time he was a Peace Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace and throughout his career was known as a progressive theologian concerned about violence and the abuse of power in the political system.  He taught and encouraged progressive study of the Bible and his teaching specialty was in the field of Biblical Studies.  All in all the kind of person that most of us would have found helpful, stimulating, challenging and a general blessing to our world.  He will be missed by all those who knew and respected him and by some of us who were only indirectly influenced by his work and presence.  I understand his life and career to have been strong in its “building block” component to the more enlightened lives you and I are privileged to be living.  It’s people like Walter Wink upon whose shoulders we stand.  His death started me thinking about the importance of our church’s work and why it needs to be taken seriously and encouraged.

Coupled together with this awareness of Dr. Wink’s death was the reading of an article on seminary education that Sarah brought to my attention.  Most of us don’t think a lot about “seminary education” until there is a need for another pastoral change in our church.  This article I’m referring to was written by Katherine Douglas and Jason Bruner as a research paper to benefit awareness of problems confronting seminary education today.  The authors made four major points:

1. There is a widening chasm of understanding and cooperation growing between churches and seminaries.

2. The number of seminary students entering course work is showing a rapid increase in the “no church background” category.

3. The current educational process being followed in seminary training is pricing itself out of the range of many potential students.

4. The approaching population shifts in our country are making it increasingly more difficult for seminaries to even know how to prepare culturally competent leaders for the 21st century religious needs of the churches.

Suffice it to say that our seminaries and our seminary education programs are under a lot or survival stress!

Dr. Wink came from an educational system that was, for the most part, stable.  He taught during an era when there was a determined body of information to study and understand and a prescribed goal at the end of the process: students either decided to teach religion or took the career path that led them to leading a church body in the practice of its faith tradition in their lives.  That scenario seems to be rapidly vanishing from the scene and being part of a theologically progressive segment of the church we understand why.  Seminary education has to lead in the training of clergy, but to do so means that seminary faculty also have to change their course offerings and even the content of their seminary courses if they are to send pastors and teachers into the communities and parishes with 21st century skills and knowledge.  This affects our UCC churches especially because we are a denomination that historically has depended on and valued an educated clergy.  In fairness to our UCC seminaries I would certainly give them much credit for their already displayed flexibility and foresight into planning for the present and future needs of the church.  The challenges facing them are enormous however and we need to support them in every way.  Once yearly our UCC receives a special financial offering for seminary support and it will be considered by our executive committee for inclusion in our mission offerings.  I still believe it is imperative that we continue to support and expect an educated clergy.

It hurts to lose a good person in the church:  good people are hard to replace.  It does remind me that what we are doing in our local church is important, very important.  We’re seeking to build a religion that is built from an honest and educated perspective of understanding people and our world.  We’re using our biblical traditions and integrating those learning’s with contemporary experiences in ways that help us relate our religion to our lives.  The result, hopefully, is a faith that is experienced in our lives as helpful and enriching.  It takes diligence, hard work, consistency and lots of spiritual support from one another to enable this to happen.  People like Dr. Wink, (and each of us could build a list here of similar kinds of people) have to be replaced on a regular basis.  Our church needs to be an incubator for that kind of reproduction process to be occurring on a steady, regular basis.  That’s a big part of our mission.  Our particular task as a new, start-up church is enormous because we have taken on a real challenge.  ”Progressive Christianity” is trying to re-establish the Church!  The “church of the past” has encumbered itself with too many claims it can no longer support or justify and now finds itself suffering.  It simply is not producing results that really matter enough to the world to be taken seriously!  The core message of our faith needs to be re-claimed and packaged in a new vocabulary that 21st century people can understand and relate to.  As one of our current writers has indicated:  “Church Christianity is over!  It no longer has enough energy and strength of will to change itself.  So those of us who care about the continuation of the Christian tradition will do best to stop worrying about “the Church” and try to develop a new form of religious life that will be genuinely truthful, livable and productive.  Whether or not it wishes to brand itself Christian does not matter very much.”  Strong words!  But, a challenge that could help us find real “life” and then better carry out the message of one some of still call “Savior!”

