The extremely high waters of the river have receded a bit in Grand Rapids. The morning program for Sunday at Synod was
“Sacred Conversations on Race.” While I
applaud our denomination for taking on this issue my overall impression of this
portion of the Synod program was that it was a mixed bag. I heard several colleagues suggest that their
session took an almost embarrassingly simplistic view of the issue while others
found compelling conversations not so much in what was presented by the assigned
keynote speakers and moderators, but because of the conversations that happened
between small groups of people. I
applaud the UCC for delving into this issue
and attempting to take an honest shot at discussing the linger effects
of our culture’s inability to talk in depth about race and racial issues, but I
am honestly not sure how far this exercise brought us.
The afternoon worship included sacred dance, wonderful
music, and inspired preaching by retiring General Minister and President John
Thomas. Weaving together wisdom from scripture and his experiences as General Minister and President Rev. Thomas wove together the story of Jonah doubts, the gifts of the Ethiopian eunuch, and the promises of the revelation to John. Inspiring and profound...
After the evening committee session, the 2030 Clergy Network
hosted an after-hours event where we honored John Thomas’s work and vision as
our General Minister and President over these past 10 years. Amid 60 or so 2030 clergy and amid the
appetizers, conversations, drinks, and laughter we celebrated the ministry of
grace, love, and passion that has marked John Thomas’s leadership of the United
Church of Christ. We presented him with
a wall-hanging that depicts UCC symbol and thanked him for the both the
inspiration and the direct action that he has undertaken on behalf of young
clergy. For some of us the event went on into the after-hours of the
after-hours, but the wonderful and deep theological conversations simply did
not allow the evening to end early. At
some point during the night one of my colleagues, a fellow PSR alum, noted that
it was 10 years ago this August that we entered PSR together—a truth I knew, but
at the same time find hard to believe. I am so awed by the work that my
colleagues—from PSR and around the UCC—are doing, and I am aware of the
blessings they bring to the UCC and the inspiration they give me.
Yet another long but great day at Synod!
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