The soul of the Heartland Conference has been stretched wider and deeper because of the covenantal gift of the New Hampshire Conference through the sharing of the Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry. This ministry of collaboration memorializing the last words of George Floyd's through 10 quilts created by nine congregations has formed a modern "Tent of Meeting" as it moves through our shared life. Beginning at First Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, where the world-famous gospel choir director, Dr. Ray Wise, led his remarkable Raise Mass Choir, it then went to Cuyahoga Falls where a panel including a State Senator, a community organizer, and a leader in a national black police officer organization were moderated by one of our pastors in a discussion of police reform.
This past week SAQM has been at the Community Life Center of Federated Church in Chagrin Falls where several events including worship and times of sacred silence have already occurred. This week, Dr. Harriet Ward and Rev. Mark Koyama, leaders of SAQM, will join in two events, first via zoom in Chagrin Falls and then in person at Mt. Zion UCC in Cleveland. At each setting, the documentary "Stitch, Breathe, Speak," which conveys the process of SAQM's development, has been shared, followed by engaged conversation.
Hundreds of people have experienced SAQM already and its journey through the Heartland Conference is only halfway done. SAQM will have its final showing at the national UCC offices and will be experienced by the entire Council of Conference Ministers and the United Church of Christ Board as they meet in a join session on March 3rd. The entire experience which this work of love has engendered has been powerful and holy. We are so grateful for the covenantal trust of the New Hampshire Conference and the Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry as we have stewarded in these weeks. We are being blessed, indeed!
"Stitched" - A Prayer Inspired by the Sacred Ally Quilt Ministry
Loving God,
Stitch us anew
Forming the fragments
Of Your human family
Into something more
Than the world sees
As possible or probable.
Let no story be scrapped
As unimportant
Or unworthy of notice
All carrying something of You
And Your beloved unfolding.
Let Your Christ-presence
Bear a new beginning
Sewing souls together
In sacred discovery
Of beauty too long hidden.
Let each stitch
Of Your loving presence
Bind us closer to You
And to each other
In awe of common breath
Forming a Holy wholeness
Through sacred recognition
Of our need to remember
Stories too long stacked
On the scrap pile of history
Yet not forgotten by You.
By Your grace,
Stitch us ever-anew
With Your Christ-love
Broadening the quilt
Of Your loving design
Until every last piece
Is given its proper place
As part of the wholeness
You are already forming.
Yes, form the fabric
Of anger and awe
Of worry and wonder
Into some sacred piece
Freeing us from fear
Bearing a precious peace
Otherwise impossible
Without Your sewing Spirit
Able to make all things new
Scrap by scrap, bit by bit
In time and beyond time.
Grant us grace to consent
To Your call to be used
In this grand quilt
Of Your desire and design
That delight may emerge
Ever-anew for everyone
All created as beloved
By Your loving hand.
Yes, Love, stitch us
With You for nothing less
Than this of Your revealing.
Amen and Amen
Offered by Heartland Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. David Long-Higgins, to the Heartland Conference, February 2022.