CALVIN
SYNOD
CONFERENCE
of the UNITED
Rt.
Rev. Koloman Karl Ludwig, Bishop
Phone:
(219) 931-4321 Emai1: KKLudwig@aol.com
To
the Congregations of the United
Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
At
the recent United Church of Christ General Synod 25, approximately 80% of the
Delegates representing the 39 Conferences of the UCC voted to pass a resolution
which includes the following two paragraphs:
"THEREFORE
LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the Twenty-fifth General Synod of the United Church of
Christ affirms equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and
declares that the government should not interfere with couples regardless of
gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights,
responsibilities and commitment of legally recognized marriage; and...
LET
IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Twenty-fifth General Synod calls upon
congregations, after prayerful biblical, theological, and historical study,
to consider adopting Wedding Policies that do not discriminate against
couples based on gender;"
This
resolution has caused a great deal of difficulty for our Church and its members,
and is a dangerously divisive issue. There are two very serious problems with
the resolution.
First,
it does not reflect the thinking or theological convictions of the members of
the local congregations of the United Church of Christ. In spite of the vote of
the delegates, local congregations were not asked their opinion on such a
weighty issue. Was your congregation asked for its input on this issue by those
delegates from your Conference?
Second,
this is a serious theological issue in the universal Christian Church - it is
not an issue of "policy" or "procedure" to be decided by one church body. The
definition of "marriage" in Christianity and in the Biblical context has a
specific meaning: it is a relationship between a man and a woman. There is no
deviation from this understanding in the Bible.
With
this resolution the Delegates to GS 25 have denied an understanding of marriage
that is over 3,000 years old - dating back to the roots of our Christian faith,
the Old Testament understanding of this covenant.
The
rationale for this decision is that "God is still speaking", saying something
different than He had throughout Christianity, telling us that His word has been
misunderstood by all our Christian predecessors throughout the ages. Our current
UCC leadership has decided in the past 30 years that they understand the meaning
of God's Scriptures
better
than Jesus himself,
better
than all the authors in the New Testament,
better
than the Early Christian Fathers,
better
than the leadership of the Catholic Church for 2,000 years,
better
than the Orthodox Church for 1,200 years,
better
than the Reformers and all our Reformed and Protestant ancestors the past 500
years,
better
than their own parents.
Our
current UCC leadership has decided that all who came before them were WRONG.
The
main reason given for the necessity of the "resolution" is summed up in this
paragraph, contained in the "Background" section of the introduction to the
resolution:
"Civil/legal
marriage carries with it significant access to institutional support, rights and
benefits. There are more than 1,400 such rights and benefits in the federal
statutes alone. Efforts to ban civil marriage to couples based on gender denies
them and their children access to these rights and benefits, and thus,
undermines the civil liberties of these couples, putting them and their children
at risk."
Recognizing
that there are "same-sex" couples in our society in long-term, committed
relationships, a substitute motion was introduced which would not have used the
word "marriage", but terminology which would have extended legal protection to
same-sex couples. This motion was soundly defeated. With this motion, while
same-sex couples would have gained the support of the Church for their civil
rights, they would not have gained the "sacrament of marriage", the second
portion of the resolution which is quoted above. So the issue seems not to be
about "civil rights", it is about "same-sex marriage" in the church. And on this
issue the Bible, church history and world-wide Christianity are in consensus:
"Marriage is between a man and a woman".
From
our Christian perspective, we need to realize that God gave us laws for our own
good - and in addition to purposely breaking His law (devastating in itself), we
do damage to the Christian understanding of what God gives us - in the family -
and destroy something which is the very basis of God's understanding of how we
should relate to each other.
In
response to the negative reception of this resolution by local congregations,
the UCC leadership responded by emphasizing that the UCC does not speak for the
local congregation, in fact local congregations do not
have to follow the lead of the national church, a basic part of the UCC polity.
So there should not be a problem with this divergent view. But this calls into
question "what does the UCC leadership and administration do with those issues
passed by General Synod?" Are these issues implemented? The answer is "Yes, they
are. But the local congregation is not bound by them". But if issues of this
magnitude are not expected to be implemented by the local congregations, then
why would we spend several millions of dollars at biennial General Synods
passing such resolutions? And why spend millions of our dollars at the national
level of the UCC implementing issues to which we are in opposition?
It
is time for the local congregations of the United Church of Christ to respond.
We
need to remember that "Evil triumphs only when good people do nothing". It is
time for "good people" to take back the leadership of their church. First, because it is the right thing to do. Second, if we do
not, we leave the older generation, who built the churches and the Church,
without their own place of worship, since they will feel absolutely
uncomfortable in the setting the UCC now encourages. And finally, IF we do NOT
take back our churches and begin to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are
consigning all future generations to a twisted, warped understanding of God, and
of life.
We
encourage your congregation to voice its disapproval to your local church board
and pastor, expressing dissatisfaction that your church is associated with this
type of scandal and repudiation of the over 3,000 year understanding of God's
Scripture as the result of our current UCC leadership.
We
encourage your congregation to voice its disapproval to your Association offices
that this policy, counter to God's will and commandments, and counter to
stability and order in the family, should be endorsed and propagated by your
church leadership using your financial contributions offered in good faith for
the mission of Jesus Christ.
We
encourage your congregation to begin withholding ALL financial contributions to
your Association and your Conference if they do not abandon implementation of
this resolution as part of their ongoing work.
We
encourage your congregation to begin withholding ALL financial contributions to
the UCC until the current direction changes. Please continue to forward
Designated
We
encourage your congregation not to be run out of your own church by those who
have performed a "coup" and hijacked the UCC. The heritage of the
Congregational, Christian, Evangelical and Reformed Churches is in no way
represented by those who now "claim as their own" this heritage.
If
local congregations do not speak up, if we vote with our feet and leave the UCC,
we will be making a terrible mistake. We will be leaving a fellowship of
Christians who have served the Lord for hundreds of years. We will be leaving
behind small congregations that are unable to determine their own future. We
will be abandoning the wonderful, rich heritage of the Congregational,
Christian, Evangelical and Reformed Churches, leaving it in the hands of persons
who are "proud to claim as their own" the heritage on paper, but not in
practice. And we will also be leaving the resources, the generous gifts of our
ancestors, to be used by the current leadership to promote an issue which is
absolutely contrary to what our forefathers believed and stood for, what we
still believe today, and the beliefs of the Christian Church throughout the
ages.
Yours
in Christ's service,
Rt.
Rev. Koloman K. Ludwig, Bishop
Conference
Minister, Calvin Synod Conference
October, 2005