A Prayer: Open and Affirming

(Posted July 2, 2019)

Creator of Us All, Holy One of Many Names, Eternal Love,
We wonder at the care and joy manifest in your design and creation.
You created the sliver of the waning crescent moon,
a slender thread of courageous light;
You created the tenacity of each blade of grass that
muscles aside concrete to reach for sky;
You created the birds that soar and creatures of the ocean depths
who somehow thrive where it is too dark and too cold for life. 
You look at all you have created and call it good.

We are amazed that, in ways beyond our understanding,
you formed humanity with the same joy and care that birthed the rest of creation.
We rejoice that each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made in your Divine image.
On this Open and Affirming Sunday, we proclaim who we are.
We are gay, we are straight, we are lesbian, we are bisexual,
we are transgender, we are cis-gender, we are gender-fluid.
We have many names and labels for what we are, 
but we know that you call us by one name - beloved.
Let us say it over and over and over again until we believe it. 
We are beloved. We are beloved. We are indeed beloved.

We acknowledge that for many of your beloved children, especially those who are LGBTQ,
church communities have been places of shame and suffering, rather than homes
of sanctuary and safety. Help us to pick up the mantle of those who have gone before us in
this liberation movement, that their hard work and their sacrifice might not be in vain. 

We are, all of us, called by love, for the sake of love, to be love
in this faith community and in all the world. 
Continue to create us to be your beloved people. Amen.

The Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the UCC, and equips UCC congregations to become effective witnesses to Christ’s extravagant welcome. ONA is now the largest and fastest-growing LGBT-welcoming movement in the Body of Christ. We welcomed ONA church #1 in 1986 and church #1,500 in 2018. To find out more, visit openandaffirming.org.

Mission Moments tells stories of how United Chruch of Christ congregations are connected to the wider church. It is published by the United Church of Christ.