RIC Sunday 2024

ReconcilingWorks wants to celebrate with your faith community and is excited to offer these resources. Many RIC communities celebrate RIC Sunday on the last Sunday in January. This year, that lands on January 28, 2024. ReconcilingWorks encourages you to celebrate on a date that is meaningful for your community. Be sure to use this day as a time to recommit to your partnership as a RIC faith community, discern ways to live into your RIC partner commitments, and set new milestones for the year to come.

2024 RIC Sunday Resources

Click the "Resources" button below to request access to the 2024 RIC Sunday resource package. You will be directed to a Google Form to submit your faith community's information.

ReconcilingWorks is excited to announce that the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Sunday Worship 2024, Roll Down Justice is here!

This worship service celebrating the 50th Anniversary of ReconcilingWorks is inspired by Amos 5:24. 

Let justice flow like a river, and righteousness flow like an unfailing stream. 

-The Inclusive Bible Translation-

Amos was the prophet whose message is that God calls us to let “justice roll down like waters.” Worship without justice is unacceptable; our music, liturgy, and prayers must move us to action on behalf of the oppressed. This adaptable worship guide will offer us reflection and renewed inspiration to let our voices be tuned to the heart of the Gospel — proclaiming God’s love for ALL people.

The first reading and worship theme comes from Amos 5:21-24, which turns our minds and hearts in prayer toward injustice and turmoil in our world. The second reading from Romans 8: 31-39 focuses on a world that seems obsessed with who is "right and wrong," "good or bad," "in or out," or on "this side or that side.” It is a radical endeavor to name each person as a "Child of God" — no matter what. Finally, our gospel is the familiar story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37 and how Christ calls us to radical hospitality.

The worship service provided is adapted from several sources, including Dr. Marcia McFee’s Roll Down Justice from the Worship Design Studio. All other sources are cited as needed. The worship outline was created by David Horton, Word and Service Intern for ReconcilingWorks and edited by Deacon Liz Colver and Rev. Heather Thonvold.

Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Sunday is an annual worship celebration created to share in the commitment our organization and partnering faith communities have in the ongoing work of welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy for LGBTQIA+ people in the life of the church. While historically this day is celebrated on the final Sunday in January, many RIC partners will celebrate on their date of affirmation, or on other days meaningful to their communities rooted in this commitment to radical hospitality. We hope you enjoy Roll Down Justice as we join collectively with our 1,050+ partners across the United States and Canada through this celebratory service.

 

RIC Sunday 2024 Worship

RECONCILIADOS EN CRISTO DOMINGO

Recommended Reading and Continuing the Conversation

To continue the conversation of Reconciling in Christ Sunday, ReconcilingWorks encourages RIC Communities to learn and grow in welcome, inclusion, and celebration of LGBTQIA+ folks by lifting up the diversity in the lives of LGBTQIA+ people, that your community can read together or through individual study:

Guide to Welcome LGBTQIA+ Youth & their Families

Do you have questions about how you can best serve the young LGTBQIA+ persons in your ministry setting? We took a few of the most frequently expressed concerns and created this simple resource to help youth ministry professionals and lay leaders provide hospitality and welcome to LGBTQIA+ youth and their families.

Lutheran Guide to Advocate for LGBTQIA+ People in Church and Society

This resource is a starting point for you and your Lutheran faith community as it seeks to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) people in church and society. It is ReconcilingWorks’ hope that tools and answers in this guide will give your community the boldness to proclaim Christ’s gospel of radical inclusion and hospitality to your neighbors, our church, and our world.

Lutheran Introduction to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Gender Expression

Since 1974, ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation has advocated for the full welcome, inclusion, and equity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church, congregations, and community. The Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program of ReconcilingWorks is for congregations, synods, colleges, seminaries, and other Lutheran organizations that publicly welcome LGBTQIA+ people. As a way to deepen and expand that welcome, we offer this resource as a basic introduction to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Raising Kids Beyond the Binary: Celebrating God's Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children

Raising Kids Beyond the Binary: Celebrating God's Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children (by Jamie Bruesehoff)

Dare to dream of a church and a world transformed by the bold celebration of transgender and gender-diverse children. The debate around transgender children rages, with some Christians being the loudest voices against loving and supporting these young people. So, now more than ever, people of faith need to be grounded in God's call to love and affirm young people in who God created them to be. Raising Kids beyond the Binary bypasses the sound bites to give readers a vivid picture of who transgender, non-binary, and gender-expansive young people are and what they need to thrive.

Drawing on the author's experience as a mother walking with and learning from her own transgender child, as well as working with hundreds of families across the country doing the same, this book helps parents navigate the emotional, spiritual, and logistical landscape of raising a gender-diverse child.

Grounded in the unequivocal truth of God's deep love and limitless creativity, this book compels readers to move past "all are welcome" to loving and celebrating transgender and gender-diverse youth in the brilliance of their uniqueness, the wisdom of their self-awareness, and the joy of their authenticity. Faith leaders and adults who work with youth will also find the book a helpful tool for gaining insight and building safer and more welcoming congregations for these children.

Rich with personal stories, research, and practical steps, this book dares to dream of a church and a world transformed by the bold and joyful acceptance and celebration of transgender and gender-diverse children and youth. These children need us, and the world needs them.

Made, Known, Loved: Developing LGBTQ-Inclusive Youth Ministry

Through the debates about the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church, one overlooked community is LGBTQ youth. Made, Known, Loved: Developing LGBTQ-Inclusive Youth Ministry (by Ross Murray) builds on experience and wisdom cultivated through The Naming Project, a ministry created at the intersection of youth, faith, and LGBTQ identity. Made, Known, Loved shows congregations how to create a program that affirms LGBTQ youth in their faith and their identity, accepts and welcomes diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and equips future leaders for the church and the LGBTQ community.

ReconcilingWorks Online Trainings

ReconcilingWorks now offers four Online Trainings, to help you continue your learning in how to welcome, include, and celebrate all of God's Beloveds. Register for a training today!

For Additional Support

If you should need additional support accessing the 2024 RIC Sunday resources, please connect with ReconcilingWorks staff at Info@ReconcilingWorks.org.