Portland Church Will Join National Conversation About Race, Reconciliation

Update: You can now listen to the audio of Rev. Currie's sermon on the UCNews Blog.

Parkrose Community United Church of Christ (www.parkroseucc.org) will join other churches that are part of the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination in a “sacred conversation’ about race on Sunday, May 18th during the 10 am worship service.

The church is located at NE 105th and Wygant in NE Portland.

According to United Church News, The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, has “called upon the UCC's 10,000 active and retired clergy to purposefully preach on the issue of race on May 18 -- which happens to be Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) in the liturgical calendar -- and to begin important race-related conversations in each of the denomination's congregations, seminaries and other ministry settings.”

"Sacred conversations are never easy," Thomas said. "This is especially true when honest talk about race confronts us with a painful past and won't let us ignore the troubles of our present day. That's why sacred conversations require a readiness to see one another as sacred despite our differences, and why the sacred places where these conversations take place need to be respected."

The National Council of Churches USA has called on member communions to join the UCC’s preach-in.

“We have witnessed over the last several years – from the pain of Hurricane Katrina’s victims to the controversy over race during this election season – that despite progress we are still in some important ways a racially divided nation,” said The Rev. Chuck Currie, interim minister at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ. “God call us to be a people of reconciliation and that will be my message this Sunday.”

More information on the United Church of Christ’s “Sacred Conversations on Race Initiative” can be found at: http://www.ucc.org/sacred-conversation/