Our own denomination, the United Church of Christ, has recently embarked upon an identity campaign. I'm sure many of us share the experience of having been asked, "What is the UCC?" or "Is that the same as the Church of Christ?" Maybe some of you worshiping with us didn't even realize this church was part of the United Church of Christ, for we in New England frequently defer to a simpler, more familiar answer, stating, "We are Congregational." If you've ever encountered those questions or confusions, you'll understand why the denominational leadership undertook this identity emphasis.

What is interesting, though, is the theme chosen to express the identity of the UCC: "God is still speaking." The idea for this theme comes from an unlikely source: not a theologian at all, but a comedian, the late Gracie Allen. You will remember that Gracie Allen made her way to fame and fortune playing the scatterbrained partner to her husband and straight-man George Burns. Their most famous bit came at the end of every show, when George instructed her, "Say goodnight, Gracie," to which she promptly responded (say it with me), "Goodnight, Gracie!"

In real life, Gracie Allen was an extraordinarily intelligent and sensitive woman, and her marriage to George Burns was legendary for the love they shared and the equal partnership they created. But Gracie died far too soon, and her death left husband George devastated. He has testified time and again that he did not know how to keep on living, much less ever perform again without his beloved partner at home and on the stage. However, Gracie had left George a letter before her death, and it was among the first things he found when he began the painful task of sorting through her belongings. The note said, simply, "George, never place a period where God has placed a comma."

Never place a period where God has placed a comma. God is still speaking, (comma). That's the identity message of the UCC. It has been emblazoned on T-shirts and posters and denominational literature, a giant black comma against a bright red background. There is even a special website, www.stillspeaking.com, which I encourage you to check out next time you are surfing around.

While aptly stated by Gracie Allen, this idea is by no means new to our history as a church. Our ancestors in the faith include, among others, the Pilgrims who first settled here in Massachusetts. These English Puritan Separatists originally fled to Leyden, Holland, to separate themselves from religious persecution and follow the call they heard from God. When the English crown eventually granted them permission to establish a colony in America, their minister and leader, Rev. John Robinson, was not able go with them. The day came for Robinson to deliver his final sermon to his beloved followers, sending them out to a perilous and unforeseeable future. We might imagine that he exhorted them to stay true to the course, to keep their eyes firmly focused on the teaching that he had delivered, to remember their roots and links to the past. But no, Robinson instead told them, "If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument, be as ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by God's ministry. For I am confident that God has yet more truth and light to break forth out of God's holy word."

Never place a period where God has placed a comma. There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God's holy word. God is still speaking.

What do these phrases mean, really? What are we saying when we hold up these ideas for the UCC? We are saying that we believe in the still-speaking God, the God who never ceases loving and caring for humankind and the earth, the God who constantly unfolds new messages of hope and salvation. It means that we worship God as alive and acting in the world, calling out for justice and truth, meeting us in facing new challenges and changes. If there is yet more light and truth to break forth from God's word, maybe we don't yet have the whole picture. If God is still speaking, maybe there is more we need to hear. It means we realize that we don't have all the answers, that we are all still pilgrims, seeking and struggling and living and learning together, in this community we call a church.

It means that because we believe in God's continuing revelation, we as a church can take risks. We can change what we've always done, and be open to the unfolding of God's Spirit. We can admit when we have made mistakes, and then dare to break the old rules that no longer apply. The United Church of Christ and its forebears have a bold record of expanding the boundaries of the church and the message of God's love for everyone-this very congregation was founded in order to welcome more people into full membership in the life of the church, and was among the first to speak out against slavery and to rally against the British at the Boston Tea Party. Our denominational forebears were the first to ordain an African-American man in 1785, to ordain a woman in 1853, to ordain an openly gay man in 1972, and the first to try this United Church of Christ experiment, bringing together four living denominations into a new and united church.

When we put our faith in a God who is still speaking, we can have the courage to journey into uncharted territories, following God's unfolding revelation.

