Voices of the Journey Archives - United Church of Christ https://www.ucc.org/category/column/voices-of-the-journey/ Sun, 13 Apr 2025 17:44:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.4 https://www.ucc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Voices of the Journey Archives - United Church of Christ https://www.ucc.org/category/column/voices-of-the-journey/ 32 32 Palm Sunday Air Strikes in Gaza: Between the Hosannas and Alleluias https://www.ucc.org/palm-sunday-air-strikes-in-gaza-between-the-hosannas-and-alleluias/ Sun, 13 Apr 2025 17:44:21 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=243186 This morning, I awoke to the horrific news that al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza — a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and a long-time global partner of the United Church of Christ — had suffered two direct Israeli air…

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]]> 5 Rules for Healthy Global Partnerships (and Allies) https://www.ucc.org/5-rules-for-healthy-partnerships-and-allies/ Sun, 02 Mar 2025 02:00:26 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=243195 Around the same time I was returning from two weeks of Global Ministries visits with partners in Fiji and Hong Kong,  world leaders who were presumably allies were meeting at the White House. The now infamous meeting on Friday between…

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]]> Togoru, Fiji https://www.ucc.org/togoru-fiji/ Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:15:16 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=236327 Getting Personal with Climate Change He looks out at the sea that has been his family’s source of livelihood and constant joy for generations. His eyes tear up as he contemplates what is unthinkable for him, the prospect of having to…

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]]> Hopelessness Is Submission https://www.ucc.org/hopelessness-is-submission/ Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:32:01 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=235049 “Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:24-25) Twenty years ago, when I was…

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]]> Burning with Love https://www.ucc.org/burning-with-love/ Sun, 05 Jan 2025 00:41:01 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=235051 It greeted me every time I stepped into the house that was my home while serving as mission personnel in Dumaguete City, the Philippines. Vibrant red fabric stretched tight over a large frame. An image of a typical bamboo hut…

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]]> And on Earth, Peace: A Prayer at Christmas https://www.ucc.org/and-on-earth-peace-a-prayer-at-christmas/ Tue, 24 Dec 2024 23:13:07 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=235065 “”Now in that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watching over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.…

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]]> A Disaster Survivor’s Lessons Learned https://www.ucc.org/a-disaster-survivors-lessons-learned/ Tue, 01 Oct 2024 14:25:27 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=236326 The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene across multiple states is gut-wrenching. The images we’ve seen of communities completely overwhelmed by water, structures obliterated, and people overcome by shock and grief are horrendous. Upwards of 130 lives have been lost to…

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]]> The Holy Spirit in a Cramped Upper Room https://www.ucc.org/the-holy-spirit-in-a-cramped-upper-room/ Fri, 27 Sep 2024 02:09:35 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=236329 I knew it would be a historically significant event for Global Ministries and for our partner in Japan. I had no idea just how powerful a moment it would turn out to be. I had traveled to Tokyo, Japan with…

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]]> The Power of Partnerships https://www.ucc.org/the-power-of-partnerships/ Sun, 22 Sep 2024 12:26:57 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=236330 250 partners in nearly 90 countries. That’s one way of describing the scale of our work as Global Ministries. But that simple phrase packs far more power and possibility than it might suggest. Partnership is central to who we are…

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]]> Ukraine: When Faith Remains https://www.ucc.org/ukraine-when-faith-remains/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 21:49:49 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=235057 “What do you need most right now?” I asked a group of pastors and members of the congregation on Sunday afternoon in Beregszasz, Ukraine. “We need first the blessing of God,” the lead pastor replied. A second person responded with…

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]]> Waldensians: A Movement of Faith & Dissent https://www.ucc.org/waldensians-a-movement-of-faith-dissent/ Wed, 28 Aug 2024 20:42:11 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=235059 “Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  (Luke 19:21) It’s 3:30 pm on a Tuesday…

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]]> Living Testimony https://www.ucc.org/living-testimony/ Sat, 13 Jul 2024 07:02:41 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=230293 It’s been a frequent experience.  Peter Makari and I arrive, greet our global partners and exchange introductions, settle in for our time together….and then the floodgates open. It’s as if our partners have been holding their breath, waiting for the…

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]]> Joy Put On Hold https://www.ucc.org/joy-put-on-hold/ Mon, 08 Jul 2024 18:56:30 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=231201 War is hell. Since arriving in the West Bank of Palestine midday on Sunday, we’ve sat with multiple friends and partners, as well as our Global Ministries mission co-workers who are serving here. Every conversation inevitably turns to the war…

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]]> Positive Peace https://www.ucc.org/positive-peace/ Sat, 06 Jul 2024 20:57:00 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=230300 “Life is unbearable here for the average person.. The church is doing what it can to assist those in need but it’s not enough.  We need peace.” -Rev. Dr. Habib Badr, pastor of National Evangelical Church in Beirut, Lebanon There is…

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]]> A Pebble in the Ocean https://www.ucc.org/a-pebble-in-the-ocean/ Fri, 05 Jul 2024 19:11:13 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=231638 She confides it to me while we’re standing in a mosque that memorializes the thousands of Palestinians who died in the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatilla Refugee Camps here in Beirut. Everything is so overwhelming, she says, so…

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]]> Critical Presence: Right Here and Now https://www.ucc.org/critical-presence-right-here-and-now/ Thu, 04 Jul 2024 00:25:00 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=231596 Beirut….I’ve arrived! I emerged from customs to the heavy heat and humidity of midday in Lebanon. Peter Makari, Global Relations Minister for the Middle East and Europe of Global Ministries, welcomed me at the airport, and we were on our…

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]]> Welcome to ‘Voices of the Journey’! https://www.ucc.org/welcome-to-voices-of-the-journey/ Mon, 01 Jul 2024 19:52:39 +0000 https://www.ucc.org/?p=229910 I have the blessing of hearing the stories and receiving the witness of so many extraordinary communities and people in my ministry as Acting Associate General Minister and Co-Executive of Global Ministries for the United Church of Christ. I am…

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