Being in church is a good habit to cultivate.  Life is evolving and I believe we all need a place to process our own evolution.

Warren Jensen, D.Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman – UCC

Thanks for the generosity of Dr. Bruce Prescott (Mainstream Baptists of Oklahoma), here is the link to Bishop John S. Spong’s seminar held at the United Church of Norman-UCC on Saturday, April 21st.

https://vimeo.com/41927624

Enjoy!

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC,

I haven’t before written “late week thoughts,” but circumstances seem to warrant my doing so.  I’m writing about the news we received this week from President Obama regarding his evolving thoughts on equality of marriage.  Needless to say, it gave me great hope that folks who are willing to work diligently for a goal can still achieve it.  Specifically, what encouraged me were his words indicating that his views “had evolved.”  Having him say honestly that his opinions and ideas had “changed” should encourage all of us in the UCC to continue the struggle for equal rights and justice.  I’ve said before that our UCC denomination has been on the front lines of equal rights and justice issues for many years but I wanted to spell out some of the significant milestones our UCC denomination has achieved through the past 40+ years.

1969 – The Council for Christian Social Action of the UCC adopted its “Resolution on Homosexuals and the Law.”  It declared its opposition to all laws which make private homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime and urged all UCC Conferences, Associations, and local churches to hold seminars encouraging honest and open discussion on the nature of homosexuality in our society.

1972 – Rev. William Johnson became the first openly gay minister to be ordained in the UCC.

1975 – The 10th General Synod of the UCC passed the “A Pronouncement: Civil Liberties without Discrimination Related to Affectional or Sexual Preference” resolution.

1977 – Rev. Anne Holmes became the first lesbian minister to be ordained in the UCC.

1977 – The 11th General Synod of the UCC passed the resolution “Deploring the Violation of Civil Rights of Gay and Bisexual Persons.”

1980-81 – The Executive  Council of the UCC adopted the “Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and Revision” statement that steered its consistent pursuit of being an Equal Employment Church.

1985 – The 15th General Synod of the UCC passed the “Resolution Calling on UCC Churches to Declare Themselves Open and Affirming.”   (We now have over 1,000 of our UCC congregations so declared.)

1991 – The 18th General Synod of the UCC passed the “Resolution on Affirming Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Persons and Their Ministries.”

1993 -  The 19th General Synod of the UCC passed the “A Call to End the Ban against Gays and Lesbians in the Military” resolution.

1996 – The Board of Directors of the UCC Board for Homeland Ministries voted for “Equal Marriage Rights for Same Gender Couples.”

1997 – The 21st General Synod passed the “Fidelity and Integrity in all Covenanted Relationships” resolution.

2003 – The 24th General Synod passed the “Reaffirming the UCC’s Denouncement of Violence Against Lesbian and Gay People” and calling for the inclusion of transgender people within that anti-violence statement.

2005 – “Equal Marriage Rights for All” resolution passed by the 25th General Synod.

2010 – The UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns expanded its criteria of new Open and Affirming Statements to include gender identity and gender expression, effective July 14, 2010.

I would like to think that our efforts and history of speaking up for human rights had something to do with our President’s “evolved” opinions.  Our UCC denomination has worked consistently and courageously over these many years for human rights and the inclusion and acceptance of all people.  We did it because we believed this is the Gospel message.

I’ve asked Don Holladay to speak briefly at the beginning of our Adult Education class this Sunday regarding the meaning and impact of the President’s words on UCC ministries and communities.  I hope you can be there!  We meet at 9:35 a.m.  We’ll have coffee and refreshments, listen to Don’s comments and then continue with our adult class focusing on “The Lives of Great Christians:  the Apostle Paul.”

Thanks for taking the time to read these words.

