404-633-4505 | Join Us On Sundays at 11AM!
404-633-4505 | Join Us On Sundays at 11AM!
Read the latest news for our church.
Because we want to give more families the opportunity to register their children for the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program, we extended the deadline for registration to August 5th.
The OWL program for grades 7 – 9 will be hosted at Central beginning August 16th.
Registration and More Info here: Central-ucc.org/owl.
Dear Members, Friends, Siblings, All,
If you’ve ever heard me say, “I don’t pray nearly enough,” it’s only because it’s true. And that’s not because I don’t know prayers or how to pray. Sometimes I tell myself, “It’s all prayer.” And I do hope so. A consecutive dialogue with God is almost always going on in my head, a sort of “screen within a screen” voice doing commentary during the actual play on the field. Of course, I was thrilled to read that Luther Smith feels something like that, as he wrote in Hope is Here.
It’s an ongoing, learning practice. Pray for grace.
Our gospel reading for Sunday is Luke 11:1-13 where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Yes, the first verses there are The Lord’s Prayer that many of us know by heart in one version or another. Do you say “trespasses” or “debts”? I learned it first with debts and stumble over anything else, to this day. Coming to Central, I found “Our Common Prayer”—except that this version is most un-common to me. Maybe the stumbling is the best part; it makes me think about the praying instead of going to auto-pilot and all the way (way, way) back to my childhood.
How often do you think about these words? This is how Jesus answered when asked how to pray. I’m worried now that I didn’t teach it to my children. I think I did. I must have… Uh oh.
Have you ever heard The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the language Jesus would have spoken to the disciples on that day? Have you ever heard any prayer in a language you don’t understand? When I worked as an interpreter, I was invited to withdraw at the time of prayer because he prayed in his “mother tongue;” God was addressed in language unknown to me, needing no translation. Search YouTube for “Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic” to hear any number of recordings. I am especially interested in the hour-long chant before sleeping (https://youtu.be/YzNONU6-kzo?si=WcI-BsOMPWaET9Bp). If you listen and have a story to tell, know that I will want to hear it.
Here’s poetic approach from Parker Palmer:
https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/07/lords-prayer-father-mother.html?m=1
Join us if you can for worship on Sunday where we will continue this exploration of The Prayer Jesus Taught Us and maybe learn yet another approach to share with All Ages. Streamers or Gatherers at the church, c’mon in the house of prayer. We’ve “always wanted to be in the neighborhood with you,” as Mr. Rogers would sing, and look forward to it.
On the following Sunday, August 3, we have a Service of Word and Table (Communion) and the Blessing of the Backpacks, because it’s first Sunday and school starts the next day. When it’s this hot and summer vacation is over (even if it doesn’t feel like it), we should double down on our prayers, all our prayers, any kind of prayer. Everyone will need it.
Love and hugs,
Rev. Liz
Jul 22, 2025
Dear Siblings,
This email is a quick recap of my time at General Synod 35 in Kansas City! General Synod is a biannual (tri-annual beginning in 2028) gathering of people all across the UCC who come together as delegates, visitors, and guests to discern the call of some of our work in the world. Synod is also a sort of family reunion. This was my fourth Synod! I was glad to spend time with my colleagues in the Next Generation Leadership Initiative, catch up with Harvard Divinity alumni, spend time with my youth pastor(now a conference minister in Colorado), and visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The museum was very surprising. I learned that there were four teams owned by women, and there was an all-white team composed of members of the House of David religious group. Kansas City also has a fairly nice public transit system… perhaps MARTA’s next leaders will take a few cues from them.
Back to Synod:
As a matter of the United Church of Christ’s polity(governing structure), Synod speaks for the national setting of the UCC (our General and Associate General Ministers, national staff, etc). Synod speaks to the conference, association, and local church settings. There is indeed a difference between for and to! Curious about what that means for the UCC? Ask me!
If you do nothing else with this email, please please please make time for these two things:
Rev. Shari Prestemon was elected as the Associate General Minister for Love of Neighbor and Co-Executive of Global Ministries. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the convention hall who received more applause and love than Shari did. Read More about her historic election…
As Vice Chair, I presented part of the General Synod Nominating Committee’s report alongside our Chair, Rev. June Boutwell. I will now serve as the Chair of this committee through General Synod 36! And, we have our work cut out for us to solicit, interview, and nominate the slate of folks who will be elected to the UCC Board of Directors and lead General Synod 37.
Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson delivered her first State of the Church Address. Among many highlights was a call for churches to “stop counting empty pews as though their emptiness illustrates the full breadth of your congregation’s vitality.” She instead invited us to consider how we might all more clearly and boldly craft the narrative of our work. She also issued a clear rebuke of Christian Nationalism, calling it an “oxymoron” while also noting the ways that it harms the church. Watch the State of the Church address here.
Rev. Tony Coleman, Pastor of First Congregational Church in Memphis, delivered a powerful sermon during closing worship. He called all of us into a space of wonder and curiosity about the how and why we do things in our churches. The real invitation: an invitation not to do more work, but instead to do radically less. And he did this with a very creative metaphor about lawns, turf grass, and sweetgrass! Watch Rev. Tony’s sermon here.
Synod voted down a motion from the Board to amend the UCC bylaws and Constitution that would have shifted the positions of Associate General Minister from a called position of Synod to a hired position by the General Minister. The UCC and Unified Governance
Synod approved several resolutions of witness addressing:
The UCC moved forward in establishing full communion with two more denominations:
And finally, we celebrated 25 years of the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program; affirmed our goals of faithfully responding to the evolving language of mental health; and, approved the formation of the Keystone Conference.
|
|
|
If you’ve read this far, yay! Find me on Sunday and you’ll get candy 🙂
And, if you’re thinking “hmm, maybe I’d like to go to Synod with Rev. Thomas in 2028,” let me know that too! … three years goes by very quickly. In 2028, we’ll celebrate the UCC’s 70th birthday in our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio! There are more frequent and near-by options to explore the wider life of the UCC. From August 15th – 16th folks across the Southeast Conference will gather for our annual meeting (mini-Synod) in Huntsville, Alabama. You can find more info here: Grace Upon Grace
Be well, Rev. Thomas Associate Minister |
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
Jul 11, 2025
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.
Jul 11, 2025
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
Jun 27, 2025
We are excited to present to you “The Monthly” for July 2025.
Check out this month‘s newsletter for:
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!
Sign up to receive our newsletter!