Back to Life, Back to Reality

I'm back at home, sitting on my bed, cuddling with my kitty... but I'm also missing Synod.

I know I should have posted something before regarding this morning's vote on the Unified Governance Resolution, but I feel less and less sure of what really happened. What I do know is that many feelings were hurt, and not just the feelings of those in opposition or partial opposition to the resolution.

At the time I was thinking, "Shouldn't we, the UCC of all churches, be able to trust each other to stand up for the rights and interests of all?" In other words, "Why can't we all just get along!?"

Unfortunately, there followed a conversation for me with another young person who's language and attitude displayed a clear lack of understanding, or even respect, of the grievances brought forth by the opposition, who were mainly People of Color. We have a long way to go in our search for true social justice and the end of racism, but I believe that if we keep our hearts on Jesus and our minds on Justice, we will some day reach a place of peace.

If you want the full story and to make your own opinions, which I encourage, go to ucc.org. (note: I'm actually posting this link even though the Monday video is not up yet. I'm guessing whoever you are that you aren't desperate to watch it on Tuesday at 10:30pm!)

You can also find all sorts of great videos on the website, including the Wrap up presentation.

This truly was such a transformative experience for me, and I hope that whoever you, and why-ever you may be reading this blog, that you get to participate in something as spiritually fulfilling for you someday.

Thank you for sticking with me. May God bless you and keep you in the palm of Her hand

And remember - "Never place a period where God has placed a comma"

Sunday Morning

I just realized that I never told you about the Sacred Conversations on Race or the rest of what I did on Sunday before the meeting!

Sacred Conversations on Race was an opportunity for us to go to various workshops such as Race and Daily Life, Race and Immigration, and Race and The New Generation.

I went to Race and LGBT, where we heard from a gay Episcopal minister who works at PSR (sorry, his name is escaping me). He spoke about a lot of the ways in which race, religion and sexual orientation intersect. After his lecture we had Q & A and then split up. First we split in to groups of 2

side note: the woman I sat with, totally by chance, is the successor to my current Pastor at a church in California! General Synod has been filled with these kinds of connections.

After the groups of 2, we moved to groups of 4 and then 6-8. In the groups we discussed why we had chosen to come to this Conversation and what reached out to us from the lecture and Q & A.

It was so wonderful to have this open, loving, safe space to talk about our fears and confusion surrounding the homophobia in communities of People of Color, and the racism in LGBT communities. I feel like this is one of the greatest gifts I will bring home with me, and hope that the resolution for Sacred Conversation's on Race is passed so more people within our denomination will have a chance to experience this transformative dialog.

After lunch with a new friend at a great Asian Restaurant (just finished my Tempura for lunch today), I met up with a family I met at a music festival two years ago and who I haven't seen since then! They are from Kalamazoo and were there as visitors. It was fun to see them, ad hear about their congregation, which had as many parallels as differences to my own local church.

Woke Up This Morning...

Good afternoon from beautiful Grand Rapids Michigan!

Today we had a breakfast caucus for the Minnesota delegates, where we all shared our committee experiences. It was a blessing to hear that so many of us had swift deliberations and would have the morning free today.

Also a blessing to find out which of our delegates were on the Single Governance resolution. This is a resolution about restructuring the governance at the National Setting of the UCC, and there is a lot of controversy surrounding the decision. I am happy to report that our two delegates are two women whom I have come to know over the weekend as very intelligent, thoughtful and strong women, and I am so lad they are representing us on this committee. I know they are opening their hearts and minds to all the ways that God is moving through us during this process.

I was also able to meet Wade Zick (sp? sorry), our conference's Youth and Young Adult Ministries guy. He spoke with us about what the youth had been doing at Synod, which includes a lot of service projects along with some concerts, and -- my favorite -- a "Theological viewing of Transformers"!! (I definitely would have rather been there then in plenary!)