Many people have noted that September 11, the anniversary of which we face this week, thrust our nation and the world into a new and unfamiliar place, a place of fear and terror where nothing feels the same. When we say, "God is still speaking," we proclaim in faith that God has not abandoned us in this new and unfamiliar world, but God journeys right along with us into the post-9-11 mourning and anger and fear. If this is indeed a new era, God will bring us more light and truth to see us through this uncharted terrain, because God is still speaking.

And look right here, at our own Old South Church. We too are facing a new era, after twenty-eight years of faithful spiritual leadership from Jim Crawford, we are stepping out into a new place. But we can trust that God is still speaking. Just as God has spoken to us in the past through trusted leaders, God will continue to speak to us as times change and as we change.

To claim that God is still speaking is to believe that God is always with us and does not let go. That belief is echoed in this morning's reading from Isaiah: "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; God's understanding is unsearchable." Have you not known? Have you not heard? God is still speaking.

Upon my initial encounter with this new UCC theme, I was moved by this idea of God's new revelation to us today. The emphasis on commas and "more light and truth" and the still-speaking God got me excited about the possibilities for this new century church, a church open to new ideas because it recognizes that God's word continues to unfold in new ways. While I still value that particular characteristic of our church and denomination, the more I think about it, the more I realize that there is another side, another powerful message in that phrase, "God is still speaking."

Think back to those words from Isaiah describing God as everlasting, with power and energy to never grow weary. That passage points not only to the new things God is doing, but the ways God gives us the same message again and again.

I imagine many of you have heard that old yarn about the pastor who accepted a call to serve a new church. On her first Sunday there she preached a powerful sermon. It was well crafted, convincing, and challenging. "Thank you for your sermon, pastor," said person after person as they shook her hand at the door. "They really needed to hear that." A week later the pastor stood in the pulpit and gave the same sermon, word for word. This time when people shook her hand, few said anything beyond, "Good morning." The next Sunday arrived and the pastor preached the very same sermon yet again. This time the Senior Deacon met her at the back door and said that the Deacons were holding an emergency meeting in ten minutes' time. When the pastor arrived, she could feel the tension in the room. It was clear that everyone was very upset. "Pastor," the moderator said, "you have preached the same sermon to us for three weeks. Do you not have any others?!?" "Well," said the pastor, "I figure I'll preach something new as soon as you all start doing what you've already heard." How much that rings true! God is still speaking, because we just haven't heard it yet. Literary critics regularly berate novelist Kurt Vonnegut, saying that all his books tell the same story, about how human beings need to stop war and all the other ways of destroying the earth and each other. Vonnegut responds with his own accusation. "When we actually stop destroying the earth and each other," he says, "I'll write a book with a different message."

Since the day of our creation, God has been telling us that we are made for loving relationship with one another. From the beginning of human society, God has urged us to treat one another with justice and to practice peace. Yet we have not heard, or if we have heard, we have not acted accordingly. Looking around at our world, violence, injustice, discord and inequality still remain, perhaps even more powerful than ever. God cries out for justice day after day, God weeps over those who are oppressed week after week, God urges us to love year after year. We must attune our ears again and again to listen and to follow God's call to live in love. And we must also allow God to speak through us, using us to speak out on behalf of justice, righteousness and truth. In our churches, in the workplace, in our homes, and in the public square, we must raise our voices on behalf of those who have no voice. Whether it is justice for janitors, peace in the Middle East, an end to domestic violence, or the abolition of racism, sexism or homophobia, God is still speaking, and so must we.

I have one final thought on this theme, and this is the most important one of all. God is still speaking, and that means, first and foremost, that God refuses to give up on us. Whether the messages are new ones or old, the fact that God is still speaking shows us that whatever we have done or not done, God still loves us, still reaches out to us, still whispers grace for each and every one.

Turn then, listen, and follow the still-speaking voice of God. For we have been promised that "those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Have you not known? Have you not heard? God is still speaking.

Let us pray.