Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

by Senior Pastor Winton Boyd

You may have heard through various news outlets that the IRS is investigating whether the UCC violated its tax exempt status last summer when it invited Barak Obama to speak at our General Synod. At question is whether there the church was engaging in “political activities.” I don’t know the details of IRS investigations, but I was at the General Synod and heard Obama and several others give amazing speeches. In my estimation, the UCC national staff went to great pains to keep this from being a political speech. We were forbidden to have signs or buttons, no campaign staff was allowed in the center, and Obama left for another speech immediately following his speech. It is true the energy level in the Hartford Civic Center was very high (as it was for Bill Moyers who spoke earlier the same day; as it was after Ken Medema sang the following day).

It is true that it felt like an historic and powerful moment in the life of the church. It is true that I texted my children to say, “I am listening to Obama live.” I did it the same way I called my family from Israel in 2003 and invited them to listen to the Muslim prayer calls reverberating around the city. It felt similar to the day my children and I sat in a full stadium to watch European soccer in Glasgow. It felt somewhat surreal, and somewhat beyond belief. It was wonderful and it was moving.
However, Obama was invited to speak as “one of us.” He is a member of our largest UCC church, Trinity UCC in Chicago. Here are some of the words he shared that day.

So one Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went over to Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street on the South Side of Chicago. And I heard Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright deliver a sermon called “The Audacity of Hope.” And during the course of that sermon, he introduced me to someone named Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed. I learned that those things I was too weak to accomplish myself, He would accomplish with me if I placed my trust in Him. And in time, I came to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life.

It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church, as folks sometimes do. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly vanish. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.

But my journey is part of a larger journey – one shared by all who’ve ever sought to apply the values of their faith to our society. It’s a journey that takes us back to our nation’s founding, when none other than a UCC church inspired the Boston Tea Party and helped bring an Empire to its knees.

Regardless of one’s politics, it was clear then that Obama was excited to share a powerful story of faith with other folks on the journey. It was clear that his faith is full of questions and uncertainties, as well as profound experiences and very powerful certainties. He modeled that the life of faith is complicated. In this way, I thought he was genuine, timely and well worth hearing. He was part of an amazing array of speakers, performers, musicians and church leaders that helped several thousand people celebrate the life and ministry of the United Church of Christ. It was a gathering that would make most of us feel quite proud. Other notable and powerful speakers included the aforementioned Bill Moyers, Marian Wright Edelman, Lynn Redgrave, UCC President John Thomas, and more. To see or hear more from that gathering, go to www.ucc.org.

I find it mysterious how the IRS chooses the “political activities” it decides to investigate. The blurring of the lines between politics and faith happens every time a candidate speaks in a Sunday morning worship service. Numerous candidates speak at faith bodies. Some even claim they represent the will of God. These appearances don’t appear to attract the attention of the IRS? The session with Obama was notable in how the church went to great pains to keep it from being a political event. One can only wonder why this has surfaced now and in this way.