As pastors and lay persons who hold the United Church of Christ in great affection, we believe that we have seen a troubling truth of our present situation. We see…

· A world in which divisiveness between peoples and nations - even and perhaps especially between communities of faith - is resulting in sinful harm and loss.

· Political divisiveness in our nation has polarized citizen from citizen to a degree greater than any in recent memory, resulting in the loss of any shared vision for our present and future direction.
· More intimately and painfully, the divisiveness of the world has found too eager an echo in our denomination, drowning out the voice of the still-speaking God we are called to hear and obey, distracting us from the Sovereign and Savior we seek to follow.

We believe that the United Church of Christ has left its primary commission, to serve as the first fruits of Christ's prayer "that they may all be one." And we confess our own participation in this sin and pray for our own transformation.

We believe the opportunity exists to embody the unity we proclaim and bear witness to the radical inclusivity of Christ by returning this unity to the center of our mission and renewing our commitment to its full expression.

Though a fuller explanation follows, we would outline what this means and does not mean -

· We do not ask for individual members or congregations of the United Church of Christ to relinquish personal opinions, convictions, or commitments. We rejoice in a Church whose members are ever at liberty to act as they choose, as they believe the Spirit guides them, as they understand the will of God and the example of Christ.

· We do ask that Synod, Conferences, Associations and their agencies refrain from actions or statements, especially those that occur by vote in gathered meetings or appear as proclamations by official representatives. Though we have much in our history of which to be proud, public statements and actions have sometimes been perceived to lack broad input or consultation, alienating rather than uniting congregations and members.

· In this day of divisions, Christ calls us out of the hubris of our opinions, frames, worldviews, and secularized understandings and into the diaconate of His ever-broadening table fellowship, as our first priority.

In recent months our denomination has proclaimed that "God is still speaking." We believe this is true, and we believe it is time for us to listen, to have the courage of silence - a silence born not of fear but of faith, a silence that sets aside the preoccupation with self in compassionate regard for one's neighbor.

Let us "be still" that all God's people might again hear and know this still-speaking God.