The News and Information Resource of

THE OHIO COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

MARCH 2025



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Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan Jr., Executive Director of The Ohio Council of Churches, has been on sabbatical. We’re excited to welcome him back!

Several years ago, Dr. Michael Jenkins, a former president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, shared a blog that is still relevant as we observe Black History Month. In these challenging times, may it give us a sense of purpose as we navigate through.

In his most recent book, The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation, Stephen Prothero assembles a sort of canon of American civil religion, a collection of nationally sacred texts arranged thematically as the Christian Bible is arranged from Genesis to Epistles, including Laws, Chronicles, Psalms, Prophets, and Gospels. Genesis includes “The Declaration of Independence.” In the “Law” section, we find the U.S. Constitution and “Brown v. Board of Education.” Among the prophets we find Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. And in the epistles we have Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

When we place in the same frame these astonishing texts and the story Gilbert King tells (about Thurgood Marshall when he defended the rights of two black men unjustly accused of rape in Florida just after becoming the counsel for the NAACP), the faith African Americans have placed in the deepest, foundational legal ideals of this country even when the practices of those charged with shaping, adjudicating, and enforcing specific laws have so often betrayed the ideals themselves, comes clearly into focus.

Thus, Dr. King, in his 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, says, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Standing in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, Dr. King said: “In a sense we have come to our nation’s Capitol to cash a check.”

When a decade later, another great African-American leader, educator and legislator Barbara Jordan, said, one midsummer evening in 1974, “My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total,” she was articulating the same hope in the fundamental claims of our republic that drove Thurgood Marshall to get off a plane in Florida to do battle with those who had perverted justice during that other midsummer evening in 1949. It was the same hope that compelled Dr. King to have more confidence in America’s promises than many thought realistic.

If there is anything the Civil Rights movement should have taught us, it is that we should not give up on our country to live up to its ideals. One certainly can grow weary in the struggle toward fulfillment of those ideals because the struggle is long; but there is no room for cynicism in a nation of people who have, against all odds, been roused again and again by Lincoln’s “better angels,” Jefferson’s love for freedom, and King’s faith in a hate-conquering Love to find in our founding not an excuse for self-indulgence and license, but a call to the common good.

Dr. Jenkins’ words have so much relevance for our current climate. Time and time again we see injustices committed against persons simply because of their skin color, faith, or country of origin. This is not what God envisions for beings created in God’s image. The scriptural foundation for human conduct is to love God AND love neighbor. Some don’t see others as neighbors; rather, they are viewed as strangers. If that’s the case, remember God also exhorts us to treat the stranger with the same compassion, hospitality, and consideration that is commanded for neighbor.

God’s command to love neighbor and stranger is rooted in remembrance. God’s word to the people says, “Remember you were slaves in Egypt.” Those words have major impact. African Americans remember their history of chattel slavery. Whites are reminded of their complicity in the perpetuation of this system. There are no innocent bystanders. The enslaved and the enslaver are connected and must work together to create a different future for this nation and community. In the 21st century, we see an attempt to turn back the gains of the 20th century. God calls us to do justice, love our neighbor, and to love one another. Let’s continue to fight the good fight to ensure justice, fairness, and equality for all of God’s prized creation.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”  – Matthew 5:7

CHRIST’S URGENT CALL TO EXTEND MERCY

by Rev. David Long-Higgins

Chair of the Board of

The Ohio Council of Churches

Dear Beloved in Christ,     

I have always been struck by how Jesus reframes life in ways that are often surprising and in contrast to the way the world often thinks about things. His Beatitudes illustrate this in each verse. Following the Common Ground pilgrimage, which I was honored to share with 21 others from the Heartland Conference a few weeks ago down at the southern border of Arizona, I have been especially pondering the beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” 

You may know that a pilgrimage is different than taking a tour. A pilgrimage places one in spaces to listen both with head and heart, anticipating that something of the room-building love of God will form the soul from the inside out. A pilgrimage stretches the soul in the direction of God’s mercy by allowing one to see others more clearly as God sees them, as beloved.

