Matthew 25 In Action - Voter Registration Drive

This is a transcript of our ‘Moment for Mission’ from July 16th, 2023 from member Elaine Elsloo Dodd.

Good Morning Matthew 25 Congregation,

I was hungry and you gave me food.

I voted in Mayoral and City Council elections for elected officials who will pass ordinances that will decrease the number of hungry in our community.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I voted in Oklahoma State and Federal elections that will protect us with clean water legislation.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I voted in US House/Senate elections and Presidential elections for candidates who would enact fair immigration policies.

I was naked and you gave me clothing.

I voted in school board elections for policies that would provide children clothing from schools so that children would not be bullied and could have the opportunity to learn.

I was sick and you took care of me.

I voted in OK House and Senate elections and Gubernatorial elections for persons who would enact access to quality healthcare in our state.

I was in prison and you welcomed me.

I voted in judicial elections for judges who would be honest, impartial, and fair in sentencing the guilty and releasing the innocent.

I voted because I was a registered voter.

We will assist you in providing voter registration forms to update your voter registration (change of name, address, party) or to register voters who are not currently registered. We challenge all of us to register at least 1 new voter. Pastor Olivia has already met the challenge.

What does the Lord require of us: to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

Health Task Force Update - June 2022

During the past several weeks a number of our members developed COVID19 infections and to our knowledge none have had serious disease. Your Task Force continues to monitor our local situation and to keep you informed.

The current Omicron variants appear to be more communicable but the infection is less serious than previous variants. Although the pandemic is not over many believe that it is moving towards an endemic stage similar to the flu which is caused by a virus of the same type.

We have closed the church twice in the past two years. The Health Task Force has met and recommends that we continue with open worship. Masks are always an option and any who are hesitant to gather for in-person worship can join through Facebook. We hope that all have been vaccinated and boosted as appropriate for age. We do request that if you have not been vaccinated that you not attend in person and if you have any symptoms suggestive of COVID, even though you test negative, you not attend sanctuary worship. Also, we hope that if you do become infected you would inform the church office.

We will keep the congregation informed of case numbers by using the guide above.

A Prayer for Trauma

Dear Southminster, 

I wrote the following prayer for an interfaith vigil held last week at Morning Star Baptist Church for victims of Buffalo and Uvalde. What stood out to me from that gathering is how desperately we need space to gather and grieve and lament, and how the rapid and on-going pace of gun violence is destroying our ability to do so. I share these words below because I too need the support of our collective lament, and because I believe God is calling us as people of faith to be a strong voice for gun reform. 

O God of weeping people, right now it feels like too much to wrap our broken words around the shattered families left in the wake of this latest gun massacre. Where our words fail, be with them. 

For as people of faith, we affirm your presence with us. 

You hold us in confusion. 

You hold us in grief. 

You hold us in our trauma. 

You hold us in war. 

You hold us in political unrest. 

You hold us in disconnection. 

You hold us as we acknowledge the ways we have perpetuated systems of harm, complacency, and patriarchy, and you do not celebrate our pain, but meet us with deep compassion. 

Help us O God. Help us not rush through this horror and become numb to the violence of our nation, we have a problem. In our grief and our brokenness we cling tightly to the life of individual freedom and safety, we idolize our guns thinking they are the answer to our fear. But this is idolatry. We cannot live this way and we refuse to die this way. 

Bring us back to relationship, to community, to presence. In this deep woundedness, tend our bodies and minds and souls, like a patient gardener, help us as people of faith not to offer cheap affirmations of “thoughts and prayers” but as John Lewis put it, “when we pray, we move our feet.” 

Since the struggle deepens, since evil abides, and good does not yet prosper, let us gather what strength we have, what confidence and valor, that our small victories may end in triumph, and the world we long for, be the world we attain. Be with us as we weep, and work, and walk for your world. Amen. 

We were created for relationship, and that is so clear in our experiences of grief and trauma as we raise our collective lament of “yet again?! and “how long, O God?” As a community, we hold the St. Francis Hospital System, and all those affected by the shooting at the Natalie Building in our prayers, and we ask for God’s comfort on our city in this heartbreak. Please know that if you need additional resources or support, you can contact COPES for mental health intervention at 918-744-4800 or feel free to reach out to me, Rev. Olivia Lane for prayers or support.