By Rev Roberto Ochoa
“Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment,” (Matthew 9:20-22)
Dear friends of the Iowa Nebraska South Dakota Conferences of the United Church of Christ and beyond,
HAPPY PRIDE!
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending my 50th college reunion at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was privileged to be invited to provide the invocation for the induction to the “Golden Scot” society of class of 1976. Before, the invocation, I confessed to my fellow alums, that had someone had told this arriving 17 year old Gay Chicano barrio kid from Lincoln Heights, East L.A. that I’d be coming back in the future as a minister to do an invocation, I would have laughed out loud and lit up a joint. So incredulous was the thought.
I was also asked to sit on a panel, hosted by Scots Pride, the college’s LGBTQA+ group on campus, to discuss the evolution of the Queer presence in Macalester through the years beginning in the 70’s. As the elder spokesperson, I was part of a group of students that began the first gay and lesbian student organization on campus in 1974. Our session was a fabulous exchange of laughter and some tears when we shared our experiences spanning five decades making Macalester as one of the most affirming and safest colleges for the LGBTQA+ students. A fact that I am very proud of.
Throughout the rest of the reunion, Macalester alums and/or their family members and friends, who saw and heard me on the panel, would come up to me and expressed gratitude of not only being an out gay man but for being a pastor, which inspired and gave them hope about their own spirituality or that of a gay, lesbian, bi, trans, non-binary, queer loved one. Many asking about the United Church of Christ, some inquiring of congregations in their own city or town. My presence meant something to them, often with requests for a hug, which humbled me greatly.
On Sunday, I was fortunate to hear my dear friend of many years, Rev. Dr. Jim Mitulski, pastor of Congregational Church of the Peninsula UCC in the San Francisco Bay area, who was invited to preach at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, the same weekend of my reunion. House of Hope is pastored by Rev Dr Scott Jones, the former pastor of First-Central UCC in Omaha, and whom I have kept in touch with since his call to St. Paul and where we discovered we are mutual friends of Rev Jim. So, it was an additional joy to visit with them both.
Pastor Jim preached on healing and faith, using the scriptural text in the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus informs a woman, it was her action in faith that made her well. He went on to share his experience as a pastor of a Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco, a predominately LGBTQA+ congregation during the peak of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that killed an estimate 12,000 people between 1981 to 1994 in the city alone. Pastor Jim is currently featured in a 2025 Peabody award winning 10-part podcast series entitled “When We All Get to Heaven” detailing the pain and joyful resilience of MCC when it became the spiritual center for those affected by and dying of AIDS in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay area.
Listening to the first two episodes of the podcast on my drive from St. Paul to Sioux Falls, SD, brought me back to my initial calling to ministry when I was a member of MCC Los Angeles, especially to the Spanish speaking communities. I remember how we clung to the hymn “When We All Get to Heaven” like it was Jesus’ cloak. A renewed faith that was healing our souls, even as our bodies were dying, our spirits were strong in the face of death. A faith which informed us, that no matter what anyone said, God loved us as we are and that AIDS was not a divine punishment. MCC churches became the healing ministries of spirit and soul during the early years of HIV/AIDS.
It was during this time, many churches in the United Church of Christ, were already (since 1972) discerning the church’s role in spirituality and sexuality, began to experience, as many churches would, the effects of HIV/AIDS on gay members within their congregations. What did it mean to be welcoming and affirming instead of tolerating? A movement began to grow and in 1985 the General Synod of the UCC passed a resolution urging churches to declare themselves as “Open and Affirming” as a sign of welcoming to the LGBTQ communities. In 1987, fifteen churches were certified as ONA. In 2026 that number stands at 1,763 UCC ONA congregations.
I want to express my gratitude to all the UCC Open and Affirming Congregations that are in the Iowa Nebraska South Dakota Conferences and your ministry of spreading the inclusive and liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. Your presence and ministries to the communities you serve provide hope, even saving lives, for many still feeling marginalized or oppressed for being their authentic selves.
As I reflect on this during this June Pride Month when we commemorate the beginning of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement because of the Stonewall Uprising in 1969. I remember the coverage of Stonewall, as a young teenager…and recognized my people. In college when we started the Gay Student Collective, others who would come out later would acknowledge the seed of LGBTQ+ affirmation because we dared to be out. When as a young adult, I found a person who affirmed that God loved me as I am, that seed led me to dare touch the cloak…and when I did…I found my faith in Jesus and was healed. My journey of faith would eventually lead me to the Iowa Nebraska South Dakota Conferences of the United Church of Christ, as a presence and witness to the healing power of spirit and soul through the unconditional love of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Have a Blessed Pride Month.
Bendiciones y Paz,
Rev Roberto
For information regarding the Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ please follow this link: https://openandaffirming.org/
For information on the Peabody Award winning podcast “When We All Get to Heaven” please follow this link: https://www.heavenpodcast.org/all-episodes