So, what did we see and what did we hear? We saw and heard from families who had fled death squads and were awaiting asylum interviews, which were supposed to have happened the week after we were with them but have since been summarily canceled. We raised crosses and called out loud just a few of the names of the over 4,500 people who have died in the southwest desert as they sought a life free from fear. 

We saw the border wall from both sides and considered together the meaning of borders in our own lives. We prayed and sang and considered what the call of Christ is to be bearers of mercy that build the beloved community envisioned by God and modeled by Jesus. We were gifted to experience the beautiful variety of God’s people.

We experienced glimmers of hope as we visited a grower-owned coffee collective in Mexico called Café Justo (Just Coffee). By cutting out the middleman, this collective has raised the standard of living of its members. It started with five families and now supports over 100 families, giving them resources for health care and retirement and allowing them to continue to live in their beloved homeland with dignity. If you want to support this initiative of thriving, go to www.justcoffee.org.

We experienced how the arts can be a force for strength and good when desperation could so easily be the only alternative. Murals offered a vision of a new kind of reality. The music of a harpist stirred our souls, revealing the possibilities of beautiful harmonies. We learned a new a song, taught by one of our group members, that consisted of one line: “What we need is here.” Its melody and sung harmonies remain deeply etched in my memory as reminder of the truth of God’s abundance.

The Gospels offer a compelling witness to the way in which the mercy of God as activated in Jesus offered healing, freedom from fear, and an opening toward flourishing joy. Often Jesus offered this mercy on the edges of society with those overlooked by the world at large or seen in some way as “unclean.” Twice in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is quoted as saying, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13 and 12:7). On each occasion, he is responding to criticism for the way he has extended mercy to others in ways that contradict conventional religious wisdom and way of the world. By this, Jesus stretches the moral imagination of what is possible. Our pilgrimage awakened me again to this knowledge of God’s deep merciful desire.

In this time in which we live, it seems to me the call from Christ to extend mercy in every way possible with as many as possible may be one of our most important expressions of faith. By it, we open ourselves to the healing love of God, whose very heart is merciful. May we commit to this high calling with our whole being both locally and globally so that love may answer the fear so prevalent in our day. Blessings on you, dearly beloved.

Pastor Dave

Rev. David Long-Higgins also serves as the Conference Minister of the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ, which includes Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and West Virginia.

WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY 2025



The worldwide Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was celebrated Jan. 18-25, 2025. The theme for the observance was “Do You Believe This?” from John 11:26. The worship resource was written by the brothers and sisters of the monastic community of Bose in northern Italy. This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first Christian ecumenical council. At the convening of the council in 325 C.E., there was one church that called itself Christian. The Church had not yet been divided into East and West, and Protestantism was still another 1,500 years off. The intent of this year’s observance is “to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians, as expressed in the Creed formulated during this Council, a faith that remains alive and fruitful in our days.” Another thing to look forward to in 2025 is that both the Eastern and Western churches will observe Easter on the same day, April 20.

The Ohio Council of Churches held its first in-person observance since 2020 at All Saints Lutheran Church of Lewis Center, Ohio, which is co-pastored by Revs. Craig and Wendy Richter. Worship participants included Rev. Adam Sornchai, OCC Board Treasurer and pastor of St. John Lutheran Church-Cardington; Rev. Joan Van Becelare, retired Unitarian Universalist minister; Mrs. Mary Turok, Director of Formation at St. John United Church of Christ-Columbus; Rev. Craig Richter, All Shepherds Lutheran Church co-pastor; and worship leader Rev. Dr. Amariah McIntosh, OCC Associate Director.

Rev. Melanie Slane, OCC Vice Chair and Minister for Transitions for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, delivered an inspiring homily on “The Comma in the Creed.” The transcript of the sermon is included in this newsletter.

Rev. Craig Richter

Rev. Dr. Amariah McIntosh

Rev. Adam Sornchai

Rev. Joan VanBecelare and Mary Turok

OCC Prayer of Christian Unity Service Sermon Transcript



THE COMMA IN THE CREED

by Rev. Melanie Slane

Vice President of

The Ohio Council of Churches

Good Evening, Church.

I want to begin by thanking The Revs. Wendy and Craig Richter of All Shepherds Lutheran Church for hosting us all here for prayer and worship this evening. Your hospitality and welcome are building up the body of Christ, and it is very good to be with all of you.

