I think you mean Congregationalists not UCC. UCC is a new church,
relatively, and it's 50 years old this year. It was a combo of *some* Congregationalists and 2 other smaller churches. (BTW, that is clear in the article you quote). The historic Congregational church is pretty different than the UCC, and the only similarity maybe is congregational structure. Congregationalists back in the day did not believe in the priesthood of the believer. That was Baptist and maybe Methodist, I forgot. UCC is ardently nondoctrinal. But doesn't take it quite as far as UU, as it maintains identity (its own mostly)as a Christian church. Mainly that is in the social gospel, as opposed to necessarily taking any tenets. I was surprised that the belief statement doesn't contain either reference to substitutional atonement or Jesus as God.
I didn't agree with everythign though.
"United Church of Christ Statement of Faithadapted by Robert V. Moss
We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:
God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.
God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord,God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.
God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.
God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ's baptism and eat at his table,to join him in his passion and victory.
God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace,the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God."
I can buy into some of that maybe 60% or so, I'm not sure which ones I buy into but I can definitely say which I definitely don't. Anyway, you can see that this is prettty much a different whole thing than the Congregational church circa 1600.
BTW, a couple years ago UCC took on a God is still speaking campaign. It is sort of evangelistic in an off-beat way. Anyway it says "Never put a period where God has placed a comma."
BTW, the article says that there is some tension between these two UCC and UU churches. Gosh I find that hard to believe, of any church it is one of the most likely that we would work with. (Maybe it is the shared history?)
thanks for your "you rock" btw.
--des
uufreespirit[SIZE=1 said:
There, from the year 1620, is some of that non-creedal, "never come to a period" emphasis that we still cherish so much today. Did y'all happen to see the UU World article on the two churches in Plymouth that grew up right next door to each other--one UCC and the other UU--that are both parts of the same "Mayflower Pilgrim" congregation. (Since I'm not yet allowed to post links yet
I'll just share this with you;
Go to uuworld dot org then slant ideas slant articles slant 6570 a dot then shtml )