RIC Sunday is January 29, an opportunity to celebrate the witness of God’s love for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. It’s a time to highlight what it means to live a theology of reconciliation.
These celebrations will be echoed throughout the welcoming movements in many communities of faith, for whom this last Sunday in January is designated as Welcoming Sunday.
Resources for RIC Sunday are on our website. Go to www.lcna.org. Click on Reconciling in Christ. In the drop-down menu you will find RIC Sunday and Pride Sunday, which will take you to the page where the resources are available.
The work of living into being a Reconciling in Christ congregation or other organizational setting is never-ending. It’s an action fostered by the Holy Spirit and enlivened by participation of all in calling to mind that Christ’s welcome was to all and God’s love is both extravagant and shared.
There is so much work to be done. There’s God’s love and Christian fellowship to be celebrated and shared. There’s public welcome to be reiterated, helping those who felt sent-away, disenfranchised, and alienated to recover their sense of belonging, sharing their faith and proclaiming their witness with you. There’s bullying to be stopped, especially among our youth and youth adults.
The world abounds in atrocities, injustices, depredations, and unrelenting man-made evils, about which we sometimes think that all we can do is voice our objection and dismay. But here, where we are, we can do so much more, actively reaching out to those in distress to alleviate it and to those who cause the distress to tell them of God’s love that is big enough to overcome misinformation, distrust and ignorance.
Celebrate RIC Sunday. Renew. Reach out. Rejoice in the extraordinary diversity of God’s creation.