A Prayer for the New Year – 2014

by Rev. Chuck Currie

God of all time,

The transition from one year to another is an arbitrary marker.

Still it gives us pause to reflect on what has been and where we are going.

As we move from 2013 to 2014 we are reminded to search for you.

What world do you intend for us?

We know your world is one free from war and governed by justice.

We know your world is one where children do not go hungry.

We know your world is a world where we love you, O God, and love our neighbors.

Help us to be a people of reconciliation in the midst of division.

Help us to reach out to those in need.

Help us to listen and not just to speak.

Help us to search for ways to bring bright light to dark places.

As we leave 2013 and enter 2014 we pray, Amen.

Why did #WarOnChristmas fail? No tanks kept Christians from worshipping. Religious liberty alive & well in USA, thankfully. Alert @FoxNews.

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) December 28, 2013

Christians in Portland celebrate Christmas Eve in a nation that honors religious liberty and freedom for all:

Christmas Eve In Portland - Silent Night. pic.twitter.com/CjtsoYsaAR

— Rev. Chuck Currie (@RevChuckCurrie) December 25, 2013

Christmas Eve at Sunnyside Church with the people of University Park Church

We'd like to invite the cast of Duck Dynasty to Christmas Eve In Portland 2013. Dress however you like. Sunnyside Church and University Park Church welcome all, in the tradition of Jesus. Christmas is the perfect time for us all to reflect on our prejudices and fears and walk in the light of God. Our two congregations believe strongly that gays and lesbians are part of God's very good creation. Spend time in worship with us, with all our ways of being different, and perhaps together we might find that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Our faith, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, should draw us together. No one should be using the name of the Prince of Peace to intentionally tear us apart. - Rev. Chuck Currie, Minister, Sunnyside Church and University Park Church

This Christmas Eve in Portland join the people of Sunnyside Church and University Park Church for a special joint 7 pm candlelight service in Sunnyside Church’s historic Southeast Portland sanctuary located at 3520 SE Yamhill Street. The public is welcome at this family friendly service (children are encouraged to stay during the service but nursery care will be available).

Visit the Facebook page for Christmas Eve in Portland (and invite your family and friends!)

Sunnyside Church and University Park Church are progressive and Reconciling Congregations in the United Methodist Church. Preaching Christmas Eve will be The Rev. Chuck Currie, a minister in the United Church of Christ, who serves as the minister of both congregations in an ecumenical partnership.

University Park Church, located at 4775 N. Lombard, worships Sunday morning at 9:30 am. The congregation is known as a place of radical hospitality and has been a beacon of justice for the LGBTQ community.

Sunnyside Church, where worship is held each Sunday at 11 am, is the home of the Common Cup Family Shelter, and has long been involved in the fight to end homelessness. The congregation also hosts a community meal program, a middle school program called the YMCA's The Roost, and Camp Fire summer programs

“My contention has been and still is that even in the midst of war, deep global poverty and environmental chaos caused by humanity, the message of the Prince of Peace is as relevant today as it was over 2,000 years ago,” writes Rev. Currie. “What happened on the day Jesus was born? God broke through into the world again -- but this time not with the force of the Big Bang or some other cosmic event -- no, this time it was with something even more powerful: the miracle of the birth of a child filled with promise and hope. Both that miracle and the message that this child preached as an adult, born first homeless and poor, is what Christmas is about.”