Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting Newark Delaware 2 Conversation with Geoffrey Black UCC General Minister

Rev Black had a conversation with the members of the audience in which he answered questions about the UCC.  When asked about the mandate to have a "Conversation about Race", he said this should not be a one time thing.  Churches should have an ongoing relationship with another church in the area in which the congregation is totally different from your church in regard to race, social status and sexually orientation.  For example he mentioned a UCC Church in Chapel Hill NC who formed a partnership with an African American Church.  They now share a choir that sings at the UCC church in the morning and then the African American church in the afternoon.  (When I spoke with the Rev about this, he said this is something we could consider.)

There was a question about Rev Jeremiah Wright situation during the Obama election.  He said that he respected Dr. Wright as a colleague and the whole situation was simply political brought up by people who were against the Obama election and people should not put much stock in what was said then.

Rev Black then went on to explain the UCC much of which can be found on the UCC website .
The main goal is plant new churches.  He said the church is changing.  There are now Internet churches where people don't leave their homes to go to church.  When he was the conference minister in New York he said there was a new church start in a bar!  He said the UCC is you, the people.

The core values are:
          God is Still Speaking
          We believe in an extravagant welcome - everyone is welcome in our church
           We beleive in changing lives
            The reason for being is to serve God.

Then he itemized the UCC Goals over the next thirty years.
            To be involved in deep theological engagement to know our faith and that of others.
            To be a bold public voice for legislation and in the media,
                   just as the catholic church and conservative churches.
             To have excellence in leadership which includes the clergy and laity.
             To be passionate about the environment we want to take care of our earth
              We value cultural diversity which is our mantra.  this means age, and the demographics.
                    of the community.

For more about the UCC please visit the UCC website.

Jeannette Brown
UCC Representative

The Green Group in Christ Church

At Christ Church we have a green group who work to see that we are environmentally friendly.  We no longer mail bulletins and we recycle them when done.  We have an e-newsletter that comes out once a week so we don't waste paper sending one out.  It is also much more up to date then a quarterly newsletter would be.
In my home I had a 30 plus year old GE refrigerator that still worked except you had to defrost the freezer and since there was a air leak you had to do this frequently.  So last June I bit the bullet and bought a brand new GE refrigerator.  We are so excited about this refrigerator because it makes ice cubes and you can get filtered chilled water!  The old refrigerator was taken by the State along with an old non working freezer ( it was supposed to be working but they took it any way).  For this I just received a check from the state for $100.00 ($50.00 each) so it pays to recycle!
About that chilled water.  This means I no longer buy bottled water, and now we come to the point of this blog, assuming that you are still with me.  Here is another UCC Daily Devotion about water.
Think Outside the Water Bottle
Excerpt from  2 Thessalonians
1:3-12
“To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you
worthy of [God’s] call.”
Reflection by Donna
Schaper
Worthy of a call?   Could I get a rain check? A way out of my home
in I-don’t-know-how or I-wish-I-could?
Excuses abound for unworthiness.  Even more, unworthiness is an excuse.
Consider thinking outside the water bottle when it comes to your call from
God.  We have so many habits that distance us from the divine.  How
about changing just one this week, and another next week?  Think of it as
taking one step on a stepladder to the heaven of worthiness. 
Here’s one step to take: Water comes out of a tap.  We don’t need to
buy it in a bottle.  We have cups and glasses.  Even if we recycled
the same water bottle or purchased the more politically correct type, we could
step our way to a cleaner ocean. 
Consider as well the spiritual side of the way you drink water.  Many
women in the world walk 20 miles a day to get water. They also send their
children to fetch water, the same children who then can’t go to school.
We become worthy of our call not just by keeping the ocean clean. We become
worthy of our call by treasuring our water and remembering, always, in every
way, who has and who has not. I do ridiculous things not to waste water, like
using the dog’s bowl to water the plants if the dog bowl needs
freshening.  Or washing dishes in the most conserving ways I can imagine.
Doing these things won’t make me worthy of God’s call.  But it will
remind me of whose I am and who my friends elsewhere are.  Worthiness
might be a side effect.  I might even run out of excuses.
Prayer
Oh, God, take us away from our hellish habits to spiritually-stepped rituals
that ache to be worthy. Amen. 
Jeannette Brown