Warren Jensen, D.Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman, UCC

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC,

Have I told you about our new dog Ivy?  I probably have because I seem to talk about her a lot.  She’s a rescue dog, still adjusting and a big focus of our lives right now.   She came crawling under a fence and into a rescue lady’s yard one day looking as if she had about one more breath to go. She was “rescued” and several months later came to our home where she lives as the queen of the house.  She looks at us with wonderment!  Actually she seems to adore us in about every way there is.   Dogs do have a way of teaching us what acceptance and inclusion feel like.  In turn, we think we have a wonderful dog too!  She does have one rather big problem right now and that is that she doesn’t want to share her new home with anyone but us.  And, being in the hospitality business, that is a problem.  We’re working on this.

I’ve been thanking this week about what it might feel like to be rescued the way Ivy was.  “To be lost, and then found” are the spiritual words that refer to this in the old hymn “Amazing Grace.”  Most of us have probably had that kind of experience in some way at times, but we all know there are many in our world right now who experience this on a regular basis.  The list of groups who are mistreated is very large, so I want to invite you right now to try making a list of your own to better ready you for what I’m going to be saying here.  As a church that takes seriously the challenge to be the body of Christ, we have a lot of work to do.  Even some of the battles we thought we fought and won and moved on from just keep coming back, over and over and over again.  The events of the past week have focused on one arena.

A week ago, Pastor Sean Harris at the Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, preached a sermon in which he encouraged parents to just “beat the gay out of their children” if they “saw their son with a limp wrist or their daughter acting too “butch.”  ”Give them a good punch, tell them to man-up, and then reign in your daughter so she’ll learn to be attractive and womanly as she was meant to be.”  (I’ve done some condensing of this diatribe for purposes of this article, but you get the point.)  It’s been a long time since I’ve felt so angry and disillusioned about church people.

Let me share another example that focuses fear on this same issue.  Our UCC has just shared with us the story of Grace Community Church in St. Paul, MN.  Their pastor, Rev. Oliver White, had just courageously signed on with the UCC resolution affirming equal marriage rights for all people, regardless of gender: a resolution that many of us in the UCC have signed.  As a result of his signature of support, some 72% of his congregation in St. Paul left the church.  They also walked away leaving a very large building debt to be paid by the remaining members who simply can’t pay it.  Their loan carries a 23.5% mortgage and the lender wants a payment of $165,000 by the first day of June or the Church will owe $170,000 the next month and be in foreclosure.  Last month the Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas collected a special offering of $15,000, but there is no such answer this month.  So - our UCC national staff raised the question of each member of the UCC donating $1 to the cause, bringing the debt of this progressive and inclusive UCC congregation in St. Paul under control.  It makes you ask yourself whether or not our slogan of “no matter who you are, where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here” means what it says to us.  I personally think when Pastor Oliver White had the courage to sign the pledge he deserves to be supported.  I believe this is the right thing to do and I’m personally going to send my dollar (maybe even several) to his church.  If anyone else cares to join me please put your dollar (or several) in an envelope when you’re in church this Sunday, mark it ”St. Paul, Minnesota” and we’ll see that it gets to him and to his courageous church people.

Why am I writing about all this today?  I guess it’s because I think the terrible homophobic fear in too many Americans is rearing its ugly head in an incredibly vicious way.  North Carolina voted this week on a repeal of the right to marry law that it had earlier passed.  If it passes in North Carolina it will make 29 of our states that are now on record as being against equal rights for our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens.  Examples of church people, both clergy and laity, who act with this kind of homophobic, bigoted inconsideration are on the march again and this time I do not think the progressive churches can just sit back and wait it out.  We’ve read the bible too!  In fact, I suspect many of us have read the bible in more depth and perhaps more frequently than many of those who quote from the bible to support their bigoted claims.  So those of us who believe the LGBTQ community needs our support need to stand up and speak out.  This is a JUSTICE issue for our whole nation.  Our United Church of Norman - UCC is not a “gay church” per se.  It is instead a church of individuals who believe everyone should be accepted for who they are, people who believe in inclusivity and helping to stand by and for all minority and marginalized groups.  Despite the presence of some more conservative congregations, our UCC denomination has historically stood fast with the folks battling racial prejudice, we’ve marched with the field workers and Caesar Chavez, we’ve stood along side the minorities battling for immigration changes.  We are not a passive church when it comes to issues of human rights and justice.  We do not judge people by the color of their skin, their economic status, educational achievements or by their gender identity or sexual orientation.  We are people of God!  We are people who open our doors and welcome all people!  We need to model our repudiation of the blatant prejudice and discrimination that seems to be more and more prevalent across the country.

