News

Dear Siblings,

Recently, the conference staff hosted a series of clergy conversations to reflect on what it means to be church in these times.  I was able to attend one of those sessions and found that many of the same concerns and questions I hold were echoed by my colleagues and by those they serve.  The injustice we see around us seems to grow daily, and yet the roots of what we see now trace back to the earliest days of our society.  

These types of conversations seem to be increasingly common.  A few months ago, Rev. Thomas invited folks to gather on a Wednesday to ponder our own role in these times. You know something is important if you can get Central people to church on a weekday.   In these conversations – here, among colleagues, or in other places – I have heard many things. I have heard frustration, fear, anger, grief and a lot of uncertainty.  All these feelings are valid, and it’s important that we attend to these feelings and our own needs even as we attend to our work.

What does it mean to be the church in this time and moment? I can’t claim to have THE answer to that question, but I can invite us to continue to explore it together.  Discerning our role in justice work has always been important – where am I called? What skills or gifts do I have that can be used for this work?  Yet in a time when things feel more uncertain and unpredictable, and when some of our typical means of change are falling short, discernment becomes even more important.  What does it mean for us to be the church in this moment? I don’t know that answer, but I believe that we might start to hear it little by little when we listen deeply to the Spirit – in our spiritual practices as well as in contemplation and conversation together.  There is much that is uncertain and unjust in this time.  The good news is we don’t face it alone. We are guided by the Spirit as we walk together toward a more just and compassionate world. 

In Solidarity,

Rev. Kimble

More than a year ago, Rev. Thomas and Katie B. the co-moderator of Kirkwood UCC had coffee and shared a vision for an Atlanta wide, ecumenical OWL program. With the help of our conference, and many volunteers, we’re thrilled to share that Central is hosting OWL for grades 7-9 beginning August 16th.

Registration due July 26th.

Don’t delay!

Registration and More Info here: Central-ucc.org/owl.

This year, 14 external organizations have been selected to receive grants from Central. The final list and details about each organization can be found here!

We are grateful that we can offer them support in accomplishing their mission.

Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,

Thomas has gone to General Synod 35 in Kansas City, MO. Why am I so excited? Here’s why.

When the United Church of Christ meets, there is nothing quite like it. You can never see such a diverse, energized, “multi-racial, multi-cultural” gathering in your life, apart perhaps from ComicCon. And it’s not just the Pacific Islanders who walk around in their traditional garb. It’s the elderly saints from the Great Plains whose straight-forward faith shows in their Bermuda shorts and their frank, faithful gaze. There are children and young people who are growing in faith and communion there, some to bear witness, all to learn. Children! Teenagers! I’ll never forget two girls I met once—Heaven and Grace. They were best friends.

Without fail, the meeting space is designed to the Synod theme on a modest budget with thrilling effect, and worship is where this people of God lift prayers, song, and praise in one voice. The speakers, the preachers, the worship leaders and musicians, the entertainment—everything is superlative and uplifting, enough to make one have visions and prophesy. The business meetings, well, this is where grace and mercy and the patience of God’s Own Self show up. It must be done, of course, and the saints of the church persevere. (I suspect the moderators have been touched by God, directly.) The atmosphere fairly vibrates.

General Synod is where you can see with your eyes what our denomination looks like and believes. Which brings to mind a story: When our son was a freshman in college and heavily (ruthlessly) evangelized by one very aggressive student group, he asked to go with them to “bring people to Jesus” on the beaches of South Carolina. Mr. Clement and I were agreed, this would not happen. Instead, I took him to General Synod (in Kansas City, as it happened) and later sent him to the Taizé community in France for a week. He saw a very different people of God. He is an Episcopalian now.

For those of us who will not go to Kansas City, there will be streaming opportunities through the session. I urge you to take advantage of these. Have a look-in on our church for an un-common view of an old faith alive and well in the 21st Century. Perhaps we’ll catch a glimpse of Thomas on the screen. See this link: https://www.ucc.org/gs-livestream/.