I’m The Rev. Melanie Slane. I’m Vice President of The Ohio Council of Churches and the Minister for Transitions for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. I bring you greetings from my Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Kristin Uffelman White, on this wonderful occasion of the Church gathering together to embrace our Common Creed, our Common Good, and our Common Mission.

As many of you ecumenists may know, the Episcopal book of worship is called The Book of Common Prayer. It contains all sorts of things, including our five-times-daily prayer office, a Psalter of songs, Ordination services, Rites for Marriage and Burial, and Litany. It has Catechism, and Collects, and Confessions, and Communions, and Confirmations, and Calendars, and Commendations, and Compline. And, of course, it has a Creed. The Nicaean Creed.

And tonight, as we commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, I feel moved to preach to you all about the Comma in the Creed.

You heard me right. The Comma in the Creed.

Like Wendy and Craig, my husband, Chris, and I decided to do an insane thing and marry one another, making us a dual-priest household. For the clerics out there whose spouse or partner is not a pastor, you probably know that generally one theologian per household is enough theologians per household.

But having Chris as a partner has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and that joy is only expanded by the amazing family that came along with him, including his 103-year-old grandmother, whom we affectionately call Tutu.

Roberta DuTeil, our Tutu, is a cradle Episcopalian from Tuscaloosa Ala.

There must be something in the water, because she also married an Episcopal priest, Chris’s grandfather, Claude DuTeil. They were married for over 50 years before he passed from Parkinson’s disease. They spent most of their life and ministry in the islands of Hawai’i, starting the largest and longest-running homeless shelter in Honolulu, The Institute for Human Services, or IHS, for all of you Greek lovers out there.

Chris’s grandfather went to the same seminary that we did, the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, just outside of Washington, D.C., and one of his beloved classmates was The Rev. Charlie Price – the man who transcribed the Nicaean Creed for the 1979 Book of Common Prayer for the Episcopal Church.

Our Tutu was there when he made a critical decision that changed the way we, as Episcopalians, read the Nicaean Creed.

And, you must know, we read it every Sunday as a part of our Eucharistic worship service. So it has been very formative throughout my life as a disciple.

As you know, the Creed was originally written in Greek and as such was devoid of the periodical punctuation that is standard practice for those of us who write in English. There aren’t chapter headings or paragraphical indentions. There aren’t periods or line breaks, and there aren’t commas.

That was, until Charlie Price came along.

I know you don’t have it right there in front of you, so you are going to have to trust me, but on page 358 of The Book of Common Prayer, the Nicaean Creed contains a comma that changes the way we read the creed that informs our faith.

It says:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

Did you catch it? The comma?

You may be thinking, aren’t there like 5 commas in that? Why, yes, yes, there are, but I want us to pay particular attention to the one at the end – did you hear it?

Let me slow it down a bit. Sometimes we get to saying these things so fast, they lose their meaning:

We believe in one God,

 the Father, the Almighty,

 maker of heaven and earth,

 of all that is, seen and unseen.

As Tutu would say, “It’s a little thing that often goes unseen. It’s that little comma in the Nicaean Creed.”

Commas are used in many ways, but their primary job is to separate things.

So we say that we believe that God is One, that God is parental, that God is Almighty, and that God is the Creator of all that is.

Seen and Unseen.

The comma added by Rev. Price makes us pause to consider that maybe God is not just the maker of all things seen, and oh, by the way, those unseen things too.

But rather, God is maker of all that is.

Seen and Unseen.

The comma elevates the unseen to that which equals the more obvious signs of God in our midst.

The comma reminds us that Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things Unseen.

The comma reminds us that God, the creator of heaven and Earth, is truly present with us even when we feel like we can’t see the Divine in our midst.

God is in the hidden labor of the poor and oppressed. God is in the secret depths of the prayers of our hearts. God is in every molecule of our being and in that still small voice that says, “This is the way; walk in it.”

God is the Creator, the maker, of all that is.

Seen and Unseen.

I wonder what the Apostle Thomas would have thought of commas.

