"Do you really believe there is a God who loves us?"
I can still see the young man who grabbed my shoulders and spoke these words to me, tears streaming down his face. He had given up on God and given up on Christians. I was invited to speak about religion and the Bible in Beijing, China, at the LGBT Center. This young man, like many people of faith all over China and the world, are hungering to connect to those who will believe with them. People like this young man, with his passionate, urgent questions, are making a believer out of me, all over again.
I want to share several encounters like this, that made a believer out of me all over again this year. As you know, I am an MCCer to the bone. In the very core of my being, I know that God called Troy Perry, and me, and you, to do this "new thing," that is always being made new again, person after person, country after country. And yet, I find that I can be amazed and surprised deeply all over again, by the enormous impact of the life-giving message of MCC on the lives of LGBT people and those who love and support us. Several things stand out:
Almost 40 young adults gathered in a room at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC in Ft.Lauderdale, Florida, and opened their hearts to me and other MCC leaders. They shared their passion for an even more inclusive church of Jesus than you or I could have imagined. Their passion for getting to know other young people searching for hope and faith is so much like the passion I felt as a 22-year-old just coming out and into MCC. Our amazing young adults made a believer out of me once again as I saw a secure MCC future in their passionate faces and ready hands!
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| MCC Young Adult Retreat 2011 |
Our Network in the middle of the US came to the rescue of Spirit of Christ MCC in Joplin, Missouri, after a horrific tornado. As neighboring MCC churches reached out to a hurting community and small city with MCC gifts and presence, they made me believe deeply that our Networks for care and connection embody the heart of revival in MCC.
The events and images multiply: marriage equality achieved in New York; a new church in a retirement village in Florida that has over 100 members in its first year; inquiries from South Korea and Ireland; dinner with talented, devoted MCC board members in churches in Birmingham and North London, UK; a new PFLAG meeting at MCC in the Dominican Republic; the President of Howard University School of Divinity speaking at our People of African Descent Conference! All these things that could not have been imagined 43 years ago when MCC started October 6th, 1968, have made a believer of me, once again.
I hope you have reason to believe anew today, for the present and future of a unique church called MCC.
But these extraordinary people and events did not just happen. They happened because first a few, then hundreds, and today thousands of people, like you and I, made a commitment - personal and financial - to advancing MCC's life-saving, transforming mission and message.
I invite you to consider joining these faithful, annual supporters of MCC by making a special year-end gift, above and beyond your regular giving, so that this vital work can continue and grow.
In these challenging economic times, we are the people for whom nothing is impossible! Make a believer out of me again this year as we get ready - together - to do extraordinary things in the name of a God of love and justice.
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson
PS...In addition to the 650 annual donors to MCC, there are a special 50 who have given $5, $25, $50 or more each month in 2011. These monthly gifts provided our denomination with urgently needed income stability in a very unstable economy. If you are able to add a pledge to give monthly to MCC in 2012, in addition to your 2011 year-end gift, I encourage you to consider it; it makes an enormous difference. Thank you so much.
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