Meantime, back at Central, we have the parable of the Samaritan (the good one because mostly they were hated). Another old story in which to find new meaning. Come join us for worship on Sunday, Streamers and Gatherers, all y’all. We’ll hope to see you or be seen by you, whatever works.

Love and hugs,

Rev. Liz

Dear Siblings, 

This Sunday is “Open & Affirming Sunday” in the United Church of Christ. Across our denomination, churches will gather and celebrate the good news of God’s love for us and our belovedness. Central already knows a bit about that, as many of you were here when you took the step of becoming an Open & Affirming congregation of the UCC. 20 years later, I hope that these words still ring true: 

We affirm the diversity within our midst and beyond our doors and welcome persons of any race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, and economic circumstance to full participation in the life and leadership, ministry and fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities and blessings of participation in our congregation.

Central was the 490th congregation to become Open & Affirming. Just this week, the 1913th church in the UCC adopted an Open & Affirming covenant.

Many of those congregations, like Central, adopted a far-reaching statement of inclusion. We should celebrate that! We should also note that the focus of Open & Affirming has always been on inclusion of sexuality and gender. Indeed, that will be much of the conversation on Sunday. 

In a world where the name of Jesus and the love of God are increasingly being invoked in ways that hurt and harm queer people, trans people, and anyone else whose experience of gender or sexuality falls outside of the “norm,” it’s important that we acknowledge the joy of knowing that God made all of creation and called it GOOD… indeed, VERY GOOD! 

Sunday will be a celebration! A joyful service filled with the same spirit that carries the Open & Affirming work of the UCC. So, come. Not because you must, but because you may… and because you want to experience a glitter blessing too!

ALSO: Please don’t forget that our Budget meeting will gather right after the worship service. 

Be well! And, be gentle to yourselves and one another, 

Rev. Thomas

We are excited to present to you “The Monthly” for July 2025.

Check out this month‘s newsletter for:

• A Note from Rev. Liz: the Summer Church – A Season of Exploration.
• “Views from the Pews: New Perspectives Studies Christian Nationalism”.
• “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation” campaign’s results.
• Faith Formation Opportunities.
• Advocacy and Action Opportunities.
• The “Recipe of the Month”: ”Hamburger-Bean Bake”.

Click here to download “The Monthly”! There are also paper copies in The Commons, in The Sanctuary and in the Church office. Be sure to add events and gatherings that you‘re interested in to your calendar.

Enjoy “The Monthly” and all the events and gatherings you are going to attend!

Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,

The lectionary text for Sunday is Luke 8:26-29, which I am inclined to give this headline: “Jesus Among the Demoniacs!” How appropriate. Isn’t it wonderful the way the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary—selected randomly about the time I was born—somehow meet us where we are right now, today? It’s spooky, to be honest, and most unsettling.

In Disciplines of the Spirit, Howard Thurman offers a telling that opens this passage for me in a way that makes it unforgettable. Have a look:

In the numerous encounters the Master had with individuals, none is more dramatic than his meeting with a certain madman, who stood staring at Him out of eyes that reflected agonizing turmoil within. From his wrists dangled broken chains. He was regarded by his community as possessed by devils; there were times when he became so violent that, as a measure of collective defense, he was seized and chained to rocks. Even then he could not be restrained when the turbulence within him leaped into muscle, bone, and sinew. The chains burst with the pressure and he would go shrieking through the waste places like a wounded animal. This was the creature who faced Him. He cried out to be let alone. And with gentleness, tenderness, and vast compassion, soft words issued from the mouth of Jesus: “What is your name? Who are you?” And the whole dam broke, and he cried, “My name is Legion!” He might have said: “This is the pit of my agony. There are so many of me, they riot in my street. If only I could know who I am—which one is me—then I would be whole again. I would have a center, a self, a rallying point deep within me for all the chaos, until at last the chaos would become order.”

