Open and Affirming Sunday— June 28, 2026 ![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/reader/parsed_document_assets/470805346/n-ROHVlUJypJzBJqmbmJuMe4tFHimuHEJv70ltfbTMI-cove_CAn4ptW.png) 🔗 **Source:** [Open and Affirming Sunday— June 28, 2026](https://openandaffirming.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Open-and-Affirming-Sunday%E2%80%94-June-28-2026-.pdf) > [!note]+ Document Notes > --- > tags: [open-and-affirming, ucc, lgbtq-affirmation, worship-liturgy, lectionary, queer-theology] > author: Rev. Derek A. Terry > source: Open and Affirming Coalition (United Church of Christ) > reference: https://openandaffirming.org/ona-sunday/ > date created: 2026-06-28 09:00 > --- > # 🏷️ Title: Open and Affirming Sunday — June 28, 2026 — We Shall Not Be Moved: Rooted in Love, Justice, and Affirmation > ## 🧭 Table of Contents > - [📝 Summary](#-summary) > - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) > - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) > - [📚 References](#-references) > - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) > - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) > - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) > - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) > - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) > - [❓ Questions](#-questions) > - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) > - [💡 Implications](#-implications) > - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) > - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) > - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) > - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) > - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) > - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) > ### 🔗 References > - [Open and Affirming Coalition](https://openandaffirming.org/) — the UCC ministry that publishes ONA Sunday resources. > - Anchor text: Jeremiah 17:5–8 (NRSVUE). > - Lectionary: Revised Common Lectionary, Proper 8, Year C. > - Freedom song: "We Shall Not Be Moved" (African American spiritual / labor-movement anthem). > - Movement references named in the text: Stonewall, ACT UP, the Black freedom struggle, Pride. > ## 📝 Summary > - **What it is.** A complete ONA (Open and Affirming) Sunday worship kit for June 28, 2026, written by Rev. Derek A. Terry, Acting Executive Director of the Open and Affirming Coalition. It supplies a theme introduction, full liturgy (call to worship, prayers, confession, assurance, peace, offering, communion, benediction), a sermon outline, a children's moment, music suggestions, and a closing charge to churches. > - **Why it matters.** The resource moves the affirming-church posture from passive "welcome" to active "affirmation and belonging," framing LGBTQ+ inclusion as discipleship and public justice rather than tolerance. It arms congregations to hold that stance amid current backlash against trans and nonbinary lives. > - **Key stakeholders.** ONA-designated and ONA-considering UCC congregations; worship leaders, preachers, and music directors; LGBTQ+ members, especially trans and nonbinary people; children and chosen families; the wider movement the coalition organizes. > - **Risks and tradeoffs.** The material is unapologetically partisan toward affirmation, which is its intent but also its friction point in congregations still "in process." It assumes a progressive theological frame (liberation, justice-centered atonement language) that more traditional UCC or ecumenical partners may resist. Pastoral care is needed for members who feel pushed faster than they are ready. > - **Bottom line.** A rooted, singable, defiant-but-joyful liturgy that uses the tree-planted-by-water image of Jeremiah 17 to call affirming churches to stay grounded under pressure: "We shall not be moved." > ## 📖 Main Content > - **The governing image.** Jeremiah 17:5–8 contrasts the shrub in the desert (those who trust in "mere mortals") with the tree planted by water (those who trust in God), which does not fear heat or drought and keeps bearing fruit. Terry reads the affirming church as that tree: its strength is not the absence of drought but the depth of its roots. > - **The thesis of the theme.** Affirmation is distinguished sharply from tolerance and from a "polite welcome mat." Welcome is declared "not enough." The text repeatedly defines affirmation positively: queer people do not need to be healed from who they are; trans and nonbinary people are "beloved members of the Body of Christ"; LGBTQ+ people belong "in the pulpit, at the table, in leadership, in the choir, in the nursery, in the streets." > - **Lectionary scaffolding.