 Greetings friends! Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for January 23, 2014, 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 Ginny King, Church Regional Minister for the South Central Region, read this week by your podcast host. In the Sermon on the Mount, found in the fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus has this to say about enemies. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He goes on to ask, Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that. In 1964, the artist Norman Rockwell compellingly captured Ruby Bridges being escorted by U.S. Marshals to an all-white school in New Orleans four years before. On her way, a white angry crowd threw rotten tomatoes and shouted obscene names at her. You can see the painting on Wikipedia by searching for the problem we all live with. When Ruby was asked what she was saying as she endured the harassment and abuse, she replied, I learned in church to pray for my enemies. My lips are moving because I'm praying for them. Robert Coles, the child psychologist from Harvard who conducted that interview, was stunned. How could this be? A six-year-old made the ethical decision to respond without fear or hate in such a hostile situation. His big revelation that day, this does not follow the stages of human development which were the building blocks of his academic career. On those walks to school, she carried out her church lessons. Prayer would keep her heart from pounding in fear. Prayer would guide her words of kindness for those who shouted hate at her. Love is one of the big words we learn in church. Love God, love neighbor. We know this by heart. But with that said, loving is a tricky business. It isn't easy or clear in even the best of situations. For Ruby Bridges, she was prepared for the hardest part of loving, love your enemies. And she practiced the safeguard against hating. Pray for those who persecute you. People ask the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. How can we love when we don't even like our enemies? We certainly don't want to get to know them. In fact, we wish they would just disappear. His response, you don't have to like the person. Then he would explain that this kind of love goes beyond liking to embracing, respect, compassion, kindness, equality, and justice for all, including our enemies. Wow, what a relief. Now we can imagine loving in a new way. Words I learned in church. Love and prayer overcome hate and fear. This week we remember the I Have a Dream speech with its musical rhythm of hope, justice, and love all coming from the heart of the living spirit. For Martin Luther King, Jr., this wasn't his dream. It wasn't an American dream. It wasn't a political dream. It wasn't even a Christian dream. This was God's dream for all humanity. Here is a prayer for this week. Dear holy and loving God, may we be so bold as to stretch our minds and hearts to love others way beyond liking, and may we show our love of enemies through prayer and compassion. Amen. I give a special thanks to Ginny King for her reflection today, because she's been giving us her skills and talents for just a brief time this fall and winter, and this will be our only opportunity to share one of her reflections in conference cast. The Reverend Mary Nelson Abbott will begin her ministry with us as South Central Regional Minister in just a few weeks, and we look forward to her debut here at conference cast. In the news this week, Hartford Area Church leaders and members gathered at Faith Congregational Church UCC in the capital city on Monday afternoon to celebrate the life and rededicate themselves to the social justice cause of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most pastor, the Reverend Stephen Camp, welcomed the congregation with these words. We come from many different places, we come with many stories, but we come as an active faith, and a way to celebrate a person in Dr. King and his life, and also to challenge ourselves for the days that are ahead. Newtown Congregational Church UCC's pastor, the Reverend Matthew Crebin, noted the destructive power of violence that has taken so many lives since Dr. King himself was slain by an assassin's bullet in 1968. Friends, as I've said before, we do not have a second amendment issue. We have a second commandment crisis. The near infatuation with God is looming us dangerously close to the worship of a false idol. This is a religious issue because we know that idols do not sustain, that idols make promises that they cannot keep. The day's preacher, Bishop John Selders of Amistad United Church of Christ in Hartford, declared that all is not well in the cities, towns, homes, and congregations of the nation. Environmental degradation, poverty, racial profiling, the school-to-prison pipeline that swallows so many African American children, reduction in aid to the poor. I want to be a part of those witnesses of faith and help bring about a society where everyone has to undertake, where everyone gets and has to do with education. Everybody that wants to work gets a job, earning a living, wage. Everybody that has access to healthcare. I want to be a part of a religious group and a people of faith who advocate for every, every elderly person. When they come to the end of their days, they do it with dignity and security. Every person is judged. This is Dr. King again, not by the quality, not by the, I want them to be judged by the quality and the content of the character, not the part of the stuff I see. What we say, skin color, sexual orientation, gender, all of the sexual biases. I want to be a part of a religious tradition and a witness of the faith where every