Fundamental, then, to any experience of commitment is the yielding of the real citadel… Within us all are so many claims and counterclaims that to honor the true self is not easy. (Disciplines of the Spirit, Harper & Row, NY, 1963; pp 26-27)

These feel like times when demon spirits are taking over, running wild. “Jesus, do you notice? The tempest is raging! Don’t you care?” Those words are from Luke 8:22-25, the verses just before our text for Sunday, where Jesus calms the storm on the sea. Now, he has turned to the inner riots where we live. Interesting flow.

This book and this passage are unforgettable to me for more reasons than one. Mr. Clement and I read this book together very early on in our fifty-plus year relationship. (That’s impressive: courting with a soundtrack by Howard Thurman. The copy of the book we shared is so marked and obviously handled that it needs to be put in archival storage before it falls apart.) There were riots in my street back then, too, but I was in good company. The best!

FYI: As I read Howard Thurman these days, I notice that his language is not at all “inclusive.” I have decided that I will not let it bother me. Thurman’s grandmother was born in slavery and knew the most oppressive experience of “the Master” but that fact does not seem to make use of the same name for Jesus hurtful or off-putting for Thurman or his grandmother. I will honor his usage choices and extraordinary gifts as a teacher and pastor. I make no effort to rephrase or “update” it.

We’ll see what all this becomes by way of A Sermon for All Ages in worship on Sunday. Look for us, dear Streamers and Gatherers, online or in the building. Hope you can make it. Until then,

Grace upon grace, love and hugs,

Rev. Liz

Two Sundays each month, we offer an ASL interpreter.

If you know people who are looking for this kind of opportunity, invite them to attend our sign interpreted worship in person or online,  on June 15th and June 29th. 

Dear Siblings, 

All throughout this week, I’ve had the British hymn “I Vow To Thee My Country” stuck in my head. The hymn is based on a poem called “The City of God” and it’s set to a portion of the movement “Jupiter” in Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The first verse is about Britain. The second verse is about heaven. Certainly, in my thinking of the hymn, I think of the US not Britain. I’ll share a few more thoughts on this on Sunday. 

In other news, we’re officially in “Ordinary Time” now. Green is the color for much of the season. This season is the story of us and God. The Holy Spirit plays a big part here! Sometimes, I think “ordinary” is such an interesting way to describe major events. Every part of what we read encountered in our sacred texts and stories seems historic. 

But that is kind of the point. When you step back for a moment it really is ordinary.

The terrible kings that ravaged the Northern and Southern kingdoms? Ordinary. 

The toil and oppression of the people under those kings? Ordinary. 

The small acts of courage and resistance?  A big deal perhaps, but still ordinary in the grand scheme of things. 

Ordinary time is our time. Amid moments that seem historic and simple, how do we respond to the story of Jesus? How do we find a way to make meaning and a bit of good trouble?

I cannot ignore the events of the world. As I’m writing this note, there are federalized National Guard members on the ground in Los Angeles. Israel and Iran appear to be at war. The final touches are being made for a massive parade in Washington DC to celebrate the 250th birthday of what is now the US Armed Forces. And in cities all across this country, there are predictions that millions of people will participate in what is being called “No Kings” Day in an effort to challenge the president. 

Amid all of that, there will be picnics and BBQS. Summer trips will start and end. People will live, laugh, love, cry, and more. 

Moments historic and simple all happening side by side. Yes, this is  ordinary time… the time for the story of God and us… the story of how we respond to the story of Jesus. 

Whatever you might do this weekend, I hope that you carry the courage and confidence of your convictions. I pray that you might reflect upon where and how the Holy Spirit is guiding you. 

Regardless of how you spend your weekend, be good to yourselves and one another.

Rev. Thomas

P.S. We are very close to our goal of donating 700 cans of black beans. Can you bring 1 can with you on Sunday? We’ll pass our goal by the start of our service. 🙂