Saturday, June 24, 2006

6/24/2006 7:07 AM

Day Three of the Conference. You will note that I am writing this on Saturday because I was just too tired to write last night. The meetings go non stop from 8:30 AM to 9:00 PM and I like a dummy was there all day! Today Saturday is my last day as the Amtrak train #50 The Cardinal leaves from Indianapolis at 1:38 AM tomorrow morning and I will be on it. There is only a half day on Sunday and I needed to leave when there was a direct connection and not have to go back through Chicago.

OK What happened yesterday? Well a lot happened.

Awaken to God’s Dreams! That was the theme yesterday. Remember the ribbon donation on the first night of the meeting? Well we found out that two women are actually weaving these ribbons into a cloth. One woman is spinning the ribbons into a thread and the other is weaving. I don’t know when they expect to show us the finished product either tonight or tomorrow. I have ordered the highlight DVD so I will have the photo of it later.

We then celebrated the work of Secretaries who work for the church. Some of the women were there at the meeting and their photos were shown on a video. The photos were also on a wall in the convention center. I will take a photo of that wall. This was so nice to celebrate the work of the people who represent the church when no one else is there.

The bible study this morning was conducted by a Native American woman from Oklahoma Rosemary McCombs Maxey. She is a national leader in the UCC and Acting Director of the Eagle Butte Learning Center, a ministry of the UCC’s Council for American Indian Ministries. The bible passage was Luke 8:42b-48 The Good Samaritan. I missed most of this because I ran back to get a camera battery. (Today I will remember to take the spare with me.)

Next there was a discussion of Blessing Boxes. It turns out that the Disciples and the UCC have blessing boxes. These are little boxes in which you place money to count your blessings. Remember the 11cent a day for mission that I talked about yesterday? Well this would be a good way to save that money. The money goes for mission. I think the Board of World Fellowship should adopt this idea as a way to get money for SOS!

The Disciples women held a business meeting and I worked on a prayer shawl while they were meeting. You will note I am wearing the pink conference tee shirt. Yesterday was pink and purple day. Everyone was supposed to wear pink or purple, the conference colors. I needed to wear the shirt for the choir since we were going to sing that night.

Renee Bondi who is a disabled singer and inspirational speaker gave her faith story and sang some of her songs. She became disabled due to a fall out of bed on her head. She is a quadriplegic who has regained some movement and is now able to sing again. She was selling her book and cd’s the proceeds of which pay for her care. She was good.

I had lunch with some Central Atlantic Conference women that I met here. It is hard to find UCC women here, they are mostly Disciples. Most of the women UCC staff are here though

The entire afternoon was taken up with Choir rehearsal. First we rehearsed and then we went to the stage to be placed in our seats and for a sound check. I had expected to go to a Discovery program on Gospel Singing but I was singing it instead. I also want to go to the Red Tent which is a room set aside for rest and relaxation but I did not have time for that either. We are singing two gospel pieces “Order My Steps” and “I Will Sing Praises” I like “Order My Steps” I have the music for Holly to look at and decide about. She probably knows about this music given her history and expertise.

The worship service was interesting. It was a mix of upbeat gospel singing and a fire and brimstone sermon given by Daisy L. Machado Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary. She is a native of Cuba. She changed us to get out of our rocking chairs and work for peace and justice. The worship service ended with a healing prayer service. We could write our prayers, request them via a microphone, request privately at prayer stations with healing oil or light a candle. What calm after an exciting beginning to worship. All 3000 women left the hall in silence after the benediction!

I walked out after this in the cool twilight evening. I was tired, but it had been a good day.