UCC General Synod 28 Tampa Florida Day 1

July 1 was the first day of the UCC General Synod in Tampa Florida.  I left for Tampa on June 30 on Amtrak train #91 The Silver Star.  It was a great train ride.  As usual I met a lot of interesting people on the train.\

The train arrived in Tampa about one hour late which is not bad for Amtrak.  I checked into my hotel the Hyatt and then took the shuttle bus to the convention Center where the meeting was to be held and received my registration materials.  Then I went into the exhibit hall. 


The UCC has a huge exhibit where they showcase all the resources of the UCC.  All  the programs of the UCC are showcased and this year there were discussion groups in the exhibit hall, ,so there was a lot of things for a visitor to do.  Just exploring the exhibits takes time.

Also some of the non UCC exhibitors such at SERVE and other exhibitor sell things.  You can buy robes and stoles for the clergy and choir and jewelery, coffee etc. The UCC sells books and tee shirts etc.  I bought a book of daily prayers.


At 3:30 PM the first plenary session began with the business of the synod.  This was just the routine business like establishment of a quorum, introduction of the Moderators and the parliamentarians.  There are two parliamentarians, one for the moderators and one for the delegates.  They need them because sometimes fights over the method of running the meeting break out.  There are three moderators one primary moderator and two assistants.  This year one of the assistant moderators comes from Hawaii.  They like to have a diverse group of moderators, just as they like to have diversity in everything else that is done at Synod.  The delegates have to diverse by race, gender and age and there is a quota for 20-30's because they want to emphasize the youth.  The Central Atlantic Conference did not make that quota in their delegates.
During the middle of the business they decided to break the meeting and introduce the new church starts.  In the last two years there were 78 new church starts which is more than had ever happened since the formation of the UCC.  So a representative from each church marched in with a sign saying the UCC Rocks and danced onto the stage.  Unfortunately someone was injured during this, maybe the person fell off the stage so they paused while the paramedics attended to the person.

The two candidates for positions in the UCC Collegium gave their nomination speeches. One was  Rev. Ben Guest who is the nominee for the Executive Minister and would be the first openly Gay member of the group.  The other was Rev James Post candidate for the head of Wider Church Ministries.
They did not finish the business at the first session so they continued before worship service that night.  They must break at 5 PM for sponsored dinners and other dinners.


I had a ticket for Justice and Witness Award Dinner, which I forgot about, almost.  I am not used to jumping off the train and going right to a meeting, so I went back to my hotel and then I discovered the ticket.  So I went right back and was able to eat at the end of the dinner.  Wow!  I am sorry that I missed the meeting part of the dinner since Justice and Witness is the group that I care about most in the UCC as you can tell why. 

The evening session started with the unfinished business followed by worship service.


The worship service was unique because instead of using candles for each person to hold the minister told us to take our our cell phone and wave them in the air.  I used my i-pod.  It was pretty because it was like fireflies and was within the fire code.  The service included three testimonies by three young clergy, one African American woman told us how she grew her church from 5 people to three hundred people.  Another woman gave a testimony and there was a young man who was a minister but her looked like a high school student.

It was a long day.  So long I forgot to go to the wine and cheese celebration to meet the people who write the daily Still Speaking Devotions.  I was too tired and I thought the event was another night.

If you want to watch Synod it is streaming on line.http://www.ucc.org/synod/live.html
The archives will also be posted.
I will post pictures later.
Jeannette Brown