Barack Obama Has Brought the United Church of Christ to the Nation's Attention

More than my denomination's historical ecumenism, social activism, ministries for peace and justice, even our ordination of women and gay and lesbian pastors and support of gay marriage rights, one United Church of Christ member, Senator Barack Obama, has put the denomination in the news. In the very short time that I have been publishing the blog, UCC on the Net, the one tag that has been most used to describe the Internet stories, articles and blogs related to the United Church of Christ has been "Barack Obama."

Of course, as I review those Internet stories, articles, and blogs I realize that this is partly due to the FOX (for years I have suggested that the "X" in "FOX" should actually be a swastika) Network's continued attack on Senator Obama. First, it was that he is actually a Muslim. When that was debunked, FOX turned its criticism on the congregation of which he is a member, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ; FOX said that Trinity is just too Black! All of this uproar over Senator Obama's religious faith has kept his name in the news even more than his opposition to the war in Iraq.

Personally, I do not know yet where I stand on Senator Obama's candidacy-or, for that matter, the other candidates for the office of President of the United States. I need to know more about all of them and where they stand on various issues. However, as an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, I am overjoyed with the uproar surrounding Senator Obama! While the United Church of Christ's recent General Synod support of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples (which actually goes back to a 1996 stance by the UCC's Office for Church & Society) has lost the denomination members, I believe that learning what the United Church of Christ truly believes via all of the uproar concerning Senator Obama will gain the denomination new members.

For I truly agree with comedian Grace Allen: Never put a period where God put a coma. God is not dead: God is alive and still speaking to us. As the book of Isaiah states:

Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not;
See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:18-19)