January 21, 2019

Editor's Note: On this Martin Luther King Jr Day, we break from the traditional devotion to repost the reflections of 4 pastors who recently traveled to Alabama as past of the 2019 Interfaith Freedom and Justice Ride.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 (NRSV)

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Reflections:

Seeing Is Believing

"There was hope as a result of this trip, as it reminded us that once more that we were blinded, but in seeing we can believe another world is possible."

- Stephen Camp

I Felt Fear. But We Shall Overcome 

"We can dare to hope for a brighter day when we courageously face our past, be honest about our present, and unshakably plant ourselves on the side of freedom."

- Isaac Lawson

To Tell the Truth: Reflections on Alabama 

"It survives today. It survives in me. It survives in our churches. It survives in our criminal justice system. It survives in our schools. And in order to eradicate the poison of racism, we need to tell the truth."

- Kari Nicewander

You Can't Change What You Don't Acknowledge 

"We were painfully reminded of the ongoing struggle to work to eradicate racism in our personal lives and in the many ways racism is structurally embedded in institutions including the church."

- Kent Siladi

Prayer:

"God grant that we will be participants in this newness and this magnificent development. If we will but do it, we will bring about a new day of justice and brotherhood and peace. And that day the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy."  - Martin Luther King Jr, (March 31, 1968)

New Prayer Requests:

We ask churches and church leaders to join us in the following prayers either by sharing them during worship, printing them in bulletins, or sharing them in some other way. To make a prayer request, please contact Drew Page at drewp@ctucc.org.

Prayers of Intercession:

• For the Rev. Chris Horvath, pastor of the First Church of Christ, Clinton, that he will have full healing after a long hospitalization
• For those affected by the severe cold temperatures across the Northeast and the Midwest
• Those grieving or suffering in Mexico after a pipeline exploded, killing more than 80 and injuring dozens more

Prayers of Joy and Thanksgiving:

• For those who speak the truth

Please Remember These Connecticut Conference Churches
In Your Prayers:

Granby
South Congregational Church, UCC
 
Greenwich
Second Congregational Church, UCC
 
Griswold
First Congregational Church of Griswold UCC
 
Groton
Groton Congregational Church UCC
 
Guilford
The First Congregational Church of Guilford, Inc.

This Week in History:
Jan. 23, 1849, (170 years ago) Elizabeth Blackwell is granted a medical degree from Geneva College, now known as Hobart College, becoming the first female to be officially recognized as a physician in U.S. history.

Starting With Scripture: January 21, 2019 , by