Okay, so I love getting together with young clergy, thus I am psyched about Synod. But this year, I am a delegate, which really cramps the hanging out experience. May God's Spirit come over all of us and reignite our spirits!

GS 2007: Let the 2030 Shine!!

Church Struggles with Unity?

This is the headline for an article written in the Hartford Courant on Sunday.

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-notsoopen0617.artjun17,0,2588315.story

I hope that you will read it and write back to the Editor like I did. Frankly, I am very tired of all of the negative press that we read so newspapers can sell. She interviewed tiny little churches and put their luke warm responses in. Not responsible journalism in my mind.

Here was my response.

I am disappointed with Elizabeth Hamilton’s article about the United Church of Christ on Sunday, June 17^th. I do not believe that we struggle for unity as much as we celebrate diversity and freedom. All mainline churches are facing the issue of same-sex marriage and homosexuality, but their traditions do not allow their people the freedom to break covenant ties like ours does. Our autonomy, while it can be painful when churches leave, also means there are 240 churches in the Connecticut Conference who choose to stay. We are proud to be a part of this church that welcomes all people I found this article to be biased and sensationalist. You had to read well into the second page before you found anything positive about my beloved church. How about mentioning the 8,000 people who are attending General Synod? How about mentioning the churches who have joined the UCC since 2005? How about mentioning all of the wonderful mission and justice work we do in the world? How about mentioning all of the children, youth, and adults who have found a powerful relationship with Jesus Christ and God because a UCC church said, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!” (No question mark inside the quotation.)

Synod Resolutions

For all of you who are delegates or just really, really interested in the plenary sessions, are there any resolutions that are catching your eye? I know one that caught mine was the resolution entitled "Changing the Composition of the General Synod", which would make for a massive change in who comes to Synod. What do y'all think about that idea?

To see this and other proposed resolutions for GS26, go to http://www.ucc.org/synod/resolutions/

Synod Travel

Hey everybody! I know we're all looking forward to General Synod, and all of the celebrations in Hartford - from the 2030 gatherings to Synod in the City and even plenary sessions...but how will we GET to all of this stuff? Just wondering if anybody has travel needs that haven't been met yet and if so, we wanted to give an opportunity for ride sharing, or for travel tips in Hartford (like is the shuttle posted on the Synod website the only way to get between the airport and the downtown hotels?).

See you soon!

General Synod is coming!

As a Connecticut clergy, I am so excited for you all to join us in Hartford, CT for General Synod. Last I knew, there were 7200 people registered for Synod and I would not be surprised if there were almost 10,000 people there for Sunday afternoon worship. It will truly be an amazing experience. Synod in general and our Thursday and Saturday activities in particular will be a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our network and make our presence as the now and future of the United Church of Christ known.
Kristen

Blogs for Synod

This is the basics for Blogging at Synod
1~ Make sure you have a Blogger ID Name~ That was we know who's blogging, no Anoymous folks! (if you area Gmail person, just use your Gmail name and password~ it should work for you)

2~Come to site ~ http://2030clergy.blogspot.com/

3~ When you log on you will see a screen that says "Manage your Blogs" just hit "New Post" and you will see a Box that you can type in using HTML or Plain Text...

4~Type till your heart is happy. Type what you know. Type about peace. Type till you get a sense that you are done. if you want to insert a picture, click the small picture in the Tan top right of the box, and it will either ask you type in the url of picture or uplaod from your local computer..

5~ After you are done typing and editing
make sure to preview the message
Then go to organe button on the bottom left of your screen and
click "publish post"

6~ Then the world can see you blog and make all the comments they can

7~ I highly enourage to make comments as Blogging is meant to be a interactive Dialogue
Check out more about blogging at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Any last problems with Blogger go to http://help.blogger.com/

or feel free to email me at Revjava@gmail.com