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Time of remembrance is a call to move forward

Speaking during Annual Meeting at the Saturday, April 27, evening worship, Phil Hodson, who is now designated conference minister, used the time to remember PNC clergy and others who died in the past year as a call for those gathered to join their hearts, renew themselves and pledge to move forward together.

Conference Reflections By The Rev. Phil Hodson Designated Conference Minister

“As the annual meeting, we are remembering all of those who have come before us, who have built the United Church of Christ and its predecessor bodies in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “Remember that we are not the same church we were before and we are not the same church as we were last year.

We’re not the same church we were in 1957 or 1961 but we are here today praising God and welcoming new congregations. We are not the same because of so many who have come before us and have made marks on our spiritual journeys.

I’ve heard some of that today from some of you as you shared, saying “I’m here because of this person who spoke into my life.” In a few minutes we’re going to remember those have gone before us, specifically who have gone on to glory in this last year since we last met.

As we remember and give thanks for those who have gone before, may we draw upon the wisdom, knowledge and incredible experience they have poured into us. We remember today those who brought us to this place from all the places we come from.

As we think about what it means to go forward, to move forward together, not one step back, let us bear in mind that that means that someday somebody is going to remember what we may have done.

This is our opportunity, church. I have witnessed it in those I have encountered at Annual Meeting, that we gathered to chart a course, to have a plan and to invest in it with hope, joy and confidence in who we are and who God is calling us to be.

We wrestle with the things that challenge us and we are thankful for the things that go well. It’s for the next thing that God will call us into being, that next faithful step that we are taking now will matter for those who will gather in a room like this and someday remember us and give thanks for what God did in this moment.

God raised up leaders at Annual Meeting. We had to go back and revise the nomination slate because more people heard the Spirit’s call saying, “Come and serve, share in this way of co-creating and co-conspiring with the Divine to be the body she’s calling us to be. We are called to be a place of radical inclusion, a space where when we say, “All are welcome,” and we mean it.

Every time that we recognize where we come from in all our traditions, we recognize that the church we are becoming ain’t always going to look that way. Thank God, the one that embraces more and more diversity in worship, in discipleship, in understanding all the streams from which we come, and pulls them together.

That God might meld those streams together through us into the next new thing this is. Where we are going? Forward together! That’s right and may we do that with great courage and may we give thanks for those who have led us to this moment. May we someday, by God’s grace, be people for whom others give thanks for inspiring them. May it be so for us. Amen and Amen.

In installing new officers, leaders and committee members for the PNC-UCC, we pray God’s wisdom and God’s blessing. We pray for endurance for the good work each will do, for the openness of their hearts and for the vision they will share, for their willingness to say, “Yes, let’s move forward together.

We give thanks for these faithful servants, for the wisdom and experience of their lives that they will pour into our collective story. We give thanks for the ways they will stretch us, challenge us, make us laugh and fill us with wonder.

We thank God for this collective body, for those who have served before who have led us to this place and for those who step up now.

It’s going to be quite a journey and we’re so grateful that we get to take that journey together with our leaders.

At Annual Meeting, we have borne witness to what the Spirit is doing in our midst. We are only just beginning to see what the Divine has in store for all of us as we continue to become that open and affirming, anti-racist, inclusive, diverse Christian family in the Pacific Northwest. Let us move “Forward Together” not one step back.

For information, email phil@pncucc.org.

 

 

 

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