• Who We Are
    • Who We Are
    • Mission
    • History
    • General Synod
    • Leadership and Ministry
    • Staff
    • United Church of Christ Board
  • What We Believe
    • What We Believe
    • Worship Ways
    • Daily Devotional
  • What We Do
    • What We Do
    • Office of the General Minister & President
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
  • News
  • Church Finder
  • Donate Now
  • Search
UCC Logo United Church of Christ
  • Church Finder
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Store
  • Frontline Faith Portal
  • Donate Now
  • Search
  • Who We Are
    • Column
      • About
        • Mission
        • Constitution and Bylaws
        • History
          • UCC Archives
        • UCC Brand Guidelines
        • General Synod
          • Synod 33 Worship Videos
          • Past General Synods
        • Abuse Prevention
    • Column
      • Structure
        • Conferences
        • Affiliated Ministries
          • The Pension Boards
          • Cornerstone Fund
          • Insurance Board
          • The Council for Health and Human Services Ministries
          • Church Building & Loan Fund
          • Convergence
    • Column
      • Team
        • Elected Officers
        • Staff
        • United Church of Christ Board
          • Board Minutes
        • Office of General Counsel
        • UCCOSSN
    • Column
      • Career Opportunities
      • Annual Reports
  • What We Believe
    • Column
      • Worship
        • Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ – La Declaración de Fe de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo
        • Worship Ways
        • Daily Devotional
        • Sermon Seeds
  • How We Serve
    • Column
      • Office of the General Minister & President
        • Welcome to Human Resources
          • Employee Relations Resources
        • Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD)
          • General CARDD FAQs
          • About The Center for Analytics, Research & Development, and Data (CARDD)
          • Authorized Minister Opt Out
          • Access UCC
          • Archived Reports
          • Assessment Resources
          • Information Policies and Requests
          • Faith Communities Today (FACT) Survey
          • MissionInsite
          • Statistics and Reports
          • Vital Signs and Statistics Blog
          • Data Hub FAQs
          • Data Hub
          • Yearbook and Directory
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Justice
          • Faithful Action Ministries
            • Environmental Justice Ministries
            • Economic Justice
            • Racial Justice
          • Office of Public Policy & Advocacy in Washington D.C.
            • Justice and Peace Action Network
            • Our Faith Our Vote
            • Justice Training Resources
            • Action Center
          • Health and Wholeness Advocacy
            • Disabilities and Mental Health Justice
            • Encuentros Latinx
            • UCC HIV & AIDS Network-UCAN
            • LGBTQ Ministries
            • Our Whole Lives
            • Overdose and Drug Use Ministries
            • Scouting
            • Wellness Ministries
          • The Pilgrim Press & Stillspeaking Publications
    • Column
      • Justice & Local Church Ministries
        • Local Church
          • The Faith Education, Innovation and Formation (Faith INFO)Team
            • Weekly Seeds
            • Youth & Young Adults
          • Worship Resources
            • Worship Ways
            • Sermon Seeds
            • Synod 33 Worship Videos
            • Music and Liturgical Arts
          • Stewardship & Generosity Resources
          • Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA)
            • History, Polity, and Theology
            • Search and Call
            • Ministerial Profiles
            • Ministry Opportunities
            • Manual on Ministry
    • Column
      • Wider Church Ministries
        • Global Ministries
        • Global H.O.P.E.
          • Volunteer Ministries
          • Refugee and Migration Ministries
          • Disaster Ministries
          • Recovering Hope
        • Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
  • Resources
  • News
    • Column
      • News
        • United Church of Christ News
    • Column
      • Columns
        • Witness for Justice
        • Into the Mystic
        • Getting to the Root of It
        • The Pollinator: UCC Environmental Justice Blog
        • UCC Roots
        • Encounters at the Well
        • Reflexiones
    • Column
      • Upcoming Events
        • Webinars
      • Subscriptions at the United Church of Christ
      • Changes & Deaths
  • Giving
    • Column
      • Donate Now
      • Ways to Give
        • Giving Tuesday
        • General Synod 2021 Thursday in Black Offering
        • General Synod 2021 Racial Justice Offering
        • Disaster Ministries: How to Give
        • Our Church’s Wider Mission
          • Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support
          • Strengthen the Church
          • One Great Hour of Sharing
          • Neighbors in Need
          • Christmas Fund
          • 5 for 5
    • Column
      • Ways We Give
        • Scholarships & Grants

  • Home
  • News
  • United Church of Christ News
  • Texas UCC leader: ‘God is waiting for us to do something’
Candles

Texas UCC leader: ‘God is waiting for us to do something’

by Phil Hodson | published on May 25, 2022

The night of a May 24 school attack that killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex., the Rev. Phil Hodson, Conference minister of the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ, offered this reflection. It appeared as a blog entry at the Conference website under the title, “Waiting on a Miracle.”

