WI Conference United Church of Christ 2008

Someone suggested that I blog on this experience. It is my first. Mostly, I am expecting First Congo Church folks to look at this, if anyone does.

I returned Sunday from a three day conference at Green Lake Conference Center.

The highlight of the weekend was meeting lots of great people. I was befriended on day1 by Hailey, a 10 year old who was attending with her parents. We made a bit of a connection (she is the same age as my daughter) and every time she saw me afterward she gave me a hug and chatted with me. I got to tell her what open and affirming meant, and she said she understood. So maybe I got through. How wonderful! I also met Theresa, a young minister of African heritage working in the Milwaukee area. We talked a bit about how to get young adults into the church, and church growth in general. And I met Mary, a trained and active lay minister working at a small rural church. We had some good talks about the prospect of adding "heads up" worship services to our respective programs. "Heads up" has all the words projected on screens (liturgy, prayers, song lyrics, etc), with graphics behind. If you have not worshiped this way, it can be awesome (some people find it too stimulating or busy). I hope to keep in contact with all of these folks. I also spent some time with people from First Congo. There were ten of us there. You know who you are.

We worshiped before starting each day, and had full worship services Friday night and Sunday morning. Both were great. Friday night was contemporary, led by a vocalist playing guitar. We had communion, via intinction, with pita bread!?! The heads up graphics were totally cool. Someone had put a lot of thought into the pictures or paintings that were behind each set of words. It made for an engrossing experience. I was so present to what was going on. It was transcendent! Sunday worship was more traditional, although still heads up. We were anointed with oil, if we wished. Wonderful. I mean that I was full of wonder and joy! Excellent preaching at both services. David Moyer (conference minister) drew parallels between our own time of change and uncertainty with Jesus' time. Sara Thiessen (Zwingli - Paoli) gave a very passionate and articulate sermon Sunday morning. However, I cannot recall the topic, because the anointing with oil immediately followed the sermon, and it seems to have overpowered the previous experience in my memory.

I could get into that routine of regular worship and the fellowship of believers. The feeling of community and connection with God was warm and all-encompassing. It is not as if these folks are head in the sand hiders from reality. The opposite is true. They are a group of intelligent, active, engaged people, doing God's work in the world.

It does make me wonder a bit about the directions that we choose in our lives. I have stayed with the Racine Dominican nuns for a couple of workshops/conferences. There are almost no women there under the age of 70, and it seems that their way of life is dying. My thought is, in our breakneck, high speed, information overloaded times, why don't more young people choose to enter into the contemplative life? It seems like such a great option to me. I guess I could choose to move my life in that direction. Maybe it is enough to have regular or semi-regular retreats such as the one I experienced this past weekend.

Tom

PS Oh, yeah. The focus of the conference was Transforming Conflict in the Church. Some useful info and tools, but obviously not a high point for me.