single person, every single god-given, every single god-given person can experience the expression of love and respect and regard for just being just who they are. Reverend David McConvison says this a magnificent creation of the divine. Our time, our response. This was the fifth annual gathering of Hartford Area Churches in honor of Dr. King's birth and included leadership from seven area congregations and conference minister, the Reverend Kent Salati. In a note circulated through conference offices this week, UCC general counsel Don Clark has renewed a warning to churches against using copyrighted material in their publications without permission. Churches are not immune from intellectual property law and there have been several successful infringement cases against them in recent years including two filed just last fall against UCC congregations in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The presence of newsletters and sermons on the internet makes it easier for copyright holders to discover violations. Our advice is pretty simple, if it isn't yours get permission to use it first and if you can't get that permission can't verify that it is in the public domain or can't find the copyright holder just don't use it use something else. The Connecticut conference has included a workshop on intellectual property matters in recent boundary trainings for authorized ministers. Much as in a grocery store there are items in a food pantry that stay on the shelf and there are other items that seem to fly away even as they're unpacked. The Southbury Food Bank is sought to meet that challenge by inviting local organizations to adopt a shelf. The South Britain Congregational Church UCC is among those to do so. In their case making sure that 60 or more cans of cream soups and chowders make their way to the food bank each month. With the recent cold weather no doubt those have been appreciated and the food bank will probably need some more pretty soon. The Christian Activities Council a UCC related mission agency which serves the poor of Hartford has announced a national search for their next executive director. The Reverend Edwin Ayala will retire in June after 16 years with the council the last two at the helm. Board chair the Reverend Mark Dyters praised his exuberant and tireless leadership and wished him well in his new endeavors. For more information about that opening a profile of the Reverend Dr Jerry Streets of New Haven's Dixwell Avenue UCC and information about signing up for Church World Service New England's new electronic newsletter visit us at ctucc.org slash news. Registration is now open for Silver Lake Conference Center's summer program. Some conferences center around games others around hiking others around service others around music others around biking and all around fun. It's crazy cold out Tim. I know Ann I can't even feel my toes but you know what I'm really psyched for? What sledding down the hill on an old camp mattress? I'm really totally excited for summer at Silver Lake. I can't wait for those kids to come down the driveway ready to take the plunge and spend a week at their new favorite place in the world. And even if summer not so sure I'm excited for them too. Because they don't even know yet what a great time is in store for them. Oh songs are gonna sing all the swimming posting marshmallows all the ways they'll just get to be themselves and be accepted and make new friends. We can't wait for you to come to Silver Lake so sign up today www.silverlakect.org. Come to the place that can change your life really this summer Silver Lake. We can't wait. We encourage local churches to designate a Silver Lake Sunday to recognize last summer's participants and to make sure all their young people get every opportunity to love God love one another and love themselves this summer at Silver Lake. Hartford Seminary and Asylum Hill Congregational Church offer the Bible and the Quran on January 29th in Hartford. Pastoral relations committees help foster healthy congregations and healthy clergy. A training session for committee members and pastors will be held on February 1st in Deep River. Comfort food for the journey to a day retreat for clergy women will be February 4th in Hartford. And that evening Stepping Stones presents from interview to offer engaging and effective job search in Suddington. Registration is now open for Super Saturday a day of workshops fellowship and celebration for church members and leaders featuring a keynote address from Diana Butler Bass. We'll gather with our friends from the Massachusetts Conference on March 1st in Ludlow, Massachusetts. Silver Lake's maple sugaring weekend for young people in grade six through eight will be March 21st through 23rd Tapping trees, boiling sap, and renewing a sense of the sweetness of God's creation. Registration is open for the New England Women's Celebration to be held March 28th through 30th in Portland, Maine. Discounted registration has been extended to January 31st so don't delay learn more and register at uccwomencelebration.org The Farmington Valley Association and Simply Smiles are teaming up for a mission trip to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Reservation in South Dakota beginning May 3rd. Silver Lake will host an open house for those interested in learning more about their summer program on May 4th. You can always learn more about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference by visiting us at ctucc.org slash events. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Ginny King for her 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 to 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.