It says something about our church when, last weekend, as our children and youth took control of our 9:15 and 11:15 am services the youth speakers gave a powerful testimony to the love, acceptance and care that has been modeled for them by our family of faith.

If you weren’t there, it was a pretty powerful experience. From our children and young adults, we heard about how the love and support of UCG has given them a deep sense of care and genuine concern for all God’s people, through all life experiences. And they shared a snippet of their life experiences. These young people talked about adoption, divorce, the courage of their transgender sibling,  the power of witnessing a same-sex marriage ceremony as an addendum to a worship service—and how witnessing the beauty and love in that moment helped that young person come to terms with their own place in the LGBTQ community. Wow. These worship services made me so proud to be a member of this incredibly brave and incredibly loving family of faith.

I love that the acceptance we proclaim is deep-seated in the soul of our congregation; so deep-seated that it permeates our foundation, inspires our culture and blooms in the affirmations of our children. You won’t get a more honest answer or telling of a real life situation than when you get it from a child. So when these young people open their hearts to us, it is truly a gift of grace; a time when the spirit of God smiles on us all (even as it brings a tear to our eyes) and whispers again those affirming words from Genesis, “It is good…it is good…it is very, very good.”

Let this be our prayer this week.