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ONA Coordinator produced rainbow of colors for 20 years

by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane

April/May 2007

Rev. Ann B. Day

For over two decades the Rev. Ann B. Day has let her light shine throughout the UCC by supporting the hundreds of UCC “Open and Affirming Churches.” As reported in the national UCC news last October,  Day,  the program’s coordinator,  and her partner, Donna Enberg, the program’s administrative assistant, will complete their work at close of the 2007 General Synod. They will have served the grassroots movement for 20 years and led more than 600 churches through the “ONA” study process.  There are 69 ONA churches and 3 ONA settings (The Massachusetts Conference, Andover Newton Theological School and Harvard Divinity School) in Massachusetts.

Day and Enberg who were legally married in 2004 at their own church, the United Congregational, UCC in Worcester – attended their first National Gathering of The UCC Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Concerns in 1985, the year that General Synod adopted the Open and Affirming (ONA) resolution. They stood in the back of the room during a preliminary hearing on the resolution. “That was our auspicious introduction to ONA!” Day explained.  Two years later, The Coalition entrusted Day with continuing to maintain the list of ONA churches, developing some resources to help churches shape a study process, and chairing the first ONA Task Team in the Massa-chusetts Conference (where the first ONA resolution was adopted at the Annual Meeting in 1984).

“Those were the beginnings of my ONA ministry,” she said, “which is shared these days with many dedicated folks in the Coalition, national UCC setting, and Conferences throughout the denomination.”

Kathie Carpenter, Chair of the MA Conference ONA Task Force, praised Day’s work.  “Folks in-volved with ONA think of Ann as the face and heart of the movement.  She also delivers the sermon and the humor of ONA.  We seek her council; we rely on her for the last word about a great ONA statement.  She and Donna have patiently and gracefully given life to the ONA vision.  I have been blessed to learn from and be inspired by her.”

In addition to her ONA ministry, Day serves as President of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation which supports museums and institutions involved with restoration, conservation, and education in the field of Asian art, as well as graduate theological education and other interests.  Funding guidelines include the intersection of LGBT concerns and religion.

The Carpenter Foundation has supported several MACUCC programs, including the 2005 “Called Together - Together Called: A Celebration of Women in Ministry” event.  “Ann B. Day has a deep and abiding faith.  She  cares enormously for the United Church of Christ and its many expressions, and is an articulate prophet for justice and witness,” said Susan P. Dickerman, Associate Conference Minister for Leadership Develop-ment.  “Her warmth, giftedness, and strength over the years have been a blessing for all who have experienced her love and dedication for our church.”

Day reports that her ministry with the Coalition has given her “an incredible opportunity to lift up a vision shared by so many in the UCC denomination: that the Church is meant to be a joyful gathering of spiritually maturing and justice-seeking people of all colors, ages, abilities, and economic situations, embodying the spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities.”

“Filled with the Spirit as members of Christ’s Body, we come together in fellowship, worship, and service as equal companions on the Way,” she said.  “All who are part of ONA congregations know this can be a tall order in daily life, but what a dynamic, hopeful vision of who we can be because of God’s love as we know it in Jesus Christ. What a witness to our at-odds, at-each-others’-throats world we are when we bring this to life! Like our UCC Multiracial/Multicultural and Accessible to All commitments, ONA is most essentially an expression of our ‘loving one another.’”

One UCC member summed up in an email why Day is a shining light in many lives:  “I have been searching for an open hearted community that may be the answers to most of my deepest prayers. A way to meet friends and supporters, and a place to breathe freely and confidently without fear.  Sometimes the fear is so great it stunts spiritual growth; rejection and pain can speak much louder than God’s voice at times, and sometimes the chance is just too great. A community that speaks out against intolerance and even indifference and complacency is exactly what some of “us” have been waiting for. It’s nice to know that I might not have to walk a spiritual path alone….”