by Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Conference Minister, April, 2003
Monthly Reflections from The Pacific ~ News and Events of the NCNC United Church of Christ

INDISPUTABLY ROOTED IN THE SAME GRACIOUS LOVE

Words of encouragement and support for those ministering "in the fields."

It was probably a difficult letter to write.

I know it was a painful letter to read.

It came from a life-long member of the United Church of Christ, someone whose views on social issues and political realities would most assuredly be at odds with mine, someone whose faith is indisputably rooted in the same gracious Love as mine.

It was a difficult letter because it slashed at the connections between Christian faith and social justice which, to me, are inseparable and inescapable. It was a painful letter because it captured so well the frustration of a person who feels her views demeaned, her faith unheeded. From her perspective the United Church of Christ has dismissed her, and reduced Christian practice to the band-wagon support of trendy causes.

For a number of years, I have been talking to just about anyone who displays a glimmer of interest about my three abiding hopes for the United Church of Christ:

1. That we be very clear in the articulation of the Biblical bases of our beliefs and practices, embracing diversity as a "given" aspect of our unity in Christ for "no one can say, 'Jesus is Sovereign' except by the Holy Spirit" [I Cor. 12: 3b];
2. That we never give up our historic commitment to movements of liberation, to what I perceive as our dedication to working out the understanding of Genesis 1:26, that all people are created in the image and likeness of God; and
3. That, in the process of carrying through on hopes 1 & 2, we treat one another with kindness.

Seemingly, in the eyes of my correspondent, the UCC's reach for hopes 1 & 3 has fallen short of our grasp.

The day after I received her letter I attended the Leadership Day sponsored by the Faith Enhancement & Leadership Development ministry of the Conference. One of the handouts distributed there was a one-sheet comparison of dialogue and debate. I read,

"Dialogue is collaborative: two or more sides work together toward common understanding.
Debate is oppositional: two sides oppose each other and attempt to prove each other wrong.

In dialogue, finding common ground is the goal.
In debate, winning is the goal.

Dialogue reveals assumptions for reevaluation.
Debate defends assumptions as truth.

Dialogue involves a real concern for the other person and seeks to not alienate or offend.
Debate involves a countering of the other position without focusing on feelings or relationship and often belittles or deprecates the other person."

How often, I mused, have our church meetings been times of debate, rather than dialogue? How might things have gone differently for the woman who wrote to me, if we regularly engaged in dialogue rather than debate?

Your comments are welcome
Send to msgast@ncncucc.org