Finally on the Floor

Here are our delegates listening, absorbing, reading, and voting on the floor of Synod.

It seems like weeks that we have been here, and the delegates are finally in Plenary and debating the hot topics of the day.

Looks like Caryn believes in the old Chicago aphorism: vote early, and vote often.

More fun at Synod...

These first two pictures are from a vigil held last night in Grand Rapids commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. As you can see, the Southwest Conference was well and visibly represented at the Vigil. One of the things I enjoy about Synod are the opportunities we are given to be a presence in the community in which Synod is held. Pictured here also are three men from the local LGBT community who had no idea who the United Church of Christ is, and who were overwhelmed when this crowd of 'Church People' showed up to be in solidarity with them.

Now, I have been writing about how wonderful Synod is, and the rich experiences that I have shared while here. This next picture tells a different story, though, and shows us that not everyone is all that thrilled with the experience.


Ah, yes. To each their own.

More Synod Happenings...

Here are two of our 40+ visitors, Marie and Sandi. One of the things that I am amazed by is how widely throughout the Southwest Conference the deep love and appreciation for the United Church of Christ and its mission is spread. That is evidenced by how many use their own precious time and money just to be here - with no real responsibility at all. I love that very much - it is really cool.

Here is our delegation piling into the van - which we do every morning around 8:00am. You may think that means they get to sleep in late each morning, but no. By this time we have spent the previous 90 minutes caucusing - going over the previous day's activities and talking about what is coming up in the coming days. Synod is very demanding on our delegates. They are often up till midnight or later, and the morning starts very early for them.

Here is our Honored Laywoman, Mary Lou Carson. She is standing next to our Moderator, Alissa Marquis. One of the best moments at Synod is the honoring of laywomen whose lives have been given in service to mission and justice. Mary Lou, a member of United Church of Santa Fe, was selected by our Board of Directors as the Southwest Conference Honored Laywoman.
We are very proud of her.

All we do is eat....

Breakfast, lunch, dinner - here we are just eating away to our hearts content. Part of the joy of Synod is sharing meal and conversation with good friends, some of whom you just don't get to see enough of.

I hope you can get a sense of how we use this time to build love, friendship, and unity in the body. Even our meals are time well spent: there is laughter, there are stories, there is dialogue on the important issues of our time - both at Synod and beyond, there is challenge. It's all good.

Delegates eat lunch

Ok, its not the most exciting new, I know. But here we are at Bob's, delegates and visitors from the Southwest Conference out to lunch at Synod. See anyone you know?

Synod report

I don't want you to think Synod is nothing but boring meetings, contentious floor debates, and ad nauseam reports.

Last night for my dinner break, I grabbed a Sub sandwich and sat in the shade of a cool tree while listening to a Salsa band play. It was way cool.

And this morning (it's now Saturday), I heard two young musicians sing their hearts out to us. Jason and Demarco are a partnered couple whose voices are incredible, whose faith is evident, and whose love for each other and the church are strong. Their concert was powerful, their testimony moving. Wish you can have been here.

More Synod stuff...

More pics, more people, more great experiences...

Wish you were here!

Here I am pictured with the next President of the denomination (I hope that you are impressed - I wanted it to sound that way) Geoffrey Black.


And here is our own Mark Clark (1st Congo in Tucson), looking dapper and intelligent as he addressed General Synod as the Chair of the Committee of Reference.


Here are Cameron Trimble (hey, she's everywhere) and Nancy Elsenheimer from Church of the Beatitudes.


Here is Pat Dunn, a delegate from Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Synod report

Stay tuned. I will be posting every day while at Synod, and when possible maybe more than once.

There is so much happening, I don't even know where to start.

I start with a picture of the room I spent the day in yesterday, locked up with my colleagues in Conference Ministry talking about all kinds of important stuff (yeah, just take my word for it. I won't bore you with the details). This really is a group of very good leaders - and sometimes we work really well together, and sometimes we don't behave well. But we love the mission of the United Church of Christ, we love each other, we love our churches and our clergy, and we love what we do.


This is Alissa Marquis, our Moderator, driving us to a day of pre-Synod meetins - me with the Conference Ministers and her with Conference Moderators.


Here is Edith Guffey, Associate General Minister of the United Church of Christ talking with a good friend of and frequent visitor to the Southwest Conference, Hans Holznagel.



And here are three good friends - Mike Piazza, Vivian Santiago-Ricci, and Cameron Trimble. Cameron spoke at our Annual Meeting this year - as I know many of you remember well.




That's my report for now - lots more to come!

Executive Committee

Well, I'm back home watching the US Open, and hoping for Tiger to pull out a miracle. Not likely. And as I write the rains come pouring down and they stop play for the day.

When the day began, though, I was preparing for spending it with our Executive Committee. It was a big day and an important meeting. There are some major initiatives beginning to take shape that we hope will help fuel a new and exciting future for the Southwest Conference.



I am grateful to all who gave up a whole day to be there with us and and help us build that future. On the list of topics today were: reconstruction of the Growth and Development Committee and the refocusing of their work around two separate tracks - revitalization and new church starts; the listening visits soon to be conducted by the Justice and Witness Committee; conversation around our financial well-being and creative strategies for developing new resources for funding our Mission; thoughts about the need for, and the financing for, an additional staff person; the creation of a Task Force to begin work on the formation of a Lay Academy in the Southwest Conference; reports from our functioning Committees.

