No Heresy Here, We're UCC

  
 Yellow Crucifixion -- Marc Chagall

By becoming flesh in Jesus,

   God makes all things new.

In Jesus’ life, teaching, and self-offering,

   God empowers us to live in love.

In Jesus’ crucifixion,

   God bears the sin, grief, and suffering of the world.

In Jesus’ resurrection,

   God overcomes death.

Nothing separates us from the love of God.

The Risen Christ lives today,

   present to us and the source of our hope.

In response to who Jesus was

   and to all he did and taught,

   to his life, death, and resurrection,

   and to his continuing presence with us through the Spirit,

we celebrate him as

   the Word made flesh,

   the one in whom God and humanity are perfectly joined,

   the transformation of our lives,

the Christ.

A Song of Faith -- United Church of Canada

heretic: a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma

I've been wrestling with whether to weigh in on a recent decision by the United Church regarding one of the denomination's clergy who doesn't believe in God. It regards Gretta Vosper, a minister who has been open about her non-theistic convictions, even as she has served a United Church congregation. A review of her eligibility for ministry in what was Toronto Conference sputtered along and has now been abandoned. 

The Rev. Vosper (a strange honorific for a non-theist) has been quite skilled in drawing attention to herself through the years and seems to have enjoyed describing this as a heresy trial. It wasn't a trial, and I don't recall any suggestions that Gretta to be burned at the stake. In fact, I was involved in more than one wider church meeting where those who disagreed with her views emphatically nonetheless encouraged caution and compassion in responding to her views. But she may be a heretic, at least by the definition above. 

I've made no secret that I feel she should "go with God" or whatever the substitute might be because the United Church is still a Christian denomination in both creed and less formal affirmation. In his statement of November 8th our Moderator Richard Bott says:

Grace and peace to you, in the name of Jesus Christ.

As you may have heard, Toronto Conference, the Rev. Gretta Vosper, and West Hill United Church have reached a settlement on the issues between them. I am thankful for all of the work that has been done by these groups to find resolution...
In a letter to the church in 2016, my predecessor, the Very Rev. Jordan Cantwell, reminded us that “at the heart of the concerns being raised is a tension between two core values, both of which are central to our identity as The United Church. The first is our faith in God. The second is our commitment to being an open and inclusive church.” The dance between these core values, how they interact with and inform each other, is one that we continue to explore as followers of Jesus and children of the Creator.

So we are a Christian church, it would seem, it's just that our desire to be inclusive gives a pass to those who don't perceive Christ as being at the core of our inclusivity. It would appear that we are "dancing" like Elaine in the old Seinfeld series, all elbows and spasms. To wildly switch metaphors, I wonder whether we've become the Doughnut Church of Canada with an array of worthwhile passions and issues around the circle with no one at the centre. Could it be that we've created a graven image called inclusivity? 
 

I have talked to three younger United Church ministers since this decision, if 45 and younger can be considered young (in the UCC they are virtual infants.) All are baffled , although not surprised. Another reflects in her blog that she left another denomination, drawn by the inclusivity of the United Church, but always assumed that she was entering Christian ministry. The same is true of a former Roman Catholic priest who is now a United Church minister. 

Ah well. I suppose that as a "pastor out to pasture" my opinion doesn't count for anything any more, although whose does? Maybe we should ask Jesus?