Still Speaking Message

december 2, 2004

Dear New Community of Faith Friends and Family,

As you may know, NBC and CBS yesterday refused to air television ads for our national United Church of Christ "God Is Still Speaking" campaign, because they are “too controversial.” These advertisements show images of several minorities being excluded by a traditional church, including people of color, a person in a wheelchair, and two couples who could be perceived as gay. The tagline reads, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we. We are the United Church of Christ."

You can view the ads at www.stillspeaking.com, and a press release citing the reasons CBS and NBC refused to air them at www.ucc.org.

While NBC and CBS are eager to profit from gay people laughing, singing and dancing on their television shows, they will not allow us to invite them to church. But fortunately, God IS Still Speaking. In the 48 hours that have elapsed since the fear of controversy caused CBS and NBC to close their doors, many, many more doors have been opened. Our General Minister, the Rev. John Thomas, has been interviewed on CNN, and our Council of Conference Ministers gave a press conference covered by, among other news outlets, CBS itself. PBS, ABC, CBS and other television networks have aired prime-time stories about the controversy (stories which included showing the ad), as have NPR and other radio stations. We made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, and first sections of the San Jose Mercury News and Los Angeles Times. Web traffic to www.stillspeaking.com and www.ucc.org has increased tenfold. People for the American Way has sent an action alert advocating protest. More that 60 other news sources have published stories about our campaign.

My brothers and my sisters, you just can't buy publicity like that. God is Still Speaking, and God is telling a story of love, diversity, and a tidal wave of people who believe that exclusion is wrong.

Today, I ask you to join this tidal wave. Please visit www.ncncucc.org/comma.html to find out how. I also ask you to pray for us. Pray for the leaders of the United Church of Christ, and for all who dare to proclaim the wild, unquenchable and uncontainable love given to the world through Jesus.

And finally, I ask you to remember the purpose and spirit of this life-affirming campaign. As you meet people in your daily life, in worship, on the street and in the church hall, especially people who may be newly touched by the radical welcome this campaign displays, I ask you to live the spirit of “God is Still Speaking.” Remember that you, too, are an ambassador of the Good News of Jesus Christ. You, too, are one through whom God extends the hand of grace. You, too, are called to “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God (Romans 15: 7).”

In the name of Jesus who turned no one away,

Rev. Bran Scott