God is still gathering,
Excerpt from Genesis 8: 13-19
"And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families."
Reflection by Ron Buford
Though feeling somewhat ill last summer, I simply could not pass up an invitation to Fire Island. My feeling withdrawn yielded the gift of added capacity to observe.
Walking almost the length of the beach alone one afternoon, I saw many diverse couples on the beach—straight, same-gender loving, interracial, all ages, shapes, sizes, and mixes—nearly everyone in a couple. That’s when it hit me: God is still gathering, two by two. . . the same way God gathered the animals into Noah's Ark and later scattered them.
The ark, long a symbol of church at its best, still gathers people like you and me, nurturing families of all types in love. But it also sends us out into the world empowered to be our best selves, fruitful in new ways, increasing capacity for all the earth’s creatures to eat, love, pray, and dream.
In 1972, only three years after the Stonewall riots in New York City, San Carlos UCC, in the Golden Gate Association of the UCC's Northern California Nevada Conference led the church, and the world, as it struggled to ordain William R. Johnson, an openly gay man. Johnson, when asked if he would be willing to be celibate, said, "No, ordain me as I am." He became the first openly gay man ordained in mainline Christendom. In 1977, the UCC's Anne Holmes became the first openly lesbian woman ordained in mainline Christendom.
Ever since, the United Church of Christ has been an ark of safety for many. Through the last nearly forty years, others have followed suit because God is still gathering men and women, boys and girls into God’s ark of safety, no matter who they are or where they are on life's journey . . . . And by God's own hand we are saved. Praise the Lord, Church!
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you not only for the United Church of Christ but for every place of worship in your name that withstands the storms of controversy, ostracism, and change to become a house of prayer for ALL people. And thank you for putting Your rainbow of blessing and promise, in the sky and not in a closet, O God, a bold witnesses of Your unwavering promise, and of a church community that dares to live in answer to Christ’s prayer "that we may all be one" despite the costs, guided and gifted by Your Holy Spirit . . . not our own. Amen.
Excerpt from Genesis 8: 13-19
"And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families."
Reflection by Ron Buford
Though feeling somewhat ill last summer, I simply could not pass up an invitation to Fire Island. My feeling withdrawn yielded the gift of added capacity to observe.
Walking almost the length of the beach alone one afternoon, I saw many diverse couples on the beach—straight, same-gender loving, interracial, all ages, shapes, sizes, and mixes—nearly everyone in a couple. That’s when it hit me: God is still gathering, two by two. . . the same way God gathered the animals into Noah's Ark and later scattered them.
The ark, long a symbol of church at its best, still gathers people like you and me, nurturing families of all types in love. But it also sends us out into the world empowered to be our best selves, fruitful in new ways, increasing capacity for all the earth’s creatures to eat, love, pray, and dream.
In 1972, only three years after the Stonewall riots in New York City, San Carlos UCC, in the Golden Gate Association of the UCC's Northern California Nevada Conference led the church, and the world, as it struggled to ordain William R. Johnson, an openly gay man. Johnson, when asked if he would be willing to be celibate, said, "No, ordain me as I am." He became the first openly gay man ordained in mainline Christendom. In 1977, the UCC's Anne Holmes became the first openly lesbian woman ordained in mainline Christendom.
Ever since, the United Church of Christ has been an ark of safety for many. Through the last nearly forty years, others have followed suit because God is still gathering men and women, boys and girls into God’s ark of safety, no matter who they are or where they are on life's journey . . . . And by God's own hand we are saved. Praise the Lord, Church!
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you not only for the United Church of Christ but for every place of worship in your name that withstands the storms of controversy, ostracism, and change to become a house of prayer for ALL people. And thank you for putting Your rainbow of blessing and promise, in the sky and not in a closet, O God, a bold witnesses of Your unwavering promise, and of a church community that dares to live in answer to Christ’s prayer "that we may all be one" despite the costs, guided and gifted by Your Holy Spirit . . . not our own. Amen.
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