Who Are We?

We are a nation unraveling at its center, our democracy at dire risk. A Minnesota city is occupied by masked, armed agents who show no restraint or decency and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti on Minneapolis streets. Individuals are “disappeared”. Children are used as bait. Racial profiling is widespread. Families and communities are gripped by fear, terrorized by death and violence.

We are a country that has been here before, a country with a long history of government-sanctioned violence against non-white people that we’ve never fully reckoned with or atoned for.

But: this is not all we are. (Thank God.)

We are a country rising in resistance.  We are a people finding our voice. We are the neighbors helping neighbors. We are the thousands marching in the streets, the parents standing watch in the school parking lots, the brave ones bearing witness. We are a singing, protesting, praying people demanding change and holding firm.

We are a people of the Christian faith joining with others of all faiths to summon moral courage. We are followers of Jesus, commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, to welcome the stranger and the suffering with arms open wide. We are a people with the words of prophets on our lips and in our hearts, naming evil when we see it and proclaiming justice as our cause.

And we are the United Church of Christ. Laboring for a just world for all. Praying with Jesus “that all may be one”. Showing up and speaking up for our neighbors. Leading the way with our fierce love and hope. A small and still mighty church promised courage in the struggle for justice and peace and ready to bear the cost and the joy of discipleship.

Who are we? We are all of this: broken and grieving, sinful and lost, resisting and rising, faithful and prophetic. We are God’s children, powerfully called in this moment to become our most loving, brave, wise, and faithful selves and to build the world that God intends. May it be so.

The Reverend Shari Prestemon began her service with the national ministries of the United Church of Christ in January 2024. As the Associate General Minister & Co-Executive for Global Ministries she has the privilege of overseeing several teams: Global Ministries, Global H.O.P.E., Public Policy & Advocacy Team (Washington, D.C.), and our staff representative to the United Nations. She previously served as pastor to local UCC congregations in Illinois and Wisconsin; the Executive Director at the UCC’s Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi; and as Conference Minister in Minnesota.