September 30, 2026

I ended my sermon on Sunday with a piece written by our General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Rev. Terri Hord Owens. It is worth a repeat….

In the spring of 2020, the beginning of the pandemic. A time when George Floyd, a black man, was killed by a police officer who kept George on the ground, with his knee pressed into his next for over eight minutes. George Floyd kept saying, “I can’t breathe.” None of the other police officers made a move to stop the offending officer- they stood by and watched a man die. AND the whole country clearly saw this on the video.

Rev. Terri Hord Owens says in her pain and anger, she wrote a piece that was posted to her social media account on May 26, 2020. 

“I want a church…”

I want a church that loves so radically that we are always putting up chairs to make room for more, always leaving empty chairs at the table, expecting that many more will come, turning no one away.

I want a church that loves so courageously that we will stand up and insist that the killing of children, Black and Brown people in the US, and our siblings around the world must stop, and will work to enact laws and policy accordingly.

I want a church that loves so generously that our priority will be the elimination of poverty, to ensure that everyone has enough to eat, safe and decent housing, healthcare, a living wage, and quality education that is not based on your zip code.

I want a church that love so creatively that we are willing to dismantle structures, traditions, and processes that dishonor humanity and marginalize any among us.

I want a church that loves so completely that we are not satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a might stream.

I want a church that follows Jesus, and is therefore committed to work for all of this.

 Let’s get to work, church!

This beloved, is how we give and receive God’s limitless love with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our mind, and all our strength- and it is how we love our neighbor as ourselves/yourself.