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