I saw two really great T-shirt designs as the Float committee met to make plans for the Pride March. One slogan was “Free to Be” and the other was “Love in the Middle.” Tina Cernero and Randy Minor suggested that whichever design was not selected for Pride Month could work later in the year. Theologically, I am excited about the message these two possibilities give in conjunction. Because we are loved, we are free to be. Free to be ourselves, free to try new things, free to experiment, free to innovate, free to be afraid, free to be comforted. Free to be faithful, because we are loved.

This program year has been one where God’s love has been a source of comfort and confidence as we sought to be faithful. We hired new staff. We sent staff out into the world. We held two conferences to teach the Church about issues near and dear to our hearts. Eighty-two people attended our conference on building multiracial/multicultural churches. Our LGBTI conference features amazing speakers, like Chris Glaser and Jay Baker. We experimented in worship—more artists used their gifts in the sanctuary and in the community.

Some of our wonderful people are off to seminary. Members Paul Quevedo and Mary Virginia Brooks were ordained to ministry. Another member, Ann Kansfield, is serving a great congregation, even as she waits faithfully to see if our denomination will ordain her. God’s love is a source of comfort and confidence as we anticipate the transformation of systems and structures that oppress and segregate people because of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. We pray for the time when all of God’s people are free to be. We who believe in freedom, like Sweet Honey in the Rock sing, will not rest until it comes.

We sent 50 people to Gulf Coast for mission and built relationships with Pastors Davenport and Lawrence, Alice at the Lower 9th Ward Clinic, and Allen Wood, the principal at Frederick Douglass High School. Some of us will return in October. Ten ninth- and tenth-graders will come here in November. We are partnering with New York survivors here. We will not rest until the Gulf Coast is rebuilt. God’s love will be a source of comfort and confidence to us as we do this justice work, and to the people there as they rebuild homes and hope.

This has been a year of transition for us. God has called us to new things and we have been responsive. Change is exciting and change is hard. Whenever change happens, some people wonder if they can abide the new thing. Maybe it is comforting to remember that although there are new things at Middle, and new faces at Middle, what never changes is our commitment to worship and the arts, our commitment to freely celebrating the diverse cultures in our midst, and our commitment to loving and caring for one another. I want to say from my heart that we miss you when you are not here. Middle Church is YOU!

Love, Jacqui

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