 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for December 6, 2012, the regular podcast of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ. Whoever you are and wherever you may be on life's journey at this very moment, you are welcome here. We begin this week's conference cast with this meditation from the Reverend Charles L. Wildman, Interim Conference Minister. In the third chapter of Luke's Gospel, we hear the voice of John the Baptist, who echoes the words of the ancient prophet Isaiah. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. All of our lives we are directed to get ready, be prepared, don't be late. Hurry up, this our mantra, until we get to a certain age, and then it's go-go, slow-go, no-go. Admit his go-go, for sure, for most of us. Much to do, cleaning, decorating, making and buying gifts, writing checks to special causes like Friends of the Conference, perhaps, planning holiday trips, designing liturgies, writing sermons. An advent also is about preparing our hearts and minds to receive the child, God's beloved. This is a time for reflection on how life might be if we considered each day Christ's day, a time for giving our best to loved ones and strangers alike. In Advent's progression, we may slowly unburden our spirits from undue self-concern to make room for concern about others. Prayers for family, friends, and foes alike then might occupy our comings and goings. The other night I found myself perhaps with you also in an interstate highway three lane, ten-mile-long gridlock. We were completely stopped for a while. Our way was not being made plain in Scripture's language. Captive to the road with no exits in sight, we were immobilized in our steel and plastic chariots. All we could do after getting angry at our way being blocked was to say a prayer for those in the accident far ahead. Life can be that way sometimes. As hard as we try to prepare, plan ahead, keep track of what really matters, we can get stuck in our own track with no apparent way forward. Advent offers the way forward. Preparing the way of the Lord is to take giant steps in love and hope and faith. As God's presence has made manifest, we learn or reaffirm our life's purpose no matter what age or stage, go-go, slow-go, or no-go. And it all begins right now. As we put this piece away, may we get into God's way. Through prayer, service, and at least some measure of compassion, even for those who tend to irritate us with their ways and views. Thinking the best and expecting the best from others, acting in a civil caring manner toward everyone along our path, can lead both of us into God's path. Then we will be prepared to receive God's greatest gift, tenderly turning to the way that leads to life in God's eternal love and care. As Isaiah wrote and Luke repeated, repair the way of the Lord that all humanity shall see the salvation of God. Here is a prayer for this week. Lord, this Advent, if we are stuck, gridlocked with no apparent way out, help us to break free to follow your way, the way you made plain in Jesus, for a new overflowing joy that energizes us to lead others. In the news this week, over the last three nights lay and ordained church people from around the state have come together to learn more and to share ideas as they plan for mission for one earth. Fifty great days of care for our home planet. During the time between next Easter Sunday and Pentecost, beginning April 1st, UCC members around the country will try to achieve three ambitious goals. To plant 100,000 trees around the world, to send 100,000 advocacy letters to public officials and media outlets, and to engage in one million hours of volunteer service on behalf of the environment. At the first of these meetings in West Hartford on Monday, the UCC's Minister for Environmental Justice, the Reverend Jim Deming, said, at this and the additional gatherings in Darien and in Wallingford, folks offered ideas about ways to meet those goals. The Connecticut Conference's Patsy Buehling was able to announce that the National Arbor Day Foundation will partner with the UCC in making it easy to donate and purchase trees for planting online. Deming suggested that churches identify commonly held concerns in their congregations for those advocacy letters, and a certain excitement built at the notion of a common cleanup day. When UCC church members could walk the banks of Connecticut's major rivers, picking up trash and debris, and clean the Thames, the Nogetuck, the Housatonic, and the Connecticut, all the way to the sound. Deming emphasized that Mission for One Earth is a beginning and not an end. He compared it to prayer, which is not a one-time event. Like prayer, care for the earth needs to be a way of life. We're trying to do a transformational work of environmental justice, to where we begin to think that everything we do has an impact, that we are environmentally conscious, and we do this in a spiritual way. It says everything I do has an impact on God's creation. Mission for One Earth will run April 1st through May 19th, 2013. More information is online at ucc.org slash earth. Also on our website today is an open letter from the pastor of the First Baptist Church in West Hartford, the Reverend Thomas Carr, in which he calls for religious leaders to end their silence about human influence on the environment. To care for life is the human species' most fundamental vocation, he writes, and we are failing to do so. In fact, with anywhere from 20,000 to 60,000 species of life going extinct every year, we are doing precisely the opposite of being co-creators with God. We are de-creating Earth. Let's work, he writes, to save the world that God so loves. Last October, the First Congregational Church UCC of East Hartford welcomed back some of its youth from long ago, as some of those who had participated in its Pilgrim Fellowship during the 1950s return for a reunion. They met members of the current Pilgrim Youth Fellowship, they ate pizza together, they shared memories, and they shared their wisdom. We were affirming roots and touching base with the first steps that sent us along the path to adulthood and responsibility, said the Reverend Don Vincent, a retired UCC minister and one of the alumni, and knowing we were Christians by our love. Other stories on our website today include Christmas greetings from the UCC's Collegium of Offices, brought to you via online video. Bangor Seminary has announced the foundation of a new center for 21st Century Ministry, which will carry the school's mission forward when they cease to grant graduate degrees after this coming June. You can keep up with all the current headlines by visiting us at ctucc.org slash news. You're invited to celebrate the ministry of the Reverend Enika Mitchell, our outgoing North Central Regional Minister on December 12th in West Hartford. She leaves us on January 1st to become interim pastor of the United Congregational Church UCC in Tolland. The Reverend Tamra Morland has already joined us as Interim North Central Regional Minister. The Christmas at Silver Lake Retreat for 5th through 8th graders is this coming weekend, and registration is now open for the thinking about working for God Members Retreat, which will be at Silver Lake January 4th through the 6th. Leadership for a Rummage Sale is Phyllis Tickles' theme for the Woodbury Leadership Workshop to be held at Andover Newton Theological School on February 1st. Advanced Intentional Indroministry Training will be held in Framingham, Massachusetts, February 4th through 8th, and CT women of the UCC are offering a Lenten Day away for clergy women of the conference on February 5th. You can always learn about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference by visiting us at ctucc.org slash events. It's time to respond to the Friends of the Conference Annual Appeal, which helps to supplement the annual giving through local churches for ministries within this state. Assistants to congregations in their search for new pastoral leadership help finding resources for educational programs through the Ruth Dudley Resource Center. Answers to questions that require a specialist's expertise and of course the profound experience of Christian community at Silver Lake. Help support and extend these ministries to churches and to people here in Connecticut. Make your gift securely online at ctucc.org slash donate. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Chuck Wildman for his reflection and to GarageBand for our music. Primary funding for conference cast comes from your congregation's gifts to our church's wider mission basic support changing lives through the United Church of Christ. This is Eric Anderson, the Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ praying that your days this week may be filled with the presence the guidance and the grace of God.