This Sunday is the first of our “Conversation Sundays.”  We’ll listen in our sermon time as some of our very thoughtful members share some thoughts about “Spiritual Growth from the Garden.”  Will Weir, Nancy Logan, Jeanette Bishop, Kay Holladay and Jeannie Coley will be sharing thoughts from their own experiences.  Bring your friends and grow with us as we deepen our own faith roots.  We worship at 11:10 a.m. Our adult education hour, to which all are invited, begins at 9:35 a.m. We will continue our study of “Lives of Great Christians.”  Again, all are welcome!

Thankful for Ivy and her ministry of acceptance — at least outside her house!  Let’s help her welcome strangers into her home and set an example for all of us,

Warren Jensen, D.Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman – UCC

Bishop John Shelby Spong answers a question about interfaith relations and religious pluralism.

The session was at the conclusion of Spongs lecture on “Why Christianity Must Change or Die“ at the Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.

Spong’s lecture was hosted by the United Church of Norman (UCC) on April 20, 2012.

http://mainstreambaptist.blogspot.com/2012/04/spong-on-interfaith-relations-and.html

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC,
We will have a special guest with us Sunday!  I hope you’ll be able to be in church to greet her and benefit from her message.  Her name is Lonnie Snyder and she comes to us as a senior student at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa.  She is also the designated representative from our Kansas-Oklahoma Conference (UCC) to a project designed to strengthen our local churches.  Her emphasis with us Sunday will be on UCC identity and the current mission thrust of our denomination, locally and world-wide.  I believe she is coming to us at a very appropriate time since we’re working hard at this process of identifying ourselves and our Progressive Theology in the community.  We’re also trying to make decisions on our own local mission work, so I’m excited about her visit with us and I hope you will be as well.  Hopefully her time with us will help us clarify both of these issues even further.

We also have another rather exciting project being worked on at the moment.  Since we live in this age of computers, having a web site that communicates our message becomes more and more important.  We’ve had one for some time and it has worked.  We are thankful to the people who established it for us several years ago; however, we are in need of an up-grade.  That is happening now, thanks to our good committee of Matt Stock, Oland Whitlock and Dan Coley.  Together, with a consultant we have hired, they are bringing a new design and web site capability to us.  I hope you’ll be checking out our web site and making suggestions about how to improve what we do and our site content.  We’re always amazed at the number of people who “visit” our site and read some of the information we’re attempting to share.  Our challenge now will be to keep the site current and filled with the kind of links and information people seem to be trying to find.

And, since I’m sharing information with you here, I want to comment on two more items:

1.  Beginning on Sunday, May 13, we’re going to be starting a monthly “Conversation Sunday.”  What actually is of no great surprise to any of us, we’ve come to the realization that we are a group of people who do like to talk, with each other, and to each other.  And, (also no great surprise!)  we are recognizing that we really have a whole lot of people who have interesting and helpful thoughts to share.  The interaction in our adult education class has convinced us of that and we’re planning on introducing that ingredient once a month into our worship service.  Designated people will be participating and sharing some of their life stories that center on life tasks and challenges we all will relate to.  You’ll hear more about this but I think we will all find it very interesting and helpful.

2.  We’re  turning a page in our Adult Education class also and beginning another “Great Courses” series called “The Lives of Great Christians.”  This course is taught by Dr. William R. Cook , the Distinguished Professor of History at the State University of New York at Genesco, NY.  The course will explore the lives of many of the early to modern saints of the church.  I think you’ll find it challenging and helpful in sorting out and strengthening your own spiritual journey.