I have four sons. The oldest graduates from fourth grade this week, the next is finishing his second-grade year.

Disney movies are a tradition in our family. Watching one together is a fairly regular occurrence. They have been enamored of late by the film “Encanto.” There’s a song from the film, called “Waiting on a Miracle,” that has been playing in my head tonight. I’ve been thinking about that song as I reflect on what happened today in Uvalde.

As I write these words, it is being reported that 19 children and two teachers have lost their lives at the hands of an 18-year-old lone gunman in their classrooms at an elementary school. In the coming days, as you read these words, we may find those numbers change.

And I hear the cry of the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” How long will we continue to endure such horrific tragedy?

We send thoughts and prayers, and as one who believes in the power of prayer, I recognize the import of it in ordinary things. But this is an extraordinary thing. A tragedy that happens just a week after another shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. A tragedy that is only overtaken — in the sheer number of lives lost — by the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtwon, Conn., almost exactly 10 years ago.

I remember being invited to lead a time of prayer and conversation at the local elementary school where I was serving a church in Oklahoma just days after that shooting happened. And I remember quoting a beautiful line that somebody else wrote to open what I said: “The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels today.” And here we are again.

This morning I was at my own sons’ elementary school, watching my eldest give a speech on leadership as part of the awards ceremony for the fourth-grade class. Yesterday I was there to hear my 8-year-old read an original poem he wrote for his own second-grade awards ceremony. Both times I simply walked in the door, signed a form, got a name tag and proceeded to where I was supposed to be. I sat in an auditorium full of people I did not know — other parents and relatives — without a second glance. That’s one of the gifts of living in a free society — the ability to go where we please without fear.

But tonight, as I write these words, there is fear. The fear I experienced this afternoon as I stood outside and waited for my sons’ bus to arrive at the end of the driveway so that I could personally witness them coming back to me. Because my boys are the same ages as those 19 children who did not come home to their families tonight.

And crying out to God is not the answer. Because we only think we’re waiting for God to do something.

The reality is God is waiting for us to do something.

My son’s speech on leadership centered around three qualities he believes make a good leader: Responsibility, accountability and communication.

It seems to me that we, the church, have a role to play in situations like these when they arise. When chaos happens and there are no clear answers and lives are lost for no good reason, we are called to help people grieve. To help in mourning. To journey with those who suffer, and offer the love and compassion and grace that may witness to the fact that joy will, someday, come again into their lives. We are the witnesses to resurrection, to the worst thing never being the last thing. As followers of Jesus we are responsible to communicate that message, accountable to the Divine for our so doing.

So, tonight, as I write these words listening to my children sleep nearby, I sure wish our leaders would lead. In Texas. Nationally. We don’t need their thoughts and prayers; we, the church, will take care of that on their behalf.

We need them to lead. We need to hold them responsible to commonsense legislation that will protect our children. We need to hold them accountable to getting it done — that’s what elections are for. And we need to communicate that message with clarity and determination.

Because sometimes, when we’re waiting on a miracle, we forget that the miracle is us. Let’s do something.


Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

Categories: United Church of Christ News

Get the UCC in your inbox!

Sign up for the weekly UCC News Digest

Privacy Policy
 
 

Related News

United Church of Christ News

Dorhauer’s ‘100 Days of Gratitude’ to celebrate his tenure as GMP

General Minister and President-elect John Dorhauer celebrates his new call with his wife Mimi...

Read More
United Church of Christ News

New ONA director, Global Ministries exec among recent hires

The new year has seen many new staff settling in and joining the United Church of Christ’s...

Read More
United Church of Christ News

Synod is asked to affirm commitment to transgender, nonbinary dignity amid legislative attacks

The 2023 General Synod of the United Church of Christ will consider 17 resolutions and several...

Read More
  • Column
    • Local Church and Conference Resource Directory
    • Mission
    • Justice & Local Church Ministries
    • Wider Church Ministries
    • General Synod Resolutions
  • Column
    • Contact
    • News
    • Store

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.

1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Subscribe on YouTube

Donate Now


UCC CrestUCC Crest
© United Church of Christ 2023. Privacy Policy.
Crafted by Cornershop Creative