Tuns out, that little one in our Creed can remind us that even though we cannot always see God’s ways of resurrection, the Creator is making all things new, each and every day.

All things.

Seen and unseen.

Will you pray with me?

Oh God, whose glory fills the skies, help your Church to love the beauty that we can see in your creation. Teach us to perceive the things you have not shown to our eyes. Prepare our minds and hearts to receive You as gift for our souls. And continue to bless us with everything that is.

Seen and unseen.

OHIO LEGISLATIVE TRACKER

The Ohio Council of Churches and its advocacy partners are following the bills listed below that are in the 136th Ohio Legislative Assembly.

SB1/HB6 – This bill has already passed the Senate and is now in the House. It calls for a complete overhaul of higher education in Ohio. We oppose passage of this bill. A summary provided by Honesty For Ohio Education says:

• This bill would radically alter how Ohio’s public colleges and universities are allowed to operate and what they are allowed to teach.
• This bill would heavily restrict the teaching of “controversial” subjects, ban most diversity policies and programs, place departments/majors/courses at risk, gut workers’ rights, ban meaningful tenure, ban academic partnerships with China, and more. 
• There are also concerns that SB 1 would be a major hit to Ohio’s economy. If it passes, Ohio would lose students, professors, tuition dollars, tourism dollars, and countless jobs.

HB25/SB13 – Establish the Foster-to-College Scholarship Program to require the Department of Education and Workforce to hire a full-time school foster care liaison, and to make an appropriation for the Foster-to-College Scholarship Program. We support passage of this bill.

HB28/SB3 – State Budget – We are partnering with the Hunger Network of Ohio to ensure that there is adequate funding in the state budget for affordable housing and to reduce or eliminate hunger for our most vulnerable populations. We are also advocating for equitable funding for public education. Budgets, according to our colleague Deacon Nick Bates, are moral documents!

SB53 – Regards civil actions for vandalism or riot activity injuries. This bill is a direct attack on Ohio citizens’ First Amendment rights as it pertains to speech and assembly. We oppose passage of this bill. This bill would:

• Punish individuals and organizations for protests by holding them financially liable for property damage they did not commit.
• Shift the burden of proof onto the accused, violating due process and threatening advocacy groups and community organizers.
• Strip local governments of oversight of law enforcement, removing critical checks on police accountability during protests.
• 
  

SB75 – Increase the penalty for failure to report a lost or stolen firearm. We support passage of this bill.

HB45 – Prohibit certain firearm transfers without a background check. We support passage of this bill.

HB46 – Enact the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act. This allows certain persons to obtain a court order that temporarily restricts a person’s access to firearms under specified circumstances. We support passage of this bill.

HB72 – Prohibit public funding for lethal injection drugs; death penalty. This bill does not eliminate the death penalty in Ohio; it just prohibits use of state funds to do executions. We oppose passage of this bill. We still want a clean bill that makes the death penalty in Ohio a thing of the past.

This website from Ohio Parents for Education Freedom tells you how to contact your legislators.

REALITIES AFFECTING EFFORTS TO MOVE AMERICAN CHURCHES TOWARD RACIAL JUSTICE [1]

by William Wayson

Co-Convenor of The Ohio Council of Churches Anti-Racism Team

American history periodically offers circumstances demanding church leadership focus upon what Christianity promises White and Black citizens and the disinherited descendants of slavery. However, deep-rooted cultural norms resist such focus and thwart even the church’s conscience. Moral imperatives give way to political and economic demands relative to race, social justice, White privilege, and social class divisions that separate God’s humans. Justice is starved for moral leadership to attain interactive discussion about the search for actions that Christian churches can undertake to address America’s original sin of slavery and the lasting and universal effects of racial bias and White privilege. All such efforts will have to deal with these realities:

1) All of us make other people behave as we thought they would.

2) Facts, though important, seldom, if ever, change prejudices.

3) Most prejudices are taught by people who love you, seldom by enemies or strangers.

4) Churches and members of any groups they sponsor are voluntary organizations; therefore, they have no compulsion to attend or to participate.

5) Prejudices are strengthened more by those who do nothing to oppose them than by those who act upon them.

6) Administrative heads must be committed and involved. The more, the better.

