wfn.org | Electrifying preaching punctuates UCC Friday night worship

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Electrifying preaching punctuates Friday night worship

Written by Micki Carter with Rebecca Bowman Woods
June 27, 2009

The Rev. Otis Moss III shed his clerical collar Friday night and put
on his schoolmaster's robes as he led the delegates and visitors to
GS27 through a grammar lesson on God's rules of punctuation.

"Only God has the right to write a period," the newly installed pastor
of Trinity UCC in Chicago told those gathered for worship. In a mind-
and tongue-numbing recitation, the young successor to the mantle of
the Rev. Jeremiah Wright yanked the congregation out of their seats
and set them humming.

Taking Revelation 1:8 as his text, he punctuated it with fervor: "God
says I am the Alpha and the Omega, COMMA, who is, COMMA, and who was,
COMMA, and who is to come, COMMA.

"John, the writer of Revelation, had the audacity to rewrite the
grammar rules of Rome, reminding them that only God can write a period."

Now the question mark, Moss said, comes with mystery. "When a child is
born, there should be a question mark . Never a period?

"There's a contradiction between those who put periods and those who
know that God puts a comma. Dred Scott put a period; Plessy vs.
Ferguson put a period. But God sent a comma down to Alabama? Today
there's a holiday in January and they don't even deliver the mail in
honor of the man they tried to put a period on."

He reminded the congregation that "Tiger Woods took out his driver and
knocked the period out of the name of that golf tournament in Georgia."

In a mind-jolting, three-minute recitation of the history of
Christianity, Moss shouted a COMMA between each event, all the way
through to the 1957 creation of the United Church of Christ and the
presence of John Thomas as General Minister, who introduced him Friday
night. Moss thanked Thomas for his presence and his prayers during
"some of our trying times last year" when the words of Jeremiah Wright
were used against Barack Obama, then a member of Trinity, during the
2008 presidential campaign.

Moss finished with some political advice. "Don't get angry with the
haters, the Rush Limbaughs. Next time you hear them, just say, 'COMMA!'

"When you see Dick Cheney, just say, 'COMMA!' Remember, there used to
be a period on Pennsylvania Avenue."

Remember, "at Calvary, death wanted to place a period, but Jesus got
up on Sunday morning. COMMA!"

Before Moss stepped to the podium, the worship service was dominated
by the music and dance ministries of Trinity. The Sanctuary Choir, in
traditional African dress, and young dancers in flowing white gowns
built on the water theme of GS27. Moss's only reference to it came
with this mind-blowing image.

"God took two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, put them together,
and . . . they had a baby called 'water'."
Synod performer Melissa Lopez of First Congregational UCC in Elyria,
Ohio, during the Friday afternoon opening program.
Randy Varcho photo

The evening plenary that preceded worship featured the Rev. Judith
Youngman, interim conference minister for Michigan, who contrasted the
state's bad news ? auto industry failures, unemployment, a high
foreclosure rate ? with the good news of the ministries of UCC
churches across the state.

"Sisters and brothers in Christ, it is no accident that we gather here
at such a time as this," Youngman said. "The work of Christ's church
goes on whether times are stable or times are turbulent.

George Heartwell, mayor of Grand Rapids, also greeted the delegates
and visitors of GS27. Heartwell is an ordained UCC minister and a
member of East Congregational UCC. He thanked all for coming and
reminded them that they will forever change the city. "For we will
surely hold you in our hearts long after you leave."

The Synod also recognized ecumenical and international guests,
missionaries, and former officers, executives of instrumentalities and
former moderators.

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