Finally, please don’t forget to look around at the beauty of our earth right now.  Even with the aftermath of storms, our area of the country seems to be in full bloom and the air is filled with the most delightful aromas.  Don’t miss it.  It’s a brilliant reminder of the beautiful world we have to care for and enjoy.

Awed by the journey,

Warren Jensen, D.Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman – UCC

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC,

I’ve been moving a bit slowly this week trying to reflect, think about, mull over, and sift through all the events from the past week.  It was a huge week for our United Church of Norman – UCC and I hope all of you have been doing some reflecting on the events along with me.  So much happened, so many conversations were held, and so many ideas and questions were raised through the experience I believe it will take us all some time to figure out what did just happen.  I’m going to be talking about this more in the weeks to come, especially this Sunday when I try and reflect on some biblical directions and guidelines I think are worthy of our discussion.  But I also want to share some thoughts about what I heard and experienced right now.

1)  As a church, we did about as great a job of hosting such an event as we could have done!  It took everyone’s effort and cooperation, and we did it.  From the arrival of Bishop Spong and his wife Christine to our community, until they left on a 7 a.m. flight back to New Jersey on Sunday morning, their needs were attended to and we remained faithful to the schedule we had planned.  Everyone volunteered and arrived on site at the right time, all the necessary equipment worked and we all seemed to have a good time doing it.  Success # 1!

2)  The Friday evening lecture was excellent.  Bishop Spong spoke on the subject “Why Christianity Must Change or Die – The Old Paradigm is not Working”.  The Great Hall in the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History proved to be the right choice for the presentation and it was filled.  I’m told that we had 350 seats set up and they brought in extra chairs.  That means we encouraged between 350 and 400 people to come out on a Friday evening, already filled with competing events in Norman, to a church meeting.  Granted, listening to a speaker of such insight and knowledge as Bishop Spong is not an everyday opportunity, but we were all thrilled with the attendance.  Success #2.

3)  Saturday morning, our seminar at the church was filled and sold out.  Bishop Spong’s topic was “Seeing the Christ Not as the Savior, But as the Expander of Human Potential” and the format was lecture following by Q & A.  With our smaller room area everyone had a rather “close and personal” encounter with Bishop Spong and the morning was very well received by everyone that has spoken  to me.  Success #3.

4)  Saturday evening, our congregation was invited to the home of Phil and Cathleen Jones for a reception and some closure for the two-day event.  40+ people mingled, talked, ate together and continued the informal conversation with Bishop Spong into the evening.  It was absolutely delightful!  Success #4.

So, what do we do now?  I’m still trying to answer that one for myself, and hopefully I’ll have some ideas ready to share Sunday morning at our worship time.  I could only say in a rather simple way that our church is very alive and well!  We obviously have a message with our “Progressive Theology” label that is resonating and striking a positive chord of response in our community.   Without a doubt, the most important thing we can say and observe is that our congregation is growing spiritually as well as in number.  This has to be experienced as a great achievement for our congregation.

Thank you all for making this a success!

Sincerely,

Rev. Warren Jensen, D. Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman – UCC

Pictures of our incredible weekend with Bishop John Shelby Spong are now posted on our Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Church-of-Norman-UCC/130435476991995#!/media/set/?set=a.363461197022754.73254.130435476991995&type=3

The United Church of Norman-UCC is hosting a free lecture by Bishop John Shelby Spong Friday evening, April 20. Bishop Spong’s lecture titled, “Why Christianity Must Change or Die — The Old Paradigm is Not Working” begins at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK.

John S. Spong, author of Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World champions critical engagement with Scripture. Spong, a scholar, pastor, priest, and bishop, has made a life’s study of the Bible and is a pioneer of progressive Christianity.

Note!    The lecture on Friday  April 20 is free and open to the public.

The  workshop on Saturday April 21 is sold out.

Dear Friends of the United Church of Norman – UCC,

Life is a wonderful thing!  It’s really a mystery though when you think about it.  There are so many things we don’t know or understand.  We just “arrive” and take this journey; some of it ugly and very hard, but much of it so beautiful and stimulating.  It leaves me in awe just to think about the fact that I have this experience we call “life!”  I guess that’s why some of the mistakes we make regarding this “life” also leave me so angry and upset.

