My delegation mates are in awe. Nestled in the mountains of Guatemala, pristine forest and a rushing, dammed river stretches out below us. Yet, surrounded by all this beauty, I feel the most unsettled I’ve been since touching down in Guatemala five days earlier. As we take in the beauty of the mountains and the
This summer is the 79th anniversary of both the Trinity test that launched the atomic age, and the U.S.’s nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed and injured hundreds of thousands. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries are a somber, annual reminder of the horrors of nuclear weapons and why abolishing nuclear weapons and preventing
In this election season of unprecedented change, the future remains uncertain. Our anxiety, fear, and hesitancy surrounding the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election feels logical given the political unrest and divisiveness within our nation. The fate of our society hangs in the balance. At this pivotal moment, the United Church of Christ’s Our Faith
As the election approaches, many United Church of Christ congregations have been asking where, exactly, churches should draw the lines around political engagement. The webinar, “Be Prophetic, Not Partisan: Navigating Election DO’s and Don’ts for Churches,” which took place last week, has answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. Is political conversation during
Andrew Long-Higgins has fond childhood memories of Church World Service (CWS), a faith-based organization that for the past 78 years has been responding to the needs of the hungry and the displaced worldwide. His father, the Rev. Dave Long-Higgins, now conference minister for the Heartland Conference United Church of Christ, would don a blanket like
In Washington, D.C. last week, the Churches for Middle East Peace — a coalition of more than 30 national church communions and organizations in Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and Evangelical traditions, including the United Church of Christ — organized a Joint Prayer Service calling for justice and peace. This was held just before Israeli Prime Minister
Like many others, I come from a family system that placed taboos on speaking publicly about one’s personal life. My siblings and I were conditioned at an early age not to discuss “personal things” outside of the home, especially something that might embarrass an elder. Our family mottos were “keep your mouth shut” and “don’t
The executive leaders of the United Church of Christ have issued the following statement addressing the violence in Israel and Palestine and calling for actions toward a just and lasting peace. “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) Throughout the history of humankind,
As Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, explained as part of the Our Faith, Our Vote campaign, voting is an essential way for people of faith to bring about the just world we want to see. It is how we can love-in-action, as 1 John
United Church of Christ teens attending this summer’s Regional Youth Events (RYE) are hearing an important message for today’s increasingly troubling world: “Love Is Greater Than Fear.” The “Love Is Greater Than Fear” theme, anchoring all four regional events across the country, was inspired by a song of the same name that was written by
