 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for October 3, 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 Kent Silotti, Connecticut Conference minister. This text for World Communion Sunday is found in the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians in the 10th chapter. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Cancer Reflection begins with a little audio drama. One body? What on earth are you talking about? This is a joke, right? I mean, just because we have one day set aside out of 365 to remind us that the table stretches across the globe, does not make it so, right? I mean really, how united are we with Christians across the globe? We can't even get along as Christians in our own neighborhood, let alone proclaiming some kind of global unity by humbug. Hey there, you make some excellent points. If oneness to you implies some kind of kumbaya, we all get along, then I think you are absolutely right. We don't have that kind of oneness among Christians today. Our oneness in Christ does not mean that we agree or get along all the time. Our unity in the body of Christ is something we didn't create. God created this unity, and God desires for us to seek to work together to embrace and live out this unity. Unity does not mean uniformity. Unity means that we recognize that God has created us to be in relationship with one another, and that in the breaking of bread, we remind ourselves that we are in fact one. Unity means that we recognize that God has created us to be in relationship with one another, and that in the breaking of bread, we remind ourselves that we are in fact one. Now I'm quite sure there are other kinds of voices that might lend perspective to our upcoming observance of World Communion Sunday. As I thought about and considered the significance that this day lifts up, I was reminded of that second verse from the joyful hymn from the New Century hymn, Let Us Talents and Tongues Employee, number 347 in the New Century hymn. It says, Christ is able to make us one. At His table He set the tone, teaching people to live, to bless, love in word and indeed express. Jesus lives again. Earth can breathe again. Pass the word around. Loves abound. It's Christ who makes us one. It's the work of God. If left to our own devices, we would continue to concentrate on how we are divided. We don't have to look far to recognize the division that swirls all around us. We don't have to think hard about how there are dividing walls in our culture, in our world, and yes, in our churches. What might our life together be like if instead of concentrating on what divides us, we began to claim our unity in Christ? What if instead of living independently, we began to recognize instead our interdependence? Christ has made us one. As we come to the table this world communion Sunday, let us boldly proclaim our unity in Christ. Here is a prayer for this week. Oh God, in Jesus Christ you have made us one. We confess that we do not always live with an awareness of our unity in Christ. We have a hard time seeing our unity and proclaiming our unity. You have made us one. Prod us and poke us into remembering our interdependence. As we gather around Christ's table, we proclaim that it is his table and we are united in Christ. Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again, pass the word around, loaves abound. Amen. In the news this week, on Monday and Tuesday, 110 clergy educators and musicians came to Silver Lake Conference Center to learn about the gifts of the dark wood from pastor, author, and internet video host, the Reverend Dr. Eric Elnes. The image of the dark wood is often one of fears at Elnes, but Christian mystics valued times of discomfort and uncertainty. They knew the dark wood a bit differently. They saw the dark wood actually as a place of revelation, a place where we meet God, where life is especially pregnant with meaning and significance and where we can attune ourselves if we are open to it, to the whispers of the Holy Spirit in a particularly sensitive and accurate way if we will develop a comfort with being in the dark wood. Elnes lifted up some of the gifts of the dark wood, which may be found amidst emptiness in the wake of failure during temptation and in uncertainty. General Association moderator, the Reverend Judith Cook, pastor of the Higanum Congregational Church UCC, conference minister, the Reverend Kent Silotti, and Bishop John Sellers of Amistad UCC in Hartford also contributed their insights on the blessings that may be found amidst adverse conditions. Silotti also began a conversation with these church leaders, which will be expanded during the conference annual meeting on October 17th and 18th, when he will present a vision for the conference's ministry that emphasizes interdependence and collaboration among churches and values experimentation and learning from failure among leaders. Last July, over a dozen young people from Connecticut took a two-week, sacred journey to visit with our ecumenical partners in the Kyungi Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. Among them was Cassie Copeland, a member of First Church in Windsor, UCC, and she shared some of her reflections in an essay on our website this week. She writes, �The experiences helped me make sense of a prayer that my Father once told me to memorize, not only so that I'd pray every night, but to really think more about the people that have impacted my life and give thanks back to them as they would for me. This is the prayer. Jesus, we pray to you because you are the vine and we are the branches. Please help us stay connected to you so our fruit may be abundant. After going on this trip every time I think of this prayer, I can only think about how we are all fruit from God's tree, and together we can do great things. To read Cassie's essay and learn more about the gifts of the dark wood, visit our website at ctucc.org-slash-news. The Women's Spirit Retreat will be at Silver Lake Conference Center this weekend. The Connecticut Conference Choir performs in concert on October 11th in Norwalk. The Interreligious Eco-Justice Network will host a climate stewardship summit in West Hartford, October 12th and 13th. And please join our Korean guests and celebrate the 20th anniversary of our partnership with the Q&A Presbytery on October 15th in Glastonbury. Please call us and reserve your place by October 9th. The annual meeting of the Connecticut Conference will be held in Cheshire, October 17th and 18th. And Action Weekend, when volunteers help Silver Lake prepare for the winter months, is the following weekend, October 24th through 26th. You can sign up now to congratulate Silver Lake's outgoing co-director Ann Hughes and support our conference's outdoor ministry program at a new annual fundraiser, the Fancy Camp Gala, which will be held November 1st in Farmington. Clergy, you can register for boundary training now to be held on November 6th in Milford. And the first of this year's confirmation retreats will be held at Silver Lake November 7th through the 9th. To learn more about any of these events or to register, visit us at ctucc.org slash events. Our spirited Wednesday thought this week comes from the Reverend Jocelyn Gardner Spencer, pastor of the first congregational church UCC in Woodstock. She writes, Sabbath rest is not just the absence of work, it is the presence of delight. And as a reminder, as we wrap up this week's program, the conference cast has moved to a Friday release schedule, so look for us in your podcast feed, on our website, or in social media on Fridays. And a special thanks this week to Karen Ziel and Tamra Morland for participating in our audio drama. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Kent Solati for his reflection, and to GarageBand for our music. Our 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.