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Moderator’s Message for Union Sunday 2019

On December 1,1965, Congregationalists and Presbyterians became one denomination. This was the act of union which formed the United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman. In December 1992, this denomination was united with the Disciples of Christ to become the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. ‘United’ is who we are, that is, our identity is one of being a people of the Union.  Today we celebrate that identity, and we seek to use that which God has made us to be as a resource for becoming more faithfully the people He has called us to be: A people united. Today we listen most keenly for the voice of God to guide us in all our ways to do what unity does. On Union Sunday, we would be and would do what it takes, by God’s grace, to be truly united. 

As we appear in our many and varied communities across these two lands, there are many unique attributes which each congregation brings to the whole.  That diversity is certainly an element of the beauty of a denomination which is held together by the gift of God’s bond of love and peace, while expressing our freedom for each to be our self.  

In our uniqueness we have so much to offer each other, and every congregation and every member can benefit from the variety of expressions of our faith in a warm atmosphere of mutual respect and love.  

From such a vantage point, we have much to offer to our communities and our nations, for the strength forged in unity provides the fuel for our reach and impact in a world which has lost its grounding. The world needs to know that God has sent Jesus (John 17:21). People need the Lord.  

Jesus’ message of reconciliation to God, indeed the very heart of the Gospel of Christ, is made clear and accessible to a world which sees the unity of the people of God, His Church (John 17:23).

This Union Sunday, I take the privilege, in celebrating with you our Union, to charge every member and adherent of the United Church to rise to the call of evangelising a world so much in need; engaging community by community, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, person by person, sharing the truth of the joy and strength of unity seen and expressed among ourselves and of the reconciling love of God that seeks to make all one. 


In Christ, Gordon Cowans (Rt. Rev. Dr.) 
 

Posted by: Administrator Sunday Dec 01, 2019 12:35
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