Gretta Vospers has been an ordained minister with the United Church of Canada since 1993. Gretta is an atheist. Does that surprise you? She neither believes in the Bible or in a theistic, supernatural, interventionist God about whom the Bible speaks. Gretta has made that clear for many years. She pastors West Hill United Church in Toronto.
Does Gretta's non-belief pose a problem for either her local congregation or for the United Church of Canada? No, it does not. Most of her congregants have been supportive of her views, but some people have been critical that her opinions were contrary to church doctrine.
Complaints resulted in a 2016 Toronto Conference Committee review of Gretta's ministerial suitability. With a split decision the committee ruled that she was unsuitable to continue in ordinary ministry because she did not believe in God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit.
Gretta was looking at an ecclesiastical court hearing that could reasonably result in removing her credential. After all, the United Church of Canada unambiguously affirms its belief in God. The Song of Faith, is the United Church of Canada's 2006 articulation of its beliefs about God.
"God is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.
Yet, in love, the one eternal God seeks relationship.
So God creates the universe and with it the possibility of being and relating. God tends the universe, mending the broken and reconciling the estranged.
God enlivens the universe, guiding all things toward harmony with their Source.
God enlivens the universe, guiding all things toward harmony with their Source.
Grateful for God’s loving action, We cannot keep from singing.
With the Church through the ages, we speak of God as one and triune:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also speak of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer God, Christ, and Spirit
Mother, Friend, and Comforter, Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love, and in other ways that speak faithfully of the One on whom our hearts rely, the fully shared life at the heart of the universe."
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also speak of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer God, Christ, and Spirit
Mother, Friend, and Comforter, Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love, and in other ways that speak faithfully of the One on whom our hearts rely, the fully shared life at the heart of the universe."
A meeting between the United Church of Canada and Gretta and her legal team this week, reached an agreement, this averting that hearing. The details of this resolution remain confidential. That in itself is noteworthy given the notoriety of this case for the past three years. Gretta is free to continue ministering to her east-end congregation, and as she says,“It’s going to be wonderful. We’ll be out from underneath that heavy cloud. Now we’ll be able to really fly.”
Right Rev. Richard Bott is the newly elected chief executive of the United Church in Canada who has said he is pleased with the resolution. In his message to Church adherents, while he referenced the church’s core values of faith in God and inclusiveness, he added, “The dance between these core values, how they interact with and inform each other, is one that we continue to explore as followers of Jesus and children of the creator.” He said. “As a Christian church, we continue to expect that ministers in the United Church of Canada will offer their leadership in accordance with our shared and agreed upon statements of faith.”
The wider United Church may ignore this decision but I imagine that many members will be asking serious questions about the future of their church. It's commendable to embrace an inclusiveness that allows many people to come and search for truth, but if leadership is not united around those things that are essential to Christian faith, the future of that faith group is in doubt.
The United Church's Song of Faith is a 2006 articulation of its beliefs about God. https://www.united-church.ca/community-faith/welcome-united-church-canada/song-faith
Globe and Mail Article by COLIN PERKEL, TORONTO, THE CANADIAN PRESS
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 9, 2018
Photo by Canadian Press and shows Rev. Gretta Vospers, seen at West Hill United Church in Toronto on Aug. 5, 2015.
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