** The author reads the whole Proper 8 set as sharpening one call: Genesis 22 (reject theology that sacrifices our children), Psalm 13 (the holy cry "How long?"), Jeremiah 28 (warning against false peace), Psalm 89 (keep singing of steadfast love), Romans 6 (refuse death-dealing powers), Matthew 10 (belonging is sacred; even a cup of cold water is gospel resistance). The primary sermon text is Jeremiah 17:5–8, supported by Matthew 10:40–42 and Romans 6:12–23. > - **Movement memory.** The introduction grounds queer survival in a lineage — the Black freedom struggle, Stonewall, ACT UP, Pride, queer elders, trans youth — and names singing as survival, joy as protest, love as resistance. > - **Liturgical arc.** The service is built as call-and-response: the congregation's refrain "We shall not be moved" recurs through the Call to Worship, and the rootedness language (love / justice / affirmation) threads every prayer, the confession, the offering invitation, communion, and the benediction, giving the whole service one spine. > - **Contested or sensitive claims.** The communion and confession sections name "harm done in your name, especially to LGBTQ+ people" and reject "bad theology that rejects." These are theological judgments, not neutral descriptions; a congregation using the kit is endorsing a particular reading of the gospel as inherently affirming. > - **Terms defined.** *ONA / Open and Affirming* = a UCC covenant designation by which a congregation publicly declares full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people. *Affirmation* (per this text) = blessing what God has blessed, not merely permitting presence. *Chosen family* = non-biological kinship networks common in queer communities, here named "holy." > ### 🗒️ Notes > - **Anchor scripture (Jeremiah 17:5–8, NRSVUE).** Curse/blessing doublet; the rooted tree "does not cease to bear fruit" in drought. This is the hermeneutical key for the whole kit. > - **Lectionary list.** Genesis 22:1–14 + Psalm 13; Jeremiah 28:5–9 + Psalm 89:1–4, 15–18; Romans 6:12–23; Matthew 10:40–42 (Proper 8). > - **Theme introduction.** "Joy can be protest. Love can be resistance. Faith can be a root system." Names the theme as a declaration, not a welcome mat. Litany of "We shall not be moved from love / justice / affirmation / protecting LGBTQ+ lives." > - **Call to Worship.** Antiphonal. Leader names grief, erasure, targeting of trans/nonbinary lives, fear, shame; People respond "We shall not be moved" / "we are still here." Closes "Rooted in love, justice, and affirmation, we worship with joy." > - **Opening Prayer.** "Holy and Liberating God" gathers "all our colors, all our names, all our bodies." Petition to "Root us beside living water." > - **Prayer for Transformation (Confession).** Confesses harm done in God's name to LGBTQ+ people — "exclusion, shame, silence, and fear" — plus the universal sin of "choosing comfort over courage." > - **Assurance of Grace.** Anaphora on "does not get the final word" (fear, exclusion, bad theology). "You are forgiven. You are beloved. You are free." > - **Passing of the Peace.** Peace reframed as "the fierce peace of justice, truth, and love," not "fragile politeness." > - **Invitation to Generosity.** Generosity framed as staying rooted; giving as investment in love against "a world investing in fear." "We plant seeds." > - **Offering Dedication.** Gifts as "seeds of holy resistance" growing into shelter, courage, care, justice. > - **Communion Invitation.** "This is not a table of tolerance." Christ's table welcomes the rejected; "chosen family is holy"; "there is room for all." Ties to Matthew 10: welcoming the ones Jesus sends welcomes him. > - **Communion Prayer.** Creation-good theology; institution narrative ("This is my body, given for you"); epiclesis asking the Spirit to make "trans and nonbinary siblings… safe, celebrated, and free to flourish." > - **Prayer After Communion.** Sends the church "in the streets, in the sanctuary… at the ballot box, in the classroom, at the bedside." > - **Benediction.** "Go now like trees planted by living water." "When fear rises, stand. When hatred shouts, sing." Closes on the refrain. > - **Sermon Pathways ("We Shall Not Be Moved").** Objective distinguishes stubbornness from rootednes Full text of this document omitted because this document is a PDF [Download original file →](https://readwise.io/reader/document_raw_content/470805346), Open and Affirming Sunday— June 28, 2026, Rev. Derek A. Terry, 01kw82x3r71vc14pebgtq6nba8.