River
City Saturday featured
workshops and keynote addresses by dozens of theologians, artists, and commentators. Our day started with an address from Eugene
Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Washington Post. I also heard Barbara Brown Taylor, Jim
Wallace, and Ray Suarez. Barbara Brown
Taylor was by far the highlight of the speakers in my mind as she spoke
poetically and profoundly about how and why the church must be engaging with
our youngest generations.
Another highlight of the day was the picnic in the park
sponsored by the 2030 Clergy Network. We
had probably 60 people gathered together for lunch on the lawn near the Gerald R. Ford Museum. This was simply a fellowship event, but it
was wonderful to have 2030 clergy and their families, seminarians, and 2030
allies and alums gathered for fellowship and networking.
For dinner I hopped into a gathering of 2030 folks who are
interested in the emergent church conversation.
Nine of us were joined by PSR President Bill McKinney for dinner and conversation
that centered on our desires for the church and our thoughts about how to
implement some emergent identity into our own settings for ministry. There was much rich conversation and although
I would not even begin to classify the discussion as “settled” it did again
focus me on my wrestling match with traditional model of “being” the church.
Our last program piece for the day was a celebration service
honoring the ministry of the Rev. John Thomas, who is serving his last Synod as
our General Minister and President. Many
wonderful words and sentiments were expressed toward and about Rev. Thomas, but
what was most profound about the night was his grace-filled and honest
appraisal of the successes and failures of the UCC during his tenure. His words indicating his struggle with the
demands of the job and the toll they took on his family were undoubtedly
difficult to utter, but exuded the trust and love he has for his family and for
the United Church of Christ too.
Finally, one of the highlights of the day came in the late
hours of the night and the wee hours of the morning as 2030 clergy gathered for
after-hours conversation at one of the hotels. After talking with several
colleagues about their difficult and hurtful ordination processes I found myself
both thankful for the blessings of my own experience with the ordination
process and frustrated by the roadblocks that are too often put in the way of
brilliant and highly capable young clergy.
Some of the stories that I heard tonight demand a more standardized
process that would no longer leave prospective clergy at the mercy of arbitrary
rulings by Conference or Association committees. Overall, our late night conversations yield
more proof that for the next 30 years I will be serving with amazing
colleagues!
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