BFtB-WWND: "Back From The Brink": What Would Noah Do?

The resolution on preventing nuclear war passed overwhelmingly
at the UCC General Synod 2019 in Milwaukee.

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Thirty-Second General Synod of the United Church of Christ urges the National setting, conferences, associations, and local churches to advocate for policy makers to support the aforementioned resolutions [i.e. the five points of the Back From the Brink campaign, and global nuclear weapons ban].

 - from "RESOLUTION Calling for the United States to pull 'Back From The Brink' and Prevent Nuclear War" passed last week at the 32nd General Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) meeting last week in Milwaukee

"Build yourself a ship."

- Genesis 6:14
(translation from The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language by Eugene H. Peterson)

I promised myself that if the resolution passed, I would spend the month of July in sacred study.

Last week, representatives from congregations of the United Church of Christ (UCC) from across the country gathered in Milwaukee for the 2019 General Synod. In the course of the next several days, they considered approximately twenty different resolutions. On Tuesday, June 25, the delegates voted overwhelmingly to pass its "RESOLUTION Calling for the United States to pull 'Back From The Brink' and Prevent Nuclear War."

The resolution urges member congregations, and all other levels of the UCC body, to actively support the nationwide "Back From The Brink" campaign. The campaign calls on the US to:

* renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first;
* end any president’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack;
* take US nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;
* cancel the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and
* actively pursue a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

The resolution is simply this: an invitation to nearly 5,000 congregations, with about 850,000 members, to join others in "building a ship" to carry us out of the danger that we face.

(You can read the full text of the UCC's "Back From the Brink" resolution on the denomination's website. More information on key aspects of the UCC's "Back From the Brink" resolution and the campaign can be found in my April 8 blog post. )

So today I begin keeping that promise to myself, and open the Bible to the book of Noah. For the next month, I will look to this sacred text in search of insight about the situation we face, what we might do about it, and where God is in all this.

I will also be joining in sacred conversation with UCC colleagues and with members of other organizations who are hard at work on the "Back From The Brink" campaign, about how to move from resolution (and reflection) to action.

Watch this space for daily reflections on "Back From The Brink": What Would Noah Do?


Next NOAH post


Posts in the NOAH series:

Genesis 6:1-4 ... They were awesome. (But they really screwed things up.)
Genesis 6:5-8 ... Are we prepared to think about un-creation?
Genesis 6:9-16 ... What Will Modern Noahs Build?
Genesis 6:17-18 ... Earth On the Brink. (What's the deal?)
Genesis 6:19-22 ... A Multitude of Reasons to Work to Prevent Nuclear War
Genesis 7:1-5 ... ALL ABOARD! (the "Back From the Brink" Campaign, that is!)
Genesis 7:6-10 ... Preventing Nuclear War: Recommended for All Ages
Genesis 7:11-16 ... Lifeboat or Tomb? How the Nuclear Weapons Story Ends
Genesis 7:17-24 ... Nuclear Weapons: Why "Imagine the Worst"?
Genesis 8:1-5 ... Preventing Nuclear War: Can We Feel Solid Ground Beneath Our Feet?
Genesis 8:6-12 ... Company On the Walk "Back From the Brink" 
Genesis 8:13-19 ... NOAH: He got to the last step because he took the first step
Genesis 8:20-22 ... NOAH: A Model for Advocacy?
Genesis 9:1-7 ... Time to Re-write the Noachide Laws and Pull Back From the Brink?
Genesis 9:8-17 ... Come Together to Pull Back From the Brink
Genesis 9:18-27 ... "Back From the Brink" - Clear-Cut and Messy
Genesis 9:28 ... Preventing Nuclear War: The Work of a Lifetime