7) Committed leaders must be supported by those who value their leadership.

8) One-time events seldom lead to any change.

9) Direct contact and sustained interaction with the “others” over time and working on the same task is the most powerful antidote to racial differences.

10) The more we see through the “others’” eyes, the more easily we can escape our prejudices.

11) Most Whites cannot comprehend the racial stereotypes that grew out of the post-Reconstruction period (1877-2020) or the degree to which they influence daily life for both Black and White citizens, even neighbors.

12) Most Whites and many Blacks cannot understand how powerful a teaching derives from segregated neighborhoods, institutions, or histories.

13) Whites and Blacks grow up and develop in two quite different societies.

14) Blacks may know slightly more about White culture than Whites know about Black culture.

15) Most Whites cannot comprehend the different America in which Blacks live.

16) Many Blacks do not know that most Whites are afraid of Black people, especially in one-on-one situations or when the White person is in the minority.

17) Most Blacks cannot comprehend that most Whites are unconscious of limitations Blacks feel every day.

18) All White Americans feel and or benefit from White privilege, and most Whites think all people have the same privilege.

19) Most Whites work directly or (unconsciously) indirectly to preserve their White privilege.

20) One can be anti-racism without being a Christian, but one cannot be a Christian without being anti-racism.

Please send questions, comments, or additional realities to Bill Wayson.

[1] Permission granted to The Ohio Council of Churches Anti-Racism Team to use and distribute to churches and congregations working toward racial justice.

TRUE BIBLICAL MANHOOD

(reprinted with the author’s permission)

By Rev. Allen V. Harris

The Ohio Council of Churches Governing Board Secretary

When I was a child, I admired my older brother so very much. Pat was good-looking, great at sports, confident, and popular. “P-dub,” as my mom called him (Patrick Wesley, i.e. P.W.) also was a great protector of me. Four years older, taller, heavier, and more muscular than I was, even as a boy, he made sure I never had to worry about anybody hurting me. Now, he did reserve the right to sit on me if he was frustrated with me, but usually that ended up with both of us laughing. My brother protected me even though he didn’t understand me much at all.

You see, I was exactly the opposite of my brother. I was quiet and shy, as gentle as a lamb. I was happier reading a book or play-acting with my Ken doll and G.I. Joe doll than I was playing sports or hanging out with other boys. I would frequently be found with my board games competing by myself (Which Witch? and Clue being my favorites) or building a huge “spiderweb” in my room with my nephew, Daniel, who was only three years younger than me.

Later, when my brother was the star player on the basketball team and was well known as “the ladies’ man,” I was thoroughly ensconced in choir (baritone and member of the Roadrunners male quartet) and drama (Ali Hakim in Oklahoma!, Finnian in Finnian’s Rainbow, and Emile de Beque in South Pacific.) I would usually be found after school hanging out at First Christian Church helping out in the office with the newsletter mailings or fixing up the bulletin boards while my brother was at football or basketball practice, a girl’s house, or, sadly, more and more involved with drugs and alcohol. Eventually our lives would become as far apart as one could imagine, as I came out as gay then became a minister and he got married, had children, and became an oil-rig worker. Even then, I never doubted he loved me dearly and respected me deeply even though he clearly didn’t “get me.” While he died many years ago, I still pray he knew I loved him, respected him, and had no need to “get” him.

I believe both my brother and I identified as men, understood ourselves to be masculine, and had no need to question the other’s self-identification. We were who we were and we respected that.

Unfortunately, I have recently learned from observing the culture around me that there are reports of “a war on men,” a growing “attack on manliness,” and an out-of-control desecration of all things “masculine.” In researching this a bit, it seems that there is, in fact, a kind of war on manhood but it is not the war being portrayed on social media, podcasts, and the blogosphere. The actual attacks are perpetrated by those most loudly sounding the alarms about the issue.

They are attacking biblical manhood.

They have declared a war on Jesus Christ and his portrayal of faithful manhood.

What do I mean? What is the biblical manhood exemplified by Jesus? Well, there’s a lot to go on:

· When Jesus, who scripture identifies as male, came into this world as God-incarnate, he arrived in the most vulnerable of states: a baby (Luke 2:7).

