Synod Day 4 Monday

Monday was Service Day for visitors and work day for delegates. Some people went to Habitat for Humanity to help build a house and some went to a nursing home to talk to the old people. Since I am one I did not want to do that! So I chose to go to the United Church Outreach Ministry Center. It is a food bank, tutoring center for kids and and education center for adults. Food banks in Grand Rapids are all linked so that the people must register to receive food and wait while they are checked to see that they are not abusing the service. Then they can come once or twice a month to receive food. Plus Fema supplies milk so once a week they can come and receive an amount of milk depending on the number of children in the family. They also have a used clothing and furniture center. The center is located in an old funeral home but they have space for the food and several trucks stocked with excess food and furniture.
We were greeted by the director of the center who assigned jobs to us. Some people cleaned out the freezer so it could be moved some people stocked the shelves with food, some people repacked flour and other food that was supplied in bulk. Some painted the walls and offices and I chose to help get the notebooks used in tutoring to be ready for next fall. They reuse notebooks so I had to make them look like they were new and put new labels on them so that the kids could put their name on them. I found out about the tutoring program and plan to send them some science activities from the American Chemical Society that they can distribute. I will also see if some of the college student who tutor can help with the science activities.
Another group of students arrived after we came and they were also put to work, mostly painting. The youth groups at Synod had been working all week doing service projects so this was not new to them. I will write more about the youth and young adults at Synod later. About 11:30 AM lunch arrived! We had pulled pork sandwiches which was good. The bus to take us back to the convention center was to arrive at 12:30 but the director kept people working even after lunch until we got on the bus. I finished my job and went out into the parking lot to practice my Speak Out.
We got back into the convention center about 1:30 which was well in time for the the afternoon session.
The first thing that happens during any Synod business session is "Speak Out". This is a session where anyone can "Speak Out" for one minute about any subject not on the agenda of Synod. I chose to speak about blood cancers of course and funding for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via the "Light the Night" walk. I managed to do it in one minute. After my performance I went to sit in the audience and observe the delegates debate the resolutions. I will talk about the resolutions in a later blog, I just want to give an overview of my day here. I wound up sitting next to another visitor from the state of New York. His wife was a delegate. He had printed out all the resolutions and was following the voting etc. It was nice to sit next to him as we had a running conversation going about the event. We wound up sitting next to each other by choice during all the plenary sessions.
That evening Geoffrey Black was elected the new General Minister replacing John Thoma. He was the New York Conference Minister and he is the second African American to head the United Church of Christ. We also elected The Rev Linda Jaramillo Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries and The Rev. Stephen Sterner Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries and members of the board of directors.
The evening ended with a short worships service which is different because it was liturgical dancers interpreting Scripture as it was read.
I will write about Tuesday tomorrow. I am a day behind because I got tired Monday night and went to bed instead of blogging. Tomorrow Wednesday, I leave for home, I will have time to do some blogging tomorrow since I have a long layover between trains in Chicago.
Jeannette

Synod Day 3 Sunday

Today was Sunday and another day of rest. Well it was a day of rest for us visitors. The delegates are working hard on resolutions. I will speak about them tomorrow. Today started out with the Sacred Conversations about Race. We will have them some time at Christ Church I hope. We were supposed to have them last fall but somehow that did not happen. There were several different groups who talked about several different topics. The topics were: Race, Media and Politics, Race and the Environment, Race and Gender, race and LGBT, Race and Immigration, Race and Religion, Race and the New Generation, Race,Economics and Poverty, Race and Education, Race and Daily Life, Race and the Criminal Justice System, Race and Culture,and Race in the UCC. So you see there is something for everyone to discuss. I was torn between Race and Education and Race and Every Day Life. I chose Race and Education because that's my passion but Race and Every Day Life is something I live. For example when I went to buy a dress for a big occasion at a store in the Short Hills Mall, the clerks ignored me and I was ready to pay $l00 or more for that dress. That's is an example of Race and every day life. Or else clerks come over to you with the "Can I help you?" and then hover over you while you are in the store in case you are going to steal something, I guess.
But in the Race and Education group was a diverse group of mostly educators. It started by a talk by a young African American music teacher who teaches Band at a middle school in Greensboro NC. He spoke about his experiences as a teacher and the impact of the "No Child Left Behind Act" on the schools. Then we broke up into groups of three to discuss this and then larger groups. Each of the larger groups then reported out our finding. Most of what was said has been said before. The big action item is telling Congress when they reauthorize "No Child Left Behind" to put teeth into the bill. Right now it is an unfunded mandate and teachers spend a lot of time teaching to the test for fear of their jobs. It can be done better with alternative means of assessment. But I have blogged about this before so look at the old blogs.
Today was also the United Black Christians Celebration Luncheon. I had a ticket to this luncheon so I dressed up for the occasion. I wore my Afrocentric dress as most of the people there tend to wear Afrocentric clothing both men and women. The United Black Christians was started in 1970. It's mission Statement is:
To provide VOICE for all of the African American members of the United Church of Christ.
To strengthen the Black churches within the United Church of Christ.
To train and nurture leaders of our churches for Gospel inspired service to the Black Community
To provide support for institutions that strengthen our community,
To provide a relevant ministry for our youth and young adults,
To empower the laity for a present day ministry,
To be active advocates for liberation and racial justice at home and abroad,
To provide spiritual nurture for our members,
to enhance clergy-lay ministry partnerships, and
To preserve our history as a people within the United Church of Christ.

