Look! It's General Synod! The UCC is taking over the city... mwahahahaha!!
(That's the best I can do for an evil laugh.)
More than 8,000 people registered for Synod, and the estimates for worship yesterday were around 12,000 I think. Hartford didn't know what hit it! So many (basically) polite people, following the rules and cleaning up after themselves... wonder if it'll be contagious!? Wouldn't that be great?
Edelman listening to Medema sing
Edelman thanks the standing assemblyMarian Wright Edelman was awesome. An inspiring and challenging speech - she's every bit as passionate about helping children as I remembered from hearing her at Wheelock. And then Ken Medema sat down at the piano and improvised a song about her speech on the spot. He included a line from a book she wrote (or maybe it was another speech she's given?) that said that the children she fights for are what makes her speak when she wants to stay silent, stand up when she wants to rest and go out her front door when she just wants to stay home that night. When he sang that, the whole stadium silently got to their feet. Marian came back to the stage after Ken finished singing and hugged him, then blew a kiss to the crowd and thanked us for standing with her. We could see the tears rolling down her face.
From the United Church News special edition:
"Speak up and stand up for all your children. Provide them with an anchor of faith, rudders of hope, and sails of education and paddles of family to navigate the sea of life and land safely on the shores of adulthood."
After Edelman left the stage to a standing ovation, singer-songwriter Ken Medema began singing about "Marian," creating an on-the-spot ode to the tireless advocate for children. Edelman stopped on her way out of the arena to listen. His refrain "We will stand up, even when we want to sit down; we will stand up until the job is done," slowly drew every soul in the assembly to their physical or spiritual feet.
When the song ended, she ran back up to the stage and embraced him, her face wet with tears and her chest heaving with emotion. After hugging Medema, Edelman emotionally thanked the UCC crowd for standing, and urged them to continue the struggle until the job is done. GS26 added to the significant moment with nearly five minutes of sustained applause.
Getting ready for worship on Sunday.
Val told the story of Everett C. Parker, founder of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ. She talked about the civil rights movement first, and then about a phone call from Martin Luther King Jr to Everett C Parker, asking for help in fighting news blackouts in the south. It was fascinating, and I hope it becomes available in video form. At the end of her telling, she introduced everyone to Rev. Parker and everyone embarrassed him thoroughly by giving him a standing ovation.
OC, Inc. was founded in 1959 by the Rev. Everett C. Parker and has been a leader in the fight for media justice for nearly half a century. Specifically established to advocate for the rights of women and people of color, OC, Inc. made broadcasting history in the 1960’s when it successfully challenged the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Mississippi for imposing a news blackout on the growing civil rights movement. This landmark case established the principle that members of the public can participate in FCC proceedings and hold media companies accountable to the diverse communities they serve.
She interviewed Kepa Kaupu, a 13 year old girl, about why her church is so important to her and what hopes and prayers Kepa has for her church in the future.
Obama was... cool. Very cool. Here's a link to his speech -
text and
video.
The AUCE booth! Emmy, WCC's Missionary Bear, visited the AUCE booth to share God's love with the educators who stopped by...
... and at the Peace Bubble booth....
... and the cookie tables (where she made quite a nice dent in the 14,000 dozen homemade cookies that were provided as a gesture of hospitality for the visitors to Synod) ...
... and of course at the Silver Lake booth! Emmy quite enjoyed her ride on Josh's head! :-)
Emmy went out for dinner with Heather, Val and Peter at the Trumbull Kitchen after the events of Saturday had come to a close. My oh my, had Val earned her Adult Beverage by then! She arrived at the Civic Center at 7:00 am and was "on" from then until about 11:00 pm. We were all very tired, but agreed that the day had been a good one. Emmy got to hear all about Sing Praise (the conference that Peter and Val and Heather do together at
Silver Lake) and all the different ways that kids have encountered God's love at
Silver Lake.
I splurged. One of the most personally meaningful moments of Synod for me was when I had an opportunity to serve Communion during Sunday's worship service. When I discovered that the Communion sets we used to serve were being made available to purchase, I obsessed over it all Sunday evening and finally decided that if there were any left on Monday when I got to the Connecticut Conference booth, I would get a set. Well, not only were there several left, set number 50 was available. I snagged it. It's really beautiful - the sets were made by the artist of Birch Mountain Pottery, who is a friend of Margo's and who makes the sets we give to our Yale interns when they finish their internships with us. The plate says "UCC at 50: Let It Shine 2007" around the rim and has an embossed sun in the center. The chalice also has the sun on one side and says UCC at 50 on the other side. On the bottom it says General Synod 26 Hartford CT and it's numbered. I'm thrilled with it :-)
Lauren and Maddie playing with Steve (Maddie's dad, Lauren's uncle)
Lauren opening her present from Aunt Kristin - wooden letter and shape beads!
Maddie decided that the second best seat in the house was on top of the cab of Will's Tonka truck. Holding her hand is her (step)Grandma Margaret, wife of Marty Naas.
After the crowd thinned out a bit, Lauren and Maddie were rolling around on the floor playing.
Grandpa Stan and Lauren
Lauren, roughhousing with her Uncle Steve :-)
Ahhh... comfort. Maddie found the best seat in the house! What a patient and long suffering dog.
The blocks I made for Will.
Will's gifts from Aunt Kristin (held by his mom, Carrie.)
Lauren opening her gift from me, fish finger puppets and a non-fiction fish book.
Family picture:
Will digging into his cake with both fists.
Oh! Hey! This stuff's tasty! I think I'll have some more!
Will with Aunt Kristin
Lauren with PJ (Linda's cousin)
Jon holding Will, who is holding one of the blocks I made for him.
Maddie stole Daddy's hat!
Steve, Maddie and Laura
Lauren blows out the candles on her cake.
Grampy Naas's hat looks awfully good to Will.
Here Mama, want some cake?
Birthday boy Will, having dinner with two of his grandmothers, Peggy Budd and Linda Eaton.
Two great-grandparents, Great-Grampy Naas and Great-Grandnana Libby.
Lauren's Kung Fu Panda cake.
Will's own personal cake!