· When Jesus was uncertain about making his messiahship known, he listened to and followed the advice of his mother (John 2:1-11).

· When Jesus chose his disciples, he did not choose the mighty and the wealthy, but he called manual workers and even those who were despised by society (Luke 5:27-32).

· When Jesus preached, he did not use the Ten Commandments, but shared a different way of faithfulness that focused on being poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, having mercy, being pure of heart, being peacemakers, and being persecuted for righteousness’ sake (Matthew 5:3-12).

· When Jesus gave specific instructions on how to get into heaven, he told us to become like children (Matt. 18:2-4).

· When Jesus came upon a crowd of men preparing to stone a woman for adultery, he saved her life by turning the focus back on the actions of the men (John 8:1-11).

· When Jesus talked about being perfect, he told his followers to give everything to the poor (Matt. 19:21).

· When Jesus wanted to show his royalty, he entered Jerusalem on a colt, not a steed or in a chariot (Luke 19:29-39).

· When Jesus was betrayed by those in power, religious and political, he died a shameful death on a cross and was buried in a borrowed tomb (Matt. 27:57-61).

· When Jesus was resurrected, he showed up quietly, to a woman disciple, almost as if he were a gardener (John 20:15).

In reflecting on Jesus and his understanding of power and authority, the apostle made it crystal clear how God expected us to live lives of faithful witness to God:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).

This biblical manhood is unequivocal, “factual,” and clear: Humility, grace, and mercy are signs of true faithfulness to God.

Sadly, many are using their made-up “crisis of manhood” to foment a horrific environment of terror against the most vulnerable in our society: young boys with a gentle spirit and boys and men who are more comfortable with non-traditionally masculine hobbies, sports, interests, and clothing. Similarly, this fabricated “war” is used against women and girls. And, of course, this is the basis for a laser-focused anger and deafening calls for attacks against our transgender and gender non-binary family members, friends, neighbors, church acquaintances, and community members.

After reviewing how Jesus portrayed manliness, I firmly believe he would be incensed that the gentle, the curious, the nonconforming, the weakest whom he so vocally called his followers to protect and nurture are the very individuals people are demonizing and setting up for cruelty, marginalization, and physical and emotional violence.

Were he alive today, my strong, confident, attractive brother, who was masculine by most every societal standard, would never put up with such attacks on his younger brother and those most vulnerable like me. I believe this with my whole heart.



One of the signs of the double standard present in society between what so-called “Christians” are saying about power, domination, and manhood is the fact that few, if any, of the so-called defenders of masculinity lift up the actual concerns Jesus had about men and relationships. I never hear similarly loud cries against lusting in one’s heart (Matt. 5:27), committing adultery (Luke 16), and self-righteousness (Luke 18:9-14).

And one final sign that this current “crisis” is fabricated for political and ideological purposes is that the purported “threat” in no way actually threatens anyone. In fact, honoring diverse ways of being in the world would only be threatening to someone with a very weak ego or a very fragile sense of self-worth. Allowing for differences, celebrating others for their unique way of being in the world, loving and protecting someone who has the courage to be fully themselves does, in fact, require more strength, courage, and self-control and thus is more traditionally/stereotypically “manly.”

My wish for you, my friends, is that you have someone as strong in their self-image, as firm in their sense of loyalty, and as devoted to those they love regardless of whether or not they understand them, as I had with my brother Patrick. We would all be more Christlike if we did.

A WORD OF HOPE AND COMFORT

FROM THE LORD

Hello, Friends,

I’ve never formally introduced myself. I am Rev. Tanya J. Tyler, senior minister of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ruidoso, New Mexico, and I am the editor of the Ohio Council of Churches' newsletter.

I have never contributed an article to this newsletter, but the message I recently received from the Holy Spirit is a timely one to share with all of you who are passionate about justice and righteousness and are feeling, like me, a little out of sorts with all the chaos and uncertainty going on in our country right now. While doing exegesis for a sermon on the Last Supper, the Holy Spirit took me to 2 Kings 6:8-23. I read it and thought, “Whoa! My peeps need to hear this message. Indeed, I need to hear this message!” Perhaps you do, too. Read it here.