Reflections from Rev. Erin Gilmore
Dear Rocky Mountain Conference,
As I write this, I am sitting with a story shared earlier today in a Zoom call with staff from the Church World Service about a couple from Afghanistan who were separated from their four minor children outside the Kabul airport in the chaos of the Afghan evacuation effort in August 2021. After resettling to Massachusetts under Operation Allies Welcome, they began tirelessly working to reunite with their children, who remained overseas and at risk. After being separated for almost three and a half years, the four children were booked to travel to the U.S. on January 23rd, 2025. And then, on January 20th, the refugee ban executive order was signed, which meant that an indefinite suspension of the refugee admissions program would start on January 27th. Resettlement agencies scrambled to reschedule the most vulnerable cases in the intervening week. Unexpectedly, on January 22nd, news surfaced that even those refugees scheduled to travel before the effective date of the executive order would have their flights cancelled – and the refugee ban went into effect. This family’s reunification has now been indefinitely delayed.
This is one of hundreds of thousands of stories of people whose lives are being horrendously affected by this and other actions made by the current administration within just 3 weeks of taking office. And, each day, there is another story. Another threat. Another proclamation of power. It is meant to exhaust us. To overwhelm us. To instill fear in us. To isolate us.
In conversation with other denominational leaders and conference ministers over the last few weeks, there has been a clear and consistent answer to the question, “What is ours to do?” and it is what it has always been: to proclaim and practice our faith. The Colorado Council of Churches recently issued this statement regarding recent immigration policies as one small way to proclaim our faith. I have been inspired by many of you and your congregations as you stand in solidarity with those who are at risk.
I have also been in conversation with others of you who feel like you are lost in a fog. In the midst of the present chaos and disruption, it can feel almost impossible to break through the noise that is constantly bombarding us. In these trying moments, it can be faithful to listen. To quiet ourselves and our hearts and to remember what it is to be moored to Jesus.
In thinking about what this means for us, I went back to the Preamble of the Constitution of the Rocky Mountain Conference:
The Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole Head, Jesus Christ, Lord of the Church and Lord of Life. It acknowledges as kindred in Christ all who share this confession. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.
Our head is Jesus Christ, Lord of the Church and Lord of Life. I know for many of us we want to skip over Lord language. And yet, when I learned that the Reign of Christ or Christ the King Sunday was added to the liturgical calendar in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in response to fascism rising across Europe, I began to relate to this title differently. The Pope was declaring to people living in a world ruled by violent and corrupt empires that the rulers of this age will pass away. The one who came that we might know love is the one whose rule is everlasting. The Pope was also attempting to urge members of the church to remember that, whatever their national belonging, they belonged first to Christ and to the Kingdom of God which was larger than our human defined borders.
And as the gospel of Luke reminds us in this week’s lectionary, the head of our church has given us a vision of the world where the poor are raised up and the mighty are brought down, a vision of God’s reign that is marked by justice, mercy, and humility, and is in fact made visible through our love for one another. It is this Lord that we are called to trust. It is this gospel that we are called to proclaim and to embody. It is the Holy Spirit that we look to for guidance and strength as we seek to participate in God’s creative and redemptive work in the world.
To practice our faith is to ask “What does Jesus want us to see? What does Jesus want us to do? What does Jesus want us to know?” It is our responsibility as Church, in this generation, in this critical moment, to do what is in our power to uphold the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, remembering that to love God is to love the world whom God so loved.
This is a time to center the way of Jesus and listen to the stories of the most vulnerable in our communities and to discern how the Spirit can use our gifts to expand the presence of love and justice in our communities. In the face of all that is now swirling around us, may we continue to moor ourselves to the Lord of the Church and the Lord of Life. May we continue to choose love as our way through.
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I have had several people ask me this week about the special locations lawsuit filed by 27 religious organizations against the US government and why the National UCC didn’t participate. I want to assure you that the choice for the National UCC to not be a plaintiff in this case was made with great care and in conversation with the other plaintiffs in the suit. In this particular situation, our General Minister and President, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, weighed various factors in this lawsuit and determined this was not the right entry point for the National Church, especially knowing there will be other entry points for us that do make more sense. A recently published article on this lawsuit can be found here. Our Preamble reminds us that we acknowledge as kindred in Christ all who share this confession. As our siblings in Christ engage in this lawsuit, they do so on behalf of all of us regardless of our denominational identities.
As a colleague reminded me this week, in times of great anxiety, it is common for leaders to be targets for others’ disappointment, anger, distrust, and despair. Being leaders in a sustained state of crisis is extremely challenging. My prayer is that we can be intentional about caring for one another, even, and perhaps especially, as we challenge and hold one another accountable. Extend abundant grace. Assume good will. Pray for each other. Forgive as needed. Love deeply and authentically. Modeling this for each other as leaders is another way that we can practice and proclaim our faith in a culture that so quickly wants to dismiss and degrade those whose opinions and actions are different from our own.
I am grateful for each of you and for the ministries you are doing together. Your ministry and leadership make a difference. May we persevere together.
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