🙏🏾 Keeper of peace, safeguard all who wear uniforms of any kind. Shield them, great protector, from harm, hate, and hurting. Give them strength to see past all this and show only love to our enemies. -Rev. Gary M Barraco 👉🏾 Share your prayers: https://ow.ly/hWRr50XOlVv

🎄 Merry Christmas!

✨ Christmas Day: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse In the long night that yearns for dawn precious dangerous Love is born, again and again- to topple empires with tenderness to conquer tyrants with grace to overthrow oppressors with hope to triumph through just mercy. -Dr. Sharon R. Fennema 👇🏾

🎄May you experience a hope which endures against any powers aligned against it. May joy of the season be yours. May peace settle deeply in your life. May the love of God & light of Christ abide with you. Merry Christmas! -Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson 📺 Full Blessing: https://ow.ly/lSnh50XO6sw

❤️🕯️ With Love: An Open Letter to the Church from Rev. Shari Prestemon, Associate General Minister, UCC & Co-Executive of Global Ministries: https://ow.ly/KAJr50XNYyq Global Ministries

✨ Day 25: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse “Do not be afraid” becomes our abolitionist cry of freedom. As we refuse to surrender our fear to power, so we reclaim the good news of community and love, dwelling among us. -Rev. Amy Johnson 👇🏾 Full reflection

🙏🏾 When everywhere we look we see injustice and suffering, God let there be peace. Peace like a fire in our hearts to act. Peace like a fire to say “enough!” Peace like a fire to be good trouble. God, let US be peace. Amen -Peri DiPietro 👉🏾 Share your prayers with us: https://ow.ly/p9Zh50XNFhu

💚❤️ Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at the United Church of Christ, National Ministries! Please know that our offices will be closed for the holiday season beginning December 24th through January 2nd. May your holiday season be filled with peace, happiness, and joy!

🌟 Are you looking for a Christmas Eve service? ⛪ Use our Church Finder Tool to find a UCC church near you (click the "Open & Affirming" box to find one committed to being welcoming to 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQIA+ folx): https://ow.ly/Ms1X50XNL0u 👇🏾 Churches, please feel free to share your Christmas Eve Service info!

❤️💚 A Christmas Blessing from Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister & President/CEO, UCC: https://ow.ly/fffR50XNKJv "Wherever you find yourself this holiday season, may you experience the blessings of this season. Have a Merry Christmas! May your joy be full!"

✨ Day 24: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse Sarah & Angelina Grimké became some of the first women to speak in public against slavery, defying gender norms & risking violence. Beyond ending slavery, their mission was to promote racial & gender equality. 👇🏾 Full reflection

🙏🏾 Most gracious God, Give us wisdom to fight for justice, equality and inclusion. Allow us to protect immigrants and others unfairly targeted within our borders. In Jesus name we pray 🙏🏽✊🏽 -Yelanda Collins Tanner Tallahassee, FL 👉🏾 Share your prayers: https://ow.ly/Zavb50XNBQ5

✨ Day 23: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse "In chattel slavery, massa often tossed these 'undesirable' bits to the slaves. My enslaved ancestors knew how to turn those 'scraps' into a soul filling meal & West African heritage has now come to fill my belly." -Schmian Evans 👇🏾 Full reflection

🙏🏾 God of many names, We see it is a sacred Christian tradition to take on a new name after an encounter with the Divine. We celebrate the wisdom and authenticity of those queer folx who model sharing in this creativity. Amen. -Cypress Brannon 👉🏾 Share your prayer: https://ow.ly/OGhE50XMXPM

💙💜 Are you experiencing a "Blue Christmas?" 💙💜 On this longest night of the year, we acknowledge that not all are feeling "Merry & Bright." The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a resource recommended by UCC Mental Health Network for those needing support this season. 💙💜 You are not alone.

✨ Day 22: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse "The proclamation from the angel, 'Do not be afraid!' is one we must all consider as we seek to live into stories of freedom and abolition, toward expansive & collective liberation." -Rev. Tracy Howe 👉🏾 Read the full reflection: https://ow.ly/xXyU50XMWN4

🙏🏾 Holy God, Amid the turmoil and troubles of this time, we are assured that your steadfast love endures forever and that Christ has broken down every wall that divides us. Loving God, grant us your peace. Amen -Gary M. Schulte 👉🏾 Share your prayers here: https://ow.ly/ATbr50XMS4O

💜 The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ for over 100 years. This year, your care and compassion will be especially appreciated by those servants of the church who are facing a time of need: https://ow.ly/acOx50XMSsR

☕❤️🎄 Be gentle with yourself this season.

