The other place I blog is the Web Site of Confessing Christ. Here is A Brief history of Confessing Christ by Pastor Frederick R. Trost:
“In August of 1993, a Convening Committee for Confessing Christ was on the phone, composed of pastors and teachers of the Church and a graduate student in American Church history. Might there be a way of gathering others in the United Church of Christ who love the Church and are devoted to its ministry, to talk about our "life together" for the sake of our mission as Christians and our commitment to social justice, liturgy, and pastoral care?
From the beginning there was agreement on the necessity for solid, joyous, theological work in the Church, for Biblical study and conversation with our varied, rich, and living theological heritage in the United Church of Christ. We took as our theme the words of the First Article of the Barmen Declaration:
"Jesus Christ, as he is witnessed to us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we must hear and which we ought to trust and obey in life and in death."
From the beginning [that] summer and in our many conversations since, our purpose has been neither to "weep bitterly" over the Church (which would be theologically irresponsible) nor to pound upon others (which would be uncharitable), but to take our place alongside the publican to the temple, to acknowledge with those who have "confessed Christ" in every generation that we live, as the Reformers insisted, by grace alone, through faith, and that the prayer "Be merciful unto me, O Lord." is meant to be found on the lips of the whole church. In the struggle for theological re-formation, as in all else, "there is none that is righteous, no, not one!" (Romans 3:10)
We've said the most important thing is to recommit ourselves to theological work that takes Scripture, ecumenical creeds, the confession and covenants upon which the United Church of Christ was founded (see the Preamble to the UCC Constitution),
- with joyful seriousness,
- not as a kind of hobby,
- not with any desire to settle down in the sixteenth century
There are times when we have to face the fragile state of our life together. We believe this is one of those times. There are moments when the question "What is truth?" won't go away. This is one of those moments. There are hours when the ancient query "What think ye of Christ?" cannot be avoided. We believe this is one of those hours.
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