THE MESSENGER

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. John's Chapel

United Church

of Christ

 

 4344 S. Fremont     Avenue

Springfield, MO 

65804-7306

 

      (417) 881-5175

fax (417) 881-1647

 

 www.stjohnschapel.org

pastor@stjohnschapel.org

sec@stjohnschapel.org

 

 Sunday School - 9 a.m.

Worship - 10:30 a.m.

 

 

Pastor

Rev. Becky Hebert

 

Pastor Emeritus

Rev. Robert M. Dohm

 

Council President

Tona Griggs

 

Vice President

Linda Marshak

 

Board of Christian           Education Chair

Joyce Burton

 

Evangelism Committee Chair

Elaine Tebbenkamp

 

 

 

 

 Our Mission        Statement:

 

At St. John's Chapel UCC our dream is to accept and embrace one another in a   family of faith with love and  understanding, reaching beyond ourselves to the community and to the world in the name of  Jesus Christ. 

 “That all may be one”

Pastoral Reflections by Pastor Becky Hebert

What a wonderful Holy Week and Easter!

A number of you have commented on the statement I made in my Easter sermon about the negative and untrue press our denomination has been receiving.  Your comments have reinforced for me the need for us to get together to discuss this matter.

The Visioning Committee brought this to my attention at our last meeting. and scheduled a follow-up worship carry-in dinner for April 27, to be followed with a discussion on the negative press UCC has had to undergo.

On March 18, our General Minister, John Thomas sent out Reflection on the Rhetoric of Preaching in Light of Recent News Coverage of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. and Trinity United Church of Christ.  I thought some reflection might be helpful in generating discussion.  I’m also considering writing a letter to the editor of the News Leader.  I understand there has already been a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Church who came to our defense.  A member of a Church of Christ denomination also wrote a editorial letter wanting it to be perfectly clear that the Church of Christ was not to be confused with the United Church of Christ.  What a switch!  Actually, all this negative press could work to our benefit if we respond to untruth with truth.  So I highly recommend you joining me in writing a editorial letter to the News-Leader.  We might  even get some media coverage that will lift up our denomination in a positive light

Here are quotes from Rev. John Thomas for your consideration:

Our church has been subjected to...airing of video clips of sermons by the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., pastor of Trinity UCC for thirty-six years.  These video clips, and news stories about them, have been served up with...heated commentary… expressing shock...such language could be uttered from the pulpit.  

One is tempted to ask whether these commentators ever listen to their overcharged rhetoric…  Even more to the point is…whether they have a working knowledge of the history of preaching in the United States from the unrelentingly grim language of New England election day sermons to the fiery rhetoric of the Black church prophetic tradition.  Maybe they prefer the false prophets with their happy homilies in Jeremiah  14.14-15.   The Biblical Jeremiah was coarse and provocative.  Faithfulness, not respectability was the order of the day then.

What's really going on here?  First,…these television and radio shows have very little interest in Trinity Church or Jeremiah Wright.  Those who sifted through hours of sermons searching for a few lurid phrases and those who have aired them repeatedly have only one intention.  It is to wound a presidential candidate.  In the process, a congregation that does exceptional ministry and a pastor who has given his life to shape those ministries is caricatured and demonized.  You don't have to be an Obama supporter to be alarmed at this.  Will Clinton's United Methodist Church be next?  Or McCain's Episcopal Church?  Wouldn't we have been just as alarmed had it been Huckabee's Southern Baptist Church, or Romney's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

Many of us would prefer to avoid the stark and startling language Pastor Wright used in these clips.  But what was his real crime?  He is condemned for using a mild "obscenity" in reference to the United States.  This week we mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, a war conceived in deception and prosecuted in foolish arrogance.  Nearly four thousand cherished Americans have been killed, countless more wounded, and tens of thousands of Iraqis slaughtered.  Where is the real obscenity here?  True patriotism requires a degree of self-criticism, even self-judgment that may not always be easy or genteel.  Pastor Wright's judgment may be starker and more sweeping than many of us are prepared to accept.  But is the soul of our nation served any better by the polite prayers and gentle admonitions that have gone without a real hearing for these five years while the dying and destruction continues?

You can find the complete Reflection at: www.ucc.org/news/responding-to-wright.html

Plus, news releases that have gone out since Thomas’ Reflection were circulated.

You do not have to agree with Thomas’ statement.  One of the beauties of our denomination is our honoring of “diversity of thought and body.”  Let Thomas’ thoughts trigger your thought, and then let us come together to talk with respect .

Blessings and Love,

Pastor Becky