 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for February 7, 2013, 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 reflection from Cecile Gilson, assistant to the conference minister. It will be Transfiguration Sunday this weekend, which brings us a puzzling story from the ninth chapter of Luke's Gospel. Jesus, Peter, James, and John climb a mountain. And at its summit, Jesus shines with light. Moses and Elijah appear. A voice from above urges the disciples to listen to the beloved Son, and the three of them are amazed. I shared with Eric Anderson, the conference cast host, that when my turn comes up, I always seem to get this story of the Transfiguration. This is one of those passages that is really hard for me to wrap my head around. I have decided, when all else fails, it's time to look to the experts. The United Church of Christ published a wonderful resource some years ago called Imaging the Word. These quotes are taken from that resource. Frederick Beekner wrote, It was Jesus of Nazareth, all right, the man they'd tramped many a dusty mile with, whose mother and brothers they knew, the one they'd seen as hungry, tired, foot sore as the rest of them. But it was also the Messiah, the Christ in his glory. It was the holiness of Jesus shining through his humanness, his face so afire with it that they were almost blinded. Even with us, something like that happens once in a while, the face of a man walking his child in the park, of a woman picking peas in a garden, of sometimes even the unlikeliest person listening to a concert say, or standing barefoot in the sand watching the waves roll, or just having a beer at a Saturday baseball game in July. Every once and so often, something so touching, so incandescent, so alive, transfigures the human face that it's almost beyond bearing. Walter Wink wrote, Transfiguration is living by vision, standing four square in the midst of a broken, tortured, oppressed, starving, dehumanizing reality, yet seeing the invisible, calling to it, importuning it to come, behaving as if it is on the way, sustained by elements of it that have already come within and among us. In those moments when people are healed, transformed, freed from addictions, obsessions, destructiveness, self-worship, or when groups are communities or even rarely, whole nations glimpse that light of transcendent in their midst, there the new creation has come upon us, the world for one brief moment is transfigured, the beyond shines in our midst on the way to the cross. These two authors capture what is for me the essence of this story. It is a blending of what is with what is not yet. It is the everyday-ness in the midst of new creation. It is about being alert to the transcendence that is all around us and being open to the challenge that is set before us. Let us all be mindful on this journey that begins with Ash Wednesday and continues to Easter. Here is a prayer for this week. Transfigure our lives, O God, so that we might be a living, breathing part of your new creation among us. Let us see, smell, touch, taste, and hear your act of grace and blessing around us, and let us share that living grace and blessing as it grows within us. Amen. Well, the Connecticut General Assembly's bipartisan task force on gun violence prevention and children's safety met last week, considering new legislative initiatives in the wake of the December 14th deaths of 28 people in Newtown, including 21st graders and 6 educators. The lawmakers received written testimony from Connecticut conference intraminister the Reverend Charles L. Wildman, calling for limits on magazine capacity, an updated assault weapons ban in the state, and a permitting process for long guns and ammunition. Wildman is currently recovering from back surgery at home, but in his written statement he said, Connecticut has lost too many of its sons and daughters to gun violence. As people of faith committed to the struggle against violence of all kinds, we know that there are no easy answers. What we do believe is that it is far too easy for people to kill each other. Next week, clergy in favor of gun safety legislation are invited to a press conference at the legislative office building in Hartford on Monday the 11th at 11 a.m. To march for change, a major rally for common sense gun laws in Connecticut will be held on Thursday the 14th at the state capitol on the two month anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings. Last Sunday, the first congregational church UCC in Ledyard hosted a panel discussion on genetically modified organisms or GMOs in the food supply. Panelists included former U.S. Congressman Rob Simmons, Connecticut conference environmental ministry team chair Ian Skogard, organic farm advocate Bill Dusing, and state representative Tim Bowles. The panelists agreed that the public needs the option to make informed choices about GMOs. Simmons made the issue clear when he said, when it comes to the issue of genetically modified organisms and GMOs in food, you can't read the label because there is no label. In her sermon that morning, pastor the Rev. Katrina Grant urged worshipers to renew the profound connection with the soil which the Israelites, our ancestors in faith, valued and enjoyed. Biology, the study of life, she said, is also spiritual and requires a spiritual sensitivity and awareness. Last October, delegates to the Connecticut conference's annual meeting passed a resolution calling for the study of GMOs in food and of labeling requirements. On Monday, the conference released the guidelines for the new care for new town grants. Churches and individuals contributed over $40,000 to the conference's special fund after the fatal shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. Those gifts will be used to provide counseling and therapy to individuals directly affected by the tragedy, to provide pastoral care for religious leaders of all faiths, those who are ministering to those individuals, and it will also help foster recovery related events and programs. The full guidelines and application form are on our website at CTUCC.org. Visit our website as well for a profile of the Rev. Lindsey Levinson, the new pastor at the Buckingham Congregational Church UCC in Glastonbury. And to find stories from United Church News on the Boy Scouts' delayed decision on a potential change in their policy excluding gay members and leaders. You'll find all the current headlines at CTUCC.org slash news. As the sun finally shines a little longer this spring, imagine your bare feet creating the warm sand between your toes. Imagine the fireflies sparkling along the treeline above the campfire. Here you're the singing floating over the hill from the waterfall chapel. Revel in the delight of discovering a new best friend in the bunk above you. In your imagination, you're at Silver Lake already for a week long outdoor ministry experience that changes lives and makes friend making easy. Greet God in God's backyard at Silver Lake this summer. Learn more and register at www.silverlakect.org. There's still room to register, but hurry we're filling up. We look forward to welcoming you to Silver Lake, your conference center. With just three weeks having passed since registration opened, we already have 300 conferees signed up for their week at Silver Lake this summer. Register your child now. Learn more at SilverLakeCT.org. Anti-apartheid activist Alan Bisak will speak at the Dixwell Church in New Haven tonight, and the UCC's Peter McCarray will discuss the current situation in Israel and Palestine in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 10th. The clergy press conference against gun violence is this Monday at the legislative office building in Hartford. The March for Change rally for common-sense gun laws is at the state capitol in Hartford on February 14th. The Stepping Stones workshop on rhythms of grace will be held in Southington on February 27th. Registration is now open for leadership matters, a day-long educational event for pastors, educators, and all manner of church leaders. This event, the successor to last year's march in the sun, will be March 9th in South Glastonbury. The event is open as well for the Northeast Ecumenical Stewardship Council's annual two-day event, titled Liberating Generosity and Featuring Michael Piazza, running March 15th and 16th in Boxborough, Massachusetts. The Stepping Stones workshop on the Our Whole Live Sexuality Education Curriculum is March 19th in Southington. You can sign up your sixth, seventh, or eighth grader now for Silver Lake's Maple Sugaring Weekend, running March 22nd through the 24th. And while you're at SilverLakeCT.org, make sure to look at other spring retreat offerings too, including the Women's Spirit and Yoga Weekend, a retreat for fathers and sons, spring action, and the Spring Open House at Silver Lake. You can always learn about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference by visiting our website at ctucc.org slash events. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Cecile Gilson 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 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.