Tomorrow, (or the next day) some of our grandchildren will be attending the funeral of a 9th grader who killed himself.  Does this bring back memories for us or what?  There are so many “normal” ways for people to die that whenever an “abnormal” death takes place it is such a tragedy.  Suicide is at the top of the list.  We’re hearing about it a lot now as the growing number of returning veterans who commit suicide becomes more widely known.  It’s especially hard, I think, when it ends the life of a young person who is just getting started.  This young man seemingly had so much going for him.  He was the youngest in a family that was active and vibrant, involved in so much of what life had to offer.  He had two older brothers, one of whom was off in college, one a senior in high school; good solid parents, one who coached at the high school he attended and he seemingly had the strong potential for a career in sports just out there for the taking.  The motivations behind this tragedy aren’t clear yet and all that is known now is that the young man, with only his brother in the house, and following a very successful and fun filled day at a school athletic event, found a gun kept in the family home and went to his room where he ended his life.  He was found immediately by his brother who heard the shot.

I’ve lived through the tragedy of suicides with a number of families in the course of my ministry.  The circumstances are all different but the results are always so painful, difficult and long-lasting for the remaining family members and friends.  The ripples of pain just move slowly but aggressively out into the wider family, community and culture.  It sometimes takes several generations to emerge on the other side.  Guilt, remorse, unbearable sadness and a terrible sense of letting yourself and your family down will certainly be part of the picture.  Will anyone learn any lessons from this?  That’s uncertain based on history.  I read an article recently about firearms that were kept in family homes.  It told me that a survey of some 600 parents with children between the ages of 5 and 15 revealed the fact that 87% of the parents really believed their children would NOT touch a gun if they found one.  “People think it’s a problem of other people’s kids,” the author wrote.  Her research revealed clearly that “by far the majority of kids” can’t resist touching a gun if they find it.  “There is a HUGE difference between what kids DO and what parents believe they’ll do.”  Most of us also know by now about the issue of what depressed, bullied, hopeless and overwhelmed teenagers might do in an emotional state of despondency if they knew where a gun in the house is and how to gain access to it.  My heart goes out to this family, and to my grandchildren, and to several of my own children who are now part of a large grieving community who will have to find a way to forgive, heal, and perhaps grow a bit wiser.  I have one question to leave this sad story on and that is:  How can having a gun in the home really be worth the risk that it brings?

Friday night is a huge night for our church and we hope, for our community.  Bishop John Shelby Spong will be presenting a lecture at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman at 7:00 p.m. titled:  ”Why Christianity Must Change or Die: The Old Paradigm is Not Working.”  It’s a free lecture and open to the public.  Please come!  And, bring your friends and even some of your neighbors if you can.  There will be a number of people arriving from neighboring communities in Oklahoma and even quite a number attending from other states.  We will be hosting and should be proud of this offering to our community.  Many of you will be there as volunteers to help and assist.  You have our thanks for this.  Believe me, this could not happen without the help and support, (both physical and financial) that so many of you have provided.  We are very grateful for all your help!   Saturday morning, Bishop Spong will present a seminar at our church (sorry, the seats are already filled) titled: “Seeing the Christ Not as the Savior, But as the Expander of Human Potential.”  Finally, on Saturday evening we’ll conclude his visit with a relaxed and informal evening hosted by Cathleen and Phil Jones for the members of our church family.  It should be a week for all of us to remember.

Please don’t forget:  we will move on to our regular Sunday morning routine!  We begin with adult education at 9:35 a.m. by processing what we learned over the weekend, and maybe thinking how we can implement these learnings into our mission and message as a congregation.  We worship at 11:10  a.m. and will center our thoughts around a very important theme that is still being formulated.  (That means I don’t have a clue yet!)  Please join us.  All are welcome!

Anticipating,

Rev. Warren Jensen, D.Min., Interim Pastor

The United Church of Norman – UCC