After our meeting those of us who still had resolutions to work on went to those meetings. For my roommate Jennifer and I, the free time allowed us to work on our sermon and sleep, respectively! In fact, I just woke up not long ago!

This afternoon we have more plenary, including the Block A and B reports, which I think may include my committee's resolutions!

Tonight we have another plenary after dinner. Then it's time to Party in Karen Smith- Sellers room! ... until 11 when the neighbors have us kicked out. Then it's on to Rumors for Karaoke in honor of my new friend Jake's 21st birthday!

Glad I got some sleep...

From the UCC Website...

Quick Link:

God's Rules of Punctuation - from the Worship Friday night.

Spirit's Calling My Name

written at 8:39am

This morning my roommate, Jennifer (not upset by the late night blogging, btw), and I were woken by the hotel alarm - not set by either of us - 2 minutes before our own alarms went off (creepy, no?). We had to be at a breakfast caucus at 6:30am! It was a good breakfast (thanks to the Amway Grand!) and a very informative meeting! Yvette Flounder from San Francisco came to speak with us about the Single Governance resolutions; the big talk of the synod.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Single Governance:

1. currently 88 members of executive council
2. pros of current model: LOTS of representation - the current model tries to include representatives from as many minority groups as possible
3. cons of current model: too many cooks, not enough communication/trust/covenant between the different boards (4 separately incorporated ministries; Justice and Witness, Wider Church Ministries, Local Church ministries, Office of General Ministries)

• We got friendship bracelets in still speaking colors made for us by delegate Lisa Lindesmith, so we can more easily recognize each other
• Meeting tonight after worship for "provisions" in Karen S-S's room! As Grand Rapids told its businesses in a memo, "The UCC is not opposed to alcohol." In other words, stock up!

Today we have River City Saturday - a day of workshops, entertainment and fellowship. I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, though I'm afraid I'll need to skip some things to take a nap! This morning we are Worshiping again in the Plenary hall with the Coalition Choir (among others) providing music. So far so good! I better get to it - I need some church this morning! Can I get an Amen?!

Late Night, Good Night

watch this:

We got to see him preach tonight at the opening Worship:

it, was, amazing,

No periods in this post - the sermon was on how only God has the right/ability to use a period - but also basically that God really prefers ? - : - ; - and ,

And next time someone trys to place a period on your life, you should say, "comma"

OK, the worship ran late, and then I went to the Young Adult Reception (super fun!) but now I'm wiped out and possibly making my roommate mad, so I'm going to place an ! on tonight and see you in the morning

!

On My Way to be Immersed!

Welcome to General Synod from a blogger's point of view!

My name is Elinor, and I am serving as a delegate from the Minnesota Conference of the UCC to General Synod - 27. I will be doing some semi-live blogging from Grand Rapids, MI. It's my first time at Synod, so look here for news on official business, stories of navigating a new city, and (hopefully) some updates on the fun stuff, too!

Right now I'm in the Milwaukee airport, waiting for my flight to GR. During my layover I've been looking over the Resolutions and Bylaws changes that have been proposed, and I have to say - I'm starting to get excited! Aren't you?!

Right now I am most hyped about the proposed amendments to the bylaws:

From the delegate materials at ucc.org:

"Authorized Ministers of the United Church of Christ—ordained, commissioned,

licensed—are all to be regarded by the Church with mutual respect and care as

they serve on behalf of the whole Church."

Hmm, so far, it sounds good to me. What do you think?

One outcome of this change would be a change in our terminology; instead of calling someone a "Student in Care," they would be referred to as a "Member in Discernment." I like this terminology, because it reflects the fact that not all those who are called to ministry are necessarily called to Divinity School at the same time :)

So, that's all for now. I think I'll go find some grub and then take a nap - hoping to meet up with other Young Adults after the worship tonight, so I better be rested!

See you in Cyberspace! Leave a comment!

UPDATE: This was the first chance I've had to get online, so I've actually arrived and survived the first Plenary Session! Check back soon for a report!