✨ Day 21: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse In 1959 local farmer, Robert Miles Jr., helped to organize a local NAACP branch. When the branch folded because of intense pressure from the county’s white elites, Miles organized a Voters’ League to take its place. 👇🏾 More about Robert Miles Jr.

🙏🏾 Holy One, You are the source of love. I pray for those who tend to use violence. Individuals & organizations who resort to violence to try to solve their problems. Let them know of your love. I pray this is Jesus' name. Amen -Doyle Young 👉🏾 Share your prayer: https://ow.ly/hAYX50XMS34

🕯️ The Advent Season invites us to look beyond our front door to share the heartfelt themes of Hope, Peace, Joy & Love, in ways that could impact the lives of other humans. -Rev. Dr. Bentley deBardelaben-Phillips 👉🏾 Full reflection here: https://ow.ly/uWhU50XMP1m

✨ Day 20: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse Patience recognizes that fruitful outcomes like growth, creation, and change take time and active energy. And, that's how we wait for the change that we seek. - Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay Minister for Worship and Theology 👇🏾 Full Reflection

🙏🏾 I pray for God’s reviving, The healing that is needed, Including for those who don’t realize it or admit it Even to themselves I pray for God’s reviving of the core of love And for the healing And enlightening That is needed. -Karyl J Leslie 👉🏾 Add your prayer: https://ow.ly/5JP350XMceL

We are asking Congress to recommit to the urgent task of addressing #GunViolence. Congress is currently considering voting on a bill that could make gun violence more likely. 🧡 Send a message to your elected official with one click: ow.ly/P8gz50XL1Ec

🩵💙 We invite you, TODAY, into a space that recognizes that "good cheer" may not be attainable for all. Lament allows us to acknowledge our authentic emotional condition while commemorating the Incarnation/Birth of Christ and being comforted by Emmanuel/God With Us. 👇🏾 Join us!

✨ Day 19: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse Francis Ellen Watkins Harper spoke at the National Woman’s Rights Convention in NY in 1866, urging attendees to include African American women in their fight, emphasizing that Black women were facing the double burden of racism & sexism. 👇🏾 Full Reflection

🙏🏾 God, I come to you today, asking for guidance. There is so much going on around me, so much uncertainty. Please allow me to find certainty in You & Your unwavering Truth. I open my heart to You. -Karl Heilman 👉🏾 Share your prayer with us: https://ow.ly/FYTu50XKiTv

💙 Joy sees the world’s aches with clarity & chooses to grab hold of God’s goodness & possibility. 💙 JOY despite everything. 💙 JOY in an age of rage bait. 💙 JOY: still. - Rev. Shari Prestemon 👉🏾 Full Reflection: “Joy in an Age of Rage Bait:” https://ow.ly/6Ljv50XL9AJ

🙏🏾 Let's pause for a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives to mass killings & gun violence, & for those who loved them. "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.” -Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson 👉🏾 Read the full blog: https://ow.ly/UMK550XKWl3

✨ Day 18: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse "In this sacred season of Advent, Mary’s song rises from the pages of Scripture as a prophetic declaration that God shows up in the lives of the marginalized with power, purpose, and promise." -Rev. Elder Carmarion D. Anderson 👇🏾 Full reflection

🙏🏾 I pray that there will be justice for those who are innocent and most vulnerable. I pray for God’s justice where there is injustice. I pray for all the wrongs to be made right. In Jesus name I pray. -Stephanie Marie 👉🏾 Share your prayer here: https://ow.ly/38nV50XKiI5

🩵💙 Join us 12/18 @ 3:30 PM Eastern for our final LIVE service this Advent Season: "Joy Through Lament: A Blue Christmas Service." 🩵💙 Joy honors sorrow and sadness, pain and despair, regret and grief. We invite you into a space that recognizes that "good cheer" may not be attainable for all.

