Fall Meeting of the Metro and Suffolk Associations
New York Conference, United Church of Christ

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Garden City Community Church
245 Stewart Avenue
Garden City, NY 11030

Ron Buford dared us to turn the world upside down.

Ron Buford, who now heads the God Is Still Speaking initiative from our national offices in Cleveland , joined us in our closing worship. A layperson who has spent most of his working life in Corporate America, Ron challenged us to, by the power of God, dare to turn the world upside down, for:

God Is Still Speaking

Worship began with the Calling of the People:

May the grace of our Friend and Savior Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Those leading the worship service processed in as the Garden City Community Church Choir sang a rousing rendition of When the Saints Go Marching In .

We called on God's presence, ending with:

God who is still speaking in our world and in our lives, we call upon your presence in our worship this afternoon. Fill this sanctuary and those gathered here with your Holy Spirit and your holy love.

Music of many kinds lifted our spirits.

The Garden City Choir then led us in singing Let Wonder Be Reborn, a hymn written for the 75^th anniversary of their church.

We confessed our sins against God and each other, praying:

Almighty God has forgiven you all your sins and has promised to give you abundant life, now and forever more.

Our congregational response was the hymn Amazing Grace , followed by the South African Freedom Song, We are Marching :

We are marching in the light of God.
We are dancing in the light of God.
We are marching in the light of God.

"Just as you did it to one of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

The scripture was Matthew 25:31-46 which includes this question:

Lord, when was it we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

And this answer:

Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.

As he began his sermon, Ron Buford noted that there are many, many persons in the Metro and Suffolk area who are seeking a church home. "Many of the top 100 zips where persons have sought a church home through www.ucc.org or www.stillspeaking.com are zip codes in New York .

Ron urged us to let our eyes see those we are called to serve. He asked us, is Jesus so incognito that we can't recognize him?

Using a modern parable he painted a picture of persons wearing no shoes yet proclaiming that shoes were a "really good thing". As is the case in many, many aspects of our life, there can be a great deal of talking about what should be done, but little or no action to translate those words into deeds.

Drawing on his background in private business, Ron noted that every enterprise needs to be clear about "What business are we in?" He believes the United Church of Christ is in the business of deliverance - and is devoting his life to helping us translate our words into action to achieve that goal.

"We are in this church by choice. Yet our budgets and plans often do not make it clear whether we are a church, a club or a social service agency."

Recent research shows that 80% of 20-year-olds have never been in a house of worship. They have no idea what goes on in the churches and synagogues they pass. Ron urged us to be like the Christians of the first three centuries who were focused on deliverance, focused on spreading the Good News, focused on inviting others to join them.

Using additional statistics to quantify the hunger for deliverance, Ron said that prior to the God Is Still Speaking advertising in December 2004 the UCC web site had approximately 950,000 visitors per year. Since these ads aired there have been 5,500,000 visitors, almost 10% of whom (521,000) have entered a zip code in the Find a Church page. "We must reach out to those who are not in church!"

Ron reported that many churches participating in the God Is Still Speaking initiative have done "off-the-wall" things to get people into churches. And lives are being saved, including a woman who was on her way to commit suicide until she passed a church with a God Is Still Speaking banner and decided to go inside.

"What makes you come alive? Figure it out, and then go do it!"

This deliverance business isn't easy now, nor was it easy in the First Century. Now it requires:

Giving more money and time
Supporting our leaders
Letting go of things we used to do which have lost their usefulness

He closed by challenging us:

By the power of God, dare to turn the world upside down, for God Is Still Speaking!

Our offering was given to help the work of the UCC Coalition of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual      and Transgender persons.

The afternoon offering was given to The UCC Coalition of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender persons now headed by Ruth Garwood, formerly of the Metro Association. Because Ruth could not be present on November 19, the offering was accepted by Adrienne Brockway, also a former participant in the Metro Association.

As we gave our gifts to support The Coalition, the choir of Safe Haven UCC filled the sanctuary with God Is Blessing Me .

During our communion service the choir of the Garden City Community Church sang Maybe God is Still Speaking, an anthem written by James Ahrend of Sayville UCC, a church in the Suffolk Association.

Our closing hymn was Sweet, Sweet Spirit .

In his benediction Ron Buford asked us to

Invite a friend to this table

Reported by Lucy Werner