I am a member of the United Black Christians. John Thomas came to the luncheon to say his goodbye's as well as the new General Minister nominee Rev. Black.
The program was filled with music and another sermon by an African American minister Rev. Henry Simmons.

After the luncheon we all went back to the convention center to attend the afternoon worship service to which the general public was invited. The Rev John Thomas preached and the choir sang. I am glad I was not in the choir because they only sang one song and their rehearsal was during the United Black Christians luncheon.

After the worship service the delegates got down to business to review the numerous resolutions. Since I am not a delegate I went back to my hotel for rest and relaxation. Tomorrow is the service project day.
The Synod is being webcast live if you would like to see what is going on.
Jeannette Brown

Synod Day 2 River City Saturday

Today was a special day River City Saturday. It was a day of special events which means the business of the Synod was not done while we had these special events which were fun, but I think I would be mad if I were a delegate because there is a lot of work for the delegates to do and not a lot of time assigned to that work. But this is the view of a visitor maybe they are working behind the scenes.
The day started with worship at 8:30 AM in the Plenary Hall. Ina and I got there late but in time to hear Eugene Robinson the Washington Post writer and TV commentator speak. He is writing a book about African Americans and their status post civil rights legislation. He started it before the election of our current president. He spoke about his life growing up in the segregated south and the status of African American now. One of the things he predicts is that our races are becoming blended and there will be no minority race in 40 years. He said "there is no right American history , no standard American history, our divisions are our strength".

The next event I went to was the Praise Hymnal workshop. The UCC has produced a new Praise music hymnal entitles "Sing!Pray and Praise". This workshop talked about how the hymnal was written and how they chose the music. Right now it is just words and music the accompaniment version will come out later this year. There is some music in it that is good so I purchased five copies ( they were running a sale). I will give two to Holly and Ms Allie and the other two are going to the church in Flemington and one for me.

I was tired and but instead of going back to the hotel I got some lunch and went to watch the river. In the afternoon there was a talk by Ray Suarez of PBS and Krista Tippett of "Speaking of Faith" on NPR. Both talks were very good.
After that Ina and I went to dinner and then to the evening event which was a send off for John Thomas the current General Minister of the UCC. Synod will elect a new General Minister this session. John Thomas's twin brother Dick was also there and confused one video photographer. Since Dick is a member of the New Jersey Association and in New Jersey I don't confuse them. Besides Dick is a fellow chemist.
Tomorrow is Conversations about Race. That should be interesting.

Jeannette Brown

27th General Synod UCC Grand Rapids Michigan

Here is my blog from GS27 in Grand Rapids Michigan. This is about the fourth or fifth time I have been to a General Synod as a visitor. My first Synod was held in Providence Rhode Island.
This time I took the train from Washington DC to Chicago IL and then the train from Chicago to Grand Rapids after a layover of all day. The Grand Rapids train ride was interesting. We found out later that most of the people on the train were going to Synod. In fact the conductor commented that he had never seen so many people bound for Grand Rapids. The train left the station on time and got somewhere in Indiana and stopped. We waited for a while and then the train backed up. It seems the CSX dispatcher had sent us on the wrong track! CSX the freight line owns the track. Well we got almost to Grand Rapids and we stopped again. It turns out that CSX said there was Amtrak equipment in the way. They got that straighten out and we headed for Grand Rapids one hour late.
Ina Isobe was waiting for me at the station. She is from Union Congregational Church in Montclair and also a visitor at synod. She is my room mate till Sunday. She was among a group of UCC bikers who biked from Syracuse to Grand Rapids. She is going home by Amtrak.
This morning I visited the widower of one of the women chemists that I am working on for my book. He is an Episcopal priest at St. Marks here in Grand Rapids. The woman died in 1997 but I wanted to check with him about her life.
At about noon I checked in to synod and attended a hearing about the proposed governance changes. The UCC would like to change the governance structure to have one group rather than the five groups each with their own board that meets twice a year. it is very complicated but if you want more information about this I refer you to the UCC website.
After the hearing the business of Synod started.
I went to the Science and Religion Network dinner. The Science and Religion Network is a group of scientists who ponder the interface between religion and science. They are now working on evolution. There was a speaker at the diner who talked about evolution.
After the dinner it was back to the Opening Worship in the Plenary Hall. We had a rousing sermon by The Rev. Otis Moss III who is the new minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. This was the same church that Barack Obama use to attend. Choir members from that church sang the music and the liturgical dance troupe danced the music. I have always wanted Christ Church to have a liturgical dance group, because I think it is so cool. The Rev Moss sounds a lot like Martin Luther King Jr. when he preaches, or maybe it is the same lively way all African American ministers preach. They start out slowly but their body seems to be on springs as they jump up and down and then they wind up and let it fly and it goes on and on for an hour. He was very good. We got back to the hotel late last night and I fell asleep writing the first draft of this blog.

Jeannette