Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Here we are, at the end of the eight week series of sermons about What We Believe in the United Church of Christ. We have just completed our Mission Statement workshop. The evidence of the hard work of the workshop participants can be viewed on the newsprint sheets around the room. The first draft of our Mission Statement will be posted on our internet website, will be included in the E-News next week, and will be in printed form, available next Sunday.

This first draft of our Mission Statement should stimulate our thinking, our conversation with one another, and our prayers with God. As the summer moves on, we hope that all of us will give thought to this effort to determine what God has and is calling us to be and to do. As each of us reflect and dialogue, as ideas and concerns are generated, we hope that you will give the leaders of the congregation your feedback. As we approach September, a date will be announced for a special meeting of the congregation, probably on a Sunday immediately following our worship, for official action to adopt the Mission Statement, for now.

I say for now because our Mission Statement is dynamic. It will change with our growth, with new members ideas and opinions, and with experience. Most likely, it will change as new insight to God's call comes to us.

The Mission Statement is our plumb line. It is our focus. Whenever questions arise about whether we should or should not do something, the first issue before us should be that of determining whether the act being considered will be a move toward the fulfillment of our Mission Statement. The Mission Statement is the core of our DNA, or our identity. It will be displayed in many places so that we can remember it, be reminded of it, and be guided by it.

So, here we are, on the last Sunday of the series, considering the last characteristic of What We Believe: Responsible Freedom.

These two words are often used to describe the United Church of Christ: freedom and responsibility. We have been described as "a church that is independent and subject to no temporal authority; but equally a church that is the servant of all and minister to everyone." We are not subject to the dictates and powers of any human hierarchical system or officers. At the same time, we are bound in sacred covenant with all of the other congregations and members of the United Church of Christ to be mutually supportive in the conduct of God's will and in the service of God's mission.

In today's world, where many voices compete for attention, it is difficult to separate wheat from the chaff, to discern essential truth from passing fancy. Such discernment is a daily challenge for members of the United Church of Christ. The basis for addressing that challenge is clearly stated in the Constitution of the UCC:

The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole Head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior. It acknowledges as kindred in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.

Freedom, responsibility, and covenant form the core of the UCC Constitution. These traits also impact individual members of the UCC. Each member has the freedom and responsibility, with the leading of God's Spirit, the use of one's mind, the devotion of one's heart, and the guidance of the historic traditions of the universal church, to work out a faith that is meaningful to her or him.

This is the beginning of a wonderful, exciting, and challenging journey. We are launching out to start a new faith community. A community in which freedom exists, where everyone is free to find their own relationship with God, free to develop their own faith understandings, free to find the most fulfilling way for her or him to live out their faith commitment. No one, not your pastor, not the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ, not the national United Church of Christ, not even any other member of this faith community, has the right to interfere with your life of faith.

At the same time, this is a responsible faith community . We are responsible to the Spirit of God. We are responsible to each other, to guard each other's dignity, to care for each other's rights and needs. We are responsible to our sister congregations and to our denomination, not to be ruled by them, but to take them seriously, to pray for them, to consult with them about items of importance in or faith lives, and to consider their opinions and needs when forming our own faith posture and practices.

Even the new Mission Statement which is in the process of being formed must be viewed with responsible freedom. This Mission Statement is not a test of our faith, it is a testimony of our faith. We will offer it to each one of us and to each new member of this congregation with the knowledge and expectation that each one is free to choose to honor it or not. Each one is free to choose to make the Mission Statement an integral part of their own faith journey or not. Each one is free to be fully committed to this faith community or not. At the same time, each one is responsible to consider, prayerfully, their obligation and commitment to God and to each other member of this faith community and is not free to harm or interfere with the faith journey of any other member.

We pledge to live together in responsible freedom. We promise to be here, for each other, in responsible freedom. We bring our own calling, our own faith journey, our own relationship with God, in responsible freedom. We are the United Church of Christ.

Isn't it exciting. May God bless our life together and may God be pleased with our efforts to be responsible in the use of our freedom.

Amen.