🙌🏾 We join our siblings in the Uniting Church in Australia to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community, who gathered to celebrate Hanukkah & condemn antisemitic violence. This holy season calls us to recommit to peace. -Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson Full Statement: https://ow.ly/xvAU50XKpy3

✨ Day 17: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse (Endesha) Ida Mae Holland was raped by her white employer at age 11 & quit her job to do sex work to make money. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) & later went on to earn graduate & doctoral degrees. 👇🏾 Reflection

🙏🏾 Give us strength to stand up to injustice & the grace to do it gently. Help us protect the young, infirm & vulnerable. Help us forgive the transgressors, whether they come to terms with their ways. Amen. -Connie Wright, MA 👉🏾 Share a prayer: https://ow.ly/5YCF50XKaM2

✨ Day 16: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse "A maddening paradox of life is that it is hard to become stronger or wiser when things are easy. Fear is surely a sign that God is near & whatever must be faced can make us more capable of meeting the next challenge." -Rev. Melanie Oommen 👇🏾 Reflection

To launch our week reflecting on Advent in a time of soldiers in the streets, @unitedchurch.bsky.social Rev. Jorge Bautista writes about getting shot in the face with a pepper round by a U.S. immigration agent while at a peaceful prayer vigil in Oakland, California.

✨ Day 15: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse During this advent season may you be known by what you do in this world & may you be surrounded by people who are not offended by the ways you are working for collective liberation. -Hill Brown Southern Director, Faith in Harm Reduction 👇🏾 Full reflection

✨ Day 14: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse As a young man, Leonard Grimes transported enslaved people to freedom, deepening the spiritual grounding for his abolitionist commitments. He later became a Baptist minister, pastoring the Twelfth Baptist (Fugitives') Church in Boston. 👇🏾 Reflection

🙏🏾 How do we know your hope is shining if we don't watch for it? How do we know you increased our joy if we don't give thanks for it? How do we know your miracle has come if we don't make room for it? -Ann Kansfield 👉🏾 Submit your prayer: https://ow.ly/ffsC50XILTf

🙏🏾 O Holy One of Mystery, May we find you in the mystery of flickering light and the hope of new beginning. Amen. -Martha Spong God is Still Speaking, 365 Daily Devotionals Book: ow.ly/tgKS50XzK6g 👉🏾 Share your prayer: ow.ly/4xI750XzK6f

✨ Day 13: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse Mutual aid is essential to our collective survival, regional economies, and humanity & creation’s liberation. Mutual aid is essential for churches invested in our shared future that builds harmony, welcome & solidarity! -Rev. Seth Wispelwey 👇🏾 Reflection

The United Church of Christ affirms that healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. Send a message to Congress TODAY urging them to protect #AffordableHealthcare! ▷Take action here: ow.ly/8UGP50XHqQp

Signs are tangible evidence for human beings who struggle with faith in the unseen, the unknown, and the unproven. And, in the kindom of God, the signs may be deep." #SermonSeeds for December 21, 2025, 4th Sunday of Advent Year A are published: www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds... @unitedchurch.bsky.social

✨ Day 12: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse Morning Star Gali is a proud member of the Ajumawi band of the Pit River Tribe. She serves as Director of Indigenous Justice & has served for 16 years as the California Tribal & Community Liaison for International Indian Treaty Council. 👇🏾 Full reflection

✨ Day 11: Abolition, Advent & Apocalypse "In the darkness of this Advent, let us be reminded that it is God–not a king–who alone can do 'wondrous things.' Let us pledge our fealty to Love alone, believing God’s kingdom will come, God’s will will be done." -Rev. Michael Neuroth 👇🏾 Full reflection

🙏🏾 God, thank you for the roof over my head. Now, make room in my heart for Jesus to move in, so that I don’t miss Christmas. -Molly Baskette God is Still Speaking Daily Devotionals Book: https://ow.ly/b8J950XzK3V 👉🏾 Submit your prayer: https://ow.ly/Tf8E50XzK3W

🎉 Join us as we celebrate a decade of Full Communion between the United Church of Christ and the The United Church of Canada! Together, we joyfully affirm our shared mission, deepening relationship, and our commitment to live out Jesus’ vision that #TheyMayAllBeOne. 👇🏾Register

📣 TOMORROW! 🌍 Churches have played a vital role in pro-democracy movements that have challenged authoritarianism. 🙌🏾 Maria Stephan, co-author of "Why Civil Resistance Works," & Brother Rodrigo Peret, from Franciscans International, will share their experiences with faith-based resistance! 👇🏾