Friends, I happily return to you after the 34th General Synod of the United Church of Christ held in Indianapolis, Indiana. For a week, I carried you with me, along with a faithful contingent of delegates from the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UCC. This Synod was deeply historic in the ways we broadened the table of communion, to include the election of the first African American woman General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson.
I was honored to chair the committee presenting the resolution of witness for the Synod to consider: “Actively Affirming the Human Dignity of Transgender and Nonbinary Persons.” In this time in history of profound, targeted danger for gender diverse and expansive people, it became our sacred work as a body of faith to actively amplify and secure the human and civil rights of trans siblings. It is our duty to make this claim to the world! Through consensus building and honoring the lived experience of siblings generously sharing their profound angst and joyful overcoming.
As you have been apprised of other resolutions, I won’t detail them here. Yet, know that we are the church working to do justice and equity for those whose voices have been muted, to include the earth and all of creation. In our worship, our protest and stances for righteousness, in our fellowship and through the forging of connections in great love, we live into the theme: Making All Things New.
Allow me to amplify another joyful moment of justice. The “Fifth Stream”, which is the historic Afro-Christian tradition of the UCC, was affirmed by the Synod. Traditionally, four streams have been recognized as foundational to the denomination: Congregational, Christian, Evangelical and Reformed. However, the Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk, a person of the movement, the first African American woman ordained in the UCC, and a pillar in the denomination is leading the charge to acknowledge the Afro-Christian movement as equal to the previously accepted four streams. Rev. Dr. Delk will be preaching and leading at Plymouth this fall.
I pray that we continue and renew our covenant and commitment to the United Church of Christ. I pray that we will affirm and support the ministry and leadership of the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, and help to sustain and revitalize the denomination as we move with the Spirit to determine what we shall be.
-Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown