 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for April 3, 2015, 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. This is Holy Week. Good Friday, in fact. As we've done in previous years, we'll offer two reflections in Conference Cast this week, one from me for this day of sorrow and wonder, and one from the reverent Mary Nelson Abbott to close the program with a word for Easter. The Gospel of John records that Jesus was not wholly abandoned at his crucifixion. Three women named Mary stood there, Mary the wife of Clopis, Mary Magdalene, and Mary his mother. His aunt was there and the disciple whom he loved. From the cross, Jesus said, Woman, here is your son, and then here is your mother. And John records that she lived from that moment with him. There are few losses so painful as that experienced by a parent whose child has died. Of all the pains that Jesus experienced in the course of his crucifixion, that was one he did not feel for himself, but he saw it in the face of his mother. He saw it and he did the best he could in the midst of his own torment. He forged a new relationship between two people he loved. Sometimes I think the only liquid that flows more freely through the history of the world than blood is tears. I'm too eager, I think, to find justice in death. He had it coming. If only she'd done something different. There are a thousand variations on these and every last one of them comes too easily to our lips. On one hand, it might help make sense of the senseless, but on the other, it's all too likely to be a lie. One that may well excuse the guilty and blame the innocent. And what justice is there for Mary and for millions of Marys and Josephs down the centuries? Jesus didn't have it coming, but what comfort for her if he had? No, we are all called to be the disciple whom Jesus loved, and to take the grieving into the home of our hearts, if not our literal home. And more, we are called to remember Mary as we consider justice and death. We cannot eliminate all the accidents, illnesses and disasters that carry away our children, but there are plenty which we can. Mary should have been the last to weep over her dying child. She should have been. She wasn't. Perhaps someday there will be a last. I pray for that day. Amen. In the news this week, as we've already noted, churches around the world and around Connecticut have been observing Holy Week since last Sunday. Pastors and chaplains have been laboring to make it real in the hearts and souls of parishioners and patients and in their own. They've draped crosses with translucent fabric or with sweeping waves of cloth. Last night many dimmed the lights in the sanctuary to darkness during the service of the shadows. At the Winchester Center Congregational Church UCC, the Reverend Jacqueline Hall led the congregation through a guided meditation to help them to feel the warmth, to smell the Passover lamb roasting, hear the sizzle, the voices, the animals. At First Church of Christ Congregational UCC in Glastonbury last Sunday, a 13 strong troop held a series of tableau poses while the ministers read the passion story. At the end they clawed the falling Jesus in their arms and bore the body slowly up the aisle. At the Oxford United Church of Christ today, the Reverend Gale Grayson will finish the service by closing the tomb, snapping shut the cover of a Bible with a sound to pierce the silence. Tomorrow there will be Easter Bunny breakfasts and there will be egg hunts tomorrow and Sunday. But on Sunday many Christians will rise to greet the dawn, aware of and joyful in the resurrected life of Jesus. Make sure to check out the latest edition of Vantage Point released this past Monday. Conference Minister the Reverend Kent Solati speaks with the Reverend Allison Butrick Patton, pastor of the Sargata Congregational Church UCC in Westport, about how collaborative ministry is both part of their identity and something enforced upon them by the three years they could not use their building because of a fire. In the end it's a gift to be able to say I have this that I can offer you but you know what my colleague down the street they have something that you might need too and it's probably it's good work and sometimes hard work to to to be honest about naming not only our gifts but the gifts of those around us. The scientific community does not say that there is a debate on climate change they say there is a consensus it's real it's happening and at least some of the predicted consequences appear unavoidable. At first congregational church UCC in Bloomfield the mission board is committed to educating church members and the community about climate issues and to supporting efforts to promote good earth stewardship. They've been recognized as a level one green church by the Connecticut Conference's environmental ministry team. They recently viewed and discussed an episode of the Showtime documentary series Years of Living Dangerously, one which examines the costs and benefits of wind power versus hydrological fracturing for natural gas better known as fracking. Pastor the Reverend Deborah Blood raised the central question for the night. How do we help ourselves feel a sense of hope that there is something we can do that our church can do that our church combined with our wider community can do. For more on these stories including the full vantage point conversation between Reverend Salady and Reverend Patton visit us at ctucc.org slash news. Stepping Stones offers part one of keeping our churches safe on April 9th in Hartford. You can also register for stewardship in the changing church from consumerism to generosity. This year's ecumenical stewardship event which runs April 17th and 18th in Boxborough, Massachusetts. Part two of keeping our churches safe is April 21st also in Hartford. The annual church historians workshop is April 25th in Rocky Hill. Silver Lake spring action weekend is May 1st through 3rd at our outdoor ministry center in Sharon. And the conference's youth revival is May 3rd in Bloomfield. Registration is also open for the New England Association of the United Church Educators event running May 5th through 7th in Craigville, Massachusetts. Boundary training for authorized ministers will next be held on May 7th in Tolland. Clergy Camp returns for its second season May 12th through 14th. A time for busy ministers to take a step into being a camper once again at Silver Lake. Registration is open. Silver Lake spring open house is on May 17th. A great opportunity for first-time conferees and their families to get to know the blessings of the place we often call God's backyard. Silver Lake hosts the Environmental Justice for All retreat the weekend of May 29th for high school-aged youth of color to explore the environmental concerns of their own neighborhoods. Registration is also open for the 9th annual Silver Lake Golf Tournament which will be held June 8th in Wallingford. To learn more about these events or to register, visit us at ctucc.org slash events. Our spirited Wednesday thought comes from the Reverend Oscar Prochmire, pastor of the first congregational church UCC of Canterbury. Reading John's account of the first moments of Easter, he notes that while the male disciples come to the tomb and go, only Mary remains to release her grief. He writes, We are tempted to avoid the empty, frightening, broken places in our personal lives, in our churches, and in our world. Where are we turning away from reality before we have a chance to witness God's new life unfold? Where are we missing our opportunity to join in God's salvation? Let us take time to sit silently in the garden with Mary and contemplate whatever we find in ourselves. Trust that though we may not understand how, nevertheless with patience, we will experience resurrection. And we close this Holy Week conference cast with this meditation for Easter from the Reverend Mary Nelson Abbott, South Central Regional Minister. In the 16th chapter of Mark's Gospel, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, come to the tomb with spices to anoint Jesus' body. They find the stone rolled aside and a young man in white who tells them Jesus is risen and to go tell the disciples. But they flee in terror, telling no one at all, because they're afraid. Mark's Gospel is my favorite. I like his sense of urgency in telling the story of Jesus, sharing the good news. He leaves out extraneous detail, giving his audience the core of the story without a lot of flowery language or unnecessary detours. In other words, Mark leaves much to the imagination. Some folks I know are uncomfortable with the resulting ambiguity. The ways Mark makes us work hard and ask questions and get used to not having all the answers. We don't have all the answers. It's okay. The great irony of all this, of course, is that Mark's Gospel, with his urgency to share the good news, doesn't actually tell us the end of the story. He leaves out the best news of all, the news of the resurrection. He leaves us with an empty tomb, silent witnesses, and fear. Later writers, uncomfortable with the resulting ambiguity, tried to add extra endings to the Gospel of Mark, giving us appearance stories and sayings, stories, and even an ascension into heaven. But none of those attempts to tie up Mark's loose ends really satisfy. It feels more honest, more true, to let the story stand as Mark first told it, an empty tomb, silent witnesses, and fear. The resurrection is a kind of loose end in itself. Easter, for all its joy and color and fun and new life comes with a sense of now what that should give us all pause. Christ is risen. Now what? The tomb was empty. Now what? Death is conquered. Now what? Mark can't give us that answer. That's a question we have to tackle ourselves every day as followers of the risen Christ, as people who claim that the resurrection informs how we live our lives. The resurrection happened. Now what? Risen one helped me to rise to, rise to the challenge, rise to the occasion, rise to claim the new life we are offered in your name. Guide me today and every day to answer the now what question, so that I may show how the resurrection informs the life you have given me to live. Amen. And that brings this Holy Week Conference Cast to a close. Thanks to Mary Nelson Abbott 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 Associate Conference Minister for Proclamation, Identity and Communication 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.