There was more - including a large block of time for Visioning and for Spiritual formation. All in all, I am pleased with the work of this remarkable group of Conference leaders. This is going to be a good year for us, and these men and women will be essential to our success.

A lot to report on....

There is a lot of catching up to do here.

Let's go back to Thursday - which was a full and exciting day all unto itself.

The Church and Ministry Committee approved Tyler Connoley for his Ecclesiastical Review - and he is pictured here with Mike, a fellow member of Tyler's church in Silver City, and his partner Rob. Don' they look exuberant!



And we also Licensed Diane Schreckengost as the Pastoral Assistant at Desert Garden. She is pictured here with their Pastor, Sam Sowitsky. Diane's ministry has proven invaluable to their church, and she is now honored to serve as an authorized minister of the United Church of Christ.


Saturday, Mimi and I were privileged to attend the Equality Arizona annual Awards Banquet. What a glorious evening it was. Pictured here are Brendan Mahoney (Moderator Elect of the Southwest Conference), his partner Gordon Street III, their pastor Steve Wayles, Mimi and I, and another young couple from First Congo, Phoenix - Jason and Bim.




It was a marvelous evening, capped off with a humorous, yet very touching, monologue by actor Leslie Jordan.

Soon to come... pics from my trip this afternoon to the Marshallese church in Tucson. What a great weekend!!!

Celebrating 50 Years

Just look at the happy couple!

I had the distinct honor and pleasure of celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Bob and Millie Carlson. Bob is a retired minister, and former SWC Board of Directors member, who is living in Sedona.

His sister Dosia was kind enough to host the celebration, and to include Mimi and me as a part of it.

Dosia, a writer of hymns, had us singing through the night. Familiar tunes, their lyrics re-written to tell the story of Bob and Millie through the years, were sung with gusto from the dinner table. And Mimi and I signed the family guest/history book, which recounts the stories of dinners shared at the table through the years.

Bob and Millie, may it please God to bless you both through the years that are yet to come.

A full weekend...

I start with the event my heart wanted me to be at, but which I could not attend. This is Sydney Nomberg, a daughter of a dear family friend Bernard Nomberg. He was our attorney, and guided us through a very difficult time in our lives and since then we are like brothers. Sid went through her Bat Mitzvah this weekend. I was asked to come and deliver a prayer during the service at Temple, but could not be there because I had to teach a class. I want you all to see her, and know how proud I am of her.

And now the class: L.I.F.E. is the Lay Institute of Faith Exploration. It means what it says -LAY: no clergy allowed. It brings in Biblical Scholars, Theologians, and church leaders of some repute (present company excepted, of course) to teach the foundations of our faith at a much deeper level than our Sunday School classes ever could. Those who attend are highly motivated to deepen their understandings of the faith, and to enrich their experiences as key leaders in the Church.
This is my class:


And this is Judy Green-Davis, who came along with me to find out how they do what they do so that we can do it here. Give us time, but we will have a lay academy up and running here in the Southwest Conference soon (not like next week or next month soon, but soon).


And the weekend was capped off with a celebration of Desert Palm UCC in Tempe's 30th anniversary celebration. What an enlivening, engaging, spirit-filled group of people this is! Don and Lois Arey were there - the founding pastors. There was laughter and joy and cake and a choir that was as good as they come. I had a ball!

On the Road Again...

Mimi and I spent the last two days in Birmingham AL. Why Birmingham?


Well, here we are with our good friend Bernard. He saved us once, and in a way that our whole lives will always be shaped because of it. Over his shoulder is a portrait of his wife, Karen, who died of Breast Cancer two years ago.

When Bernard invited us, as part of the family now, to help celebrate his older daughter's Bat Mitzvah, we knew we had to go.

Our only regret is that the trip was too short. I love him like a brother. I am so very proud of him.

Shalom.

Pentecost!!!!

What a marvelous Pentecost Sunday this was!

When I entered the sanctuary at First, Phoenix, the choir was warming up. They are a lively group, indeed, and Randall - their accompanist - has an uncanny ability to wring every last ounce of energy and enthusiasm out of them. Of course, their director (Rev. Dr. Steve Wayles) has something to do with that, also. And here they are, all dressed in red - afire with the Holy Spirit.


But it was more than just Pentecost at First Church, Phoenix yesterday. The inimitable Steve Wayles was celebrating the 30th anniversary of his ordination. The church really did a very good job honoring his many accomplishments as a Pastor. I was moved to share that time with them.


From there, I went to spend the afternoon and evening with our Marshallese church in Tempe. I can't even begin to tell you how warmly received Mimi and I were. The hospitality was overwhelming, and the joy with which they conducted their worship was infectious. Tony and his wife (oh, dear, I would try to spell her name but I would only look the fool doing so: Moorda(?)) accompanied Mimi and I to dinner aftwerwards and we heard their amazing story of journey and faith across half a globe to follow the leading of the Spirit in their lives. What in inspiration they are!


Anyway, that was Pentecost. What a grand and glorious day !!!

Happy Birthday, Church!