A Call to Prayer and Action in response to the Shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs

Daniel, new to Colorado Springs, grew up in Tulsa and loved to entertain people. Derrick was good listener and people remember his kindness. Kelly had just celebrated her 40th birthday and was happy that she had finally found a place where she could be herself. Ashley, who worked with a no profit finding foster children loving homes, is described by her husband as an amazing mother to their 11 year old daughter. And Raymond, a kind and selfless young man was at Club Q that night with his girlfriend and family to help a friend celebrate their birthday. All five people leave behind family and friends, co-workers and employees, whose lives will never be the same.

The Open and Affirming Coalition, United Church of Christ sent out a pastoral letter (see below) in response to the Club Q tragedy calling for prayers for each of the people who were murdered and wounded Saturday night, and pray we must. Pray for the victims and their families, pray for an end to the hatred and violence that targets those who others deem different, and pray for the strength to interrupt and stop the damaging and prejudicial language used against others when is spoken in your/our presence. Jesus tells us in the Gospel according to John, to love one another. In addition to fostering love for others, we must work towards disrupting the hate that takes away our LGBTQ+ siblings’ ability to have life and life abundantly.

Blessings,
Rev. Lorraine Ceniceros
Conference Minister
Kansas Oklahoma Conference UCC

When Open and Affirming congregations gathered Sunday to honor our transgender and nonbinary neighbors who have lost their lives to hatred, we were stunned by the news that a young man inside an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs shot and killed at least five people and injured 25 late Saturday night.

Once again, lives have been irretrievably lost by the rising tide of hatred and gun violence in America.

As I heard the news Sunday morning, my thoughts went to Jeremiah 31, verse 15:

Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.

This week, we join in prayer for each person murdered or injured last night in Club Q. In the coming days we will know their names. We also pray in union with the Rocky Mountain Conference and especially with our Open and Affirming churches in Colorado Springs: First Congregational UCC, Vista Grande Community UCC and Black Forest Community UCC, as well as Church in the Wildwood UCC in neighboring Green Mountain Falls.

It is not easy to hope in a time like this. We are overwhelmed with shock, bewilderment, grief and anger. Our emotions now cannot simply dissolve into hope. It will take time to heal. But there will be a time to hope again. The prophet Jeremiah continues in verses 16 and 17:

Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears;
for there is a reward for your work,
says the Lord:
they shall come back from the land of the enemy;
there is hope for your future,
says the Lord:
your children shall come back
to their own country.

Sunday was also the feast of the Reign of Christ. As a movement, Open and Affirming churches like yours are working for the vision of God’s future realm, where everyone is wanted, everyone is needed, no one is lost to hatred. But that future realm is also taking shape here and now: in your congregations and your families in more than a thousand communities across America. So there is reason for hope. Your mission is to save lives, and there will be a reward for your work: the beloved community where all of God’s children can return home.

Yours, trusting in Christ,
The Rev. Andrew Lang
Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition