Dear UCG,

Between the election results and the knowledge that my time as your minister is drawing to a close, I am feeling a bit more melancholy than usual this time of year. There’s so much that is unknown – and as Lindsey notes below – a growing conviction that whatever comes might be bad.

The day after the election, as we edited the Advent mailer, Talia and I contemplated changing our Advent theme from “A Thrill of Hope.” Were we feeling any hope?

Ultimately we kept it, and I’m glad. The line comes from “O Holy Night,” a carol that isn’t in our hymnal, but is beloved by many nonetheless. The poetry is lovely in both the original French and English — though theologically starker in the original. Regardless, “the thrill of hope” we envisioned for our Advent season, is followed immediately by, “the weary world rejoices.” 

We prepare and worship and celebrate and proclaim that we remain hopeful, that we are open to the thrill of hope, in a weary world rife with injustice and division. 

The song was written in France in 1847, and translated just under a decade later into English. The French composer was a socialist and abolitionist, and those commitments are obvious, particularly in the third verse:

The Redeemer has broken every hindrance
The earth is free and the heavens are open
He sees a brother where there was just a slave
Love units those whom iron enchained
Who will tell Him of our gratitude?
He was born for all of us, that he suffered and died:
People, stand up! Sing your deliverance!
Christmas! Christmas! Let’s sing of the Redeemer.
Christmas! Christmas! Let’s sing of the Redeemer.

Or, as we more likely know it: 

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we;
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!
His power and glory evermore proclaim!

Lots of gendered language for God, but I find hope in the reminder that God has been present, bringing liberation and love, in other periods of struggle and despair. We are weary, but Christ will still be born. 

In the Spirit of that world-weary hope, I wanted to share one thing that gave me great hope the other day. Following the election, a group that has been working on refugee resettlement and the needs of the international community here in Gainesville began to organize and prepare to support Gainesville residents who might face trouble if the next administration’s promises of mass deportation come to pass. A UCGer, Dick Elkins, reached out to Talia, Lindsey and me around the same time and reminded us that UCG had been a part of discussions about what it meant to be a sanctuary church back in 2018. He was concerned that we might need to revive those commitments in the near term. Dick and Lindsey were able to attend an early community organizing meeting around the issue, and reported back, looping in Doris Harvey as the chair of Racial Justice. Doris wondered what the congregational process had been in 2018 and Shanna, our Director of Operations and Database/File System guru found the necessary information and passed it along. Lindsey was then able to share UCG’s statement of commitment at the November council meeting.  

“The Sanctuary Church Task Force of the United Church of Gainesville recommends that the United Church of Gainesville publicly proclaim and act to be a support congregation to the local Sanctuary Movement. As a Support Congregation, UCG and its members will have opportunities to volunteer, contribute resources and money to support the movement and the affected community. If, in the future, circumstances are such that additional needs arise within the Sanctuary Movement, then those needs will be studied, and additional actions will be presented to the UCG Congregation for action.”

The motion was approved all those years ago, and now, “in the future,” circumstances may be arising which bring additional needs. I was moved by the Council’s response to these past actions; poised and ready to organize with compassion. 

Advent is traditionally a time of preparation of our hearts and lives for the coming of the Christ Child. A time of looking at the world and listening for those voices which are crying out for liberation and God’s justice. This year that preparation may be more poignant than any in recent memory, but the reminder of the good work this congregation has already done over the years to ready itself to do good in a hurting world gives me hope. We may not know what is coming. Me? I haven’t been unemployed since July 2012. There’s a lot to be afraid of. But we are ready to participate in that good work of liberation and justice, and God has promised to come alongside us. We do not go alone. 

Grace and Peace,

Bromleigh