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| Response to Orlando Terrorist Attack |
Ginny shares her grief like the weeping tree in her backyard after the terrorist attack in Orlando Florida. Ginny's first response was to hold a prayer vigil, which is important to come together. But as Ginny observed her Sabbath day, she realized quiet, silent prayer cannot be our response to these tragedies any longer. Instead our prayer energy must be active!
Like the prayer energy throughout the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, our prayer energy must be active. We must write, call, or email our elected officials of all ilk and demand that gun regulations be put in place immediately. So that automatic weapons cannot be sold or bought legally and then used to express one's fear-induced violence on others.
Our prayer energy must be active by sending the message to our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning brothers and sisters that they have safe space in our communities. And for those who say that they live in rural areas where they don't know any LGBTQ neighbors, Ginny reminds us that the research suggests otherwise. If one in 10 people are LGBTQ, then unless you live in a town of less than 10 people, you know someone who is LGBTQ. And unless you worship with less that 10 people, you have worshiped with someone who is LGBTQ. They may not publicly identify because of their personal choice or they must remain silent due to professional liabilities, but if your church sends the message that those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender are made in the image of God, people will hear that you are safe. That you are the Divine Pulse of your community.
And let us not forget to stand with our Muslim brothers and sisters, whose very faith tradition has been wrongly connected to such violence and hatred. Our prayer energy must be active in standing with our Muslim brothers and sisters.
Today our prayer energy must be active in our response against such hatred and violence because love is active and can overcome all hatred. May this be our prayer energy today and always. Amen.
Ginny offers a personal word of condolences to those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning as Ginny honors the sanctuary that has always been the gay nightclub. In Ginny's own experience, the gay club welcomed all people and provided a safe space to be when no other place provided such safety -- not the church, family, school, business, or laws. Whether she was in the gay clubs of Richmond, VA, Washington D.C., Houston, Texas, or The Woodlands, Texas, Ginny knows how sacred these places have been for people who could not be out anywhere else in their lives.
Ginny honors the bouncers, bartenders, wait staff, and owners who faced community discrimination because the need to have a place of safety was vitally important in their town or city. Ginny also honors the young and old who have gone to gay nightclubs for the first or 5 millionth time as a way to express who God created them to be.
The hospitality shown to all at these clubs is what all churches aspire to provide every Sunday morning. And that sanctuary has, if for a brief moment, been violated by hatred and fear.
Ginny stands with the LGBTQ community to grieve this offensive violation of safety and to actively state that this Good Friday hell will NOT have the final say but that a transformative Easter Sunday love will take place.
May the gay nightclubs throughout God's creation be our teachers for how to welcome all and provide sanctuary filled with inclusive love for all. This day and forevermore. Amen. 
The Justice Witness Covenanted Ministry Statement of the
Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ
Regarding the June 12, 2016, Murder of our LGBTQ Siblings in Orlando, FL
The Conference Minister and Justice and Witness Covenanted Ministry within the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ denounces the evil act of murder, which has victimized dozens of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) family in Orlando, Florida, on June 12th.
We are appalled by this senseless act of violence and hatred targeted at the LGBTQ community, who are part of our human and faith families and who are created in the divine image of God. We are especially mindful that Saturday was Latinx night at Pulse nightclub, therefore we remember that LGBTQ people of color are more often targets of discrimination. We affirm their humanity, their precious status as children of God, and thus their right to live their lives in the fullness of the freedoms, protections, and rights that all citizens of this country should be afforded.
In solidarity with the victims of such hate and violence, we offer our prayers, our sympathy, our empathy, and our show of support in any way possible to those attacked and their families. Our covenant of love constrains us to be a source of comfort and healing to the Orlando victims of such hate and violence.
We reject the perverted ideology and theology aligned with such hateful, violent action. We oppose the actions of those who would brand members of the LGBTQ and Islamic communities as evil and deny their personhood and rights to live freely and practice their faith of choice. We stand against the Islamophobia and Homophobia, which tear at the peace of our nation and damage our unity as a human family and as faith communities.
Furthermore, we stand opposed to the free-flow of assault-style military weapons among non-military citizens. Our voices are raised against failed gun control policies and laws that enable AK-47 weapons and artillery such as that used in Orlando to continue to be the rifle of choice in this pattern of evil.
May the peace of God rule in our hearts through Christ Jesus, and may we fulfill that prayer of our Redeemer that we all may be one.
The Justice and Witness Covenanted Ministry of the Missouri Mid-South Conference
The United Church of Christ
Jan Roddy, Justice and Witness Chair
