I (finally) arrived in Grand Rapids shortly after midnight
on Wednesday night-Thursday morning, got settled in my room and attempted to
sleep—but even after a full day of travel, I still couldn’t manage to shake
“west-coast time.” Once 1:15 am hit I
figured I might as well make the most of being up, so off to the hotel gym I
headed. After nearly an hour of exercise
I finally fell off to sleep sometime around 3 am.
Morning came quickly and I was off to the 2030 Clergy
Network Pre-Synod event at Park United Church of Christ in Grand Rapids.
At Park UCC the 2030 National Planning Team (NPT) met quickly before the
event and put the finishing touches on a few pieces. Rob Leverage, Matthew Westfox, Amy Sens and I
put together the pieces for the opening worship after a colleague was unable to
join us. Our simple opening worship
featured wonderful hymn singing (Guide My Feet and Called as Partners), reading
from John 15 (Vine and Branches), and during a sharing portion that I called on
my 2030 colleagues to be bold enough to first lift up what we—as the 2030
branches of the church—bring as gifts to ministry, to one another, and to our
church. After hearing wonderful,
serious, funny, honest, and hopeful affirmations of the profound talent,
pastoral presence, and blessings that were in the room I next asked my
colleagues to be bold enough to also name those things that they need from our
God and from our Christ that is the vine
that grounds us. Once again I heard
profound words—of hope, of concern for the church, of concern for individual
ministries—and thus our words that lifted up our gifts and those things that we
need from and with our God became or prayers as we began our gathering.
Our event next shifted to a coffee hour—that ALWAYS comes
after worship right? The coffee hour
time allowed us to informally reconnect with old friends and meet colleagues
that were new to us. We followed our coffee
hour time with a time for regional meetings that allowed us to network with
those who are closest to us—at least on the map. This was yet another time when I longed to
live in a less spread out region as our regional gathering included folks from
Northern and Southern California, Seattle, from Corvallis, Oregon—not an easy group
to gather for coffee or lunch! Nonetheless we had a spirited discussion about
the things that were feeding us in our ministry settings and those things that
we are “working on or figuring out.”
Lunch followed and although it was originally set to be a
self-selecting interest group gathering for “solo pastors, associates, clergy
with children, etc.” Instead, we had a
surprise guest—the Rev. Geoffrey Black, the candidate for UCC General Minister
and President. We were thrilled to have
him join us and he spoke eloquently and honestly about his excitement and his
concern about this particular time in the United Church of Christ’s
history. I was especially interested in
his words about the need of the UCC to move beyond our history of being a
“head” church and more fully embrace our capacity to be both a head AND heart
church. Rev. Black invited US—the 2030
Clergy Network—to be focused on that work.
After lunch and more discussion with Rev. Black we gathered around Rev.
Black for a “laying on of hands” and a blessing of him as he headed into this
important Synod Gathering. The Rev.
Matthew Mardis-LeCroy offered the blessing while the rest of us gathered around
and prayed for our church and for Rev. Black. I was so thankful that Matt thought to offer that blessing...very powerful moment.
Our after lunch sessions included break out sessions focused
on getting involved in 2030 advocacy with the Pension Boards, getting 2030
clergy involved with conference leadership and Church and Ministry boards, and
getting 2030 clergy involved in Wider Church work.
Finally, we closed our gathering with worship that included communion,
hymns (including a spirited version of “You Have Come to the Lakeshore,”) a
reading of Acts 2:1-7, a recognition of “retiring” 2030 leadership, and a
commissioning of the current NPT members.
Following clean-up and dinner with about 15 2030 colleagues I actually
hit the hotel room early after beginning to pay for the late night/early
morning. A great way to kick-off the
Synod experience for 2009!
P.S. I hope to add some pictures from the 2030 event after I collect some from colleagues...
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