 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for March 13, 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 Eric Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology, and your podcast host. I have a couple of stories from Scripture in mind. The first is found in the 12th chapter of Genesis, and it's a straightforward story in the telling, if not in the original doing. God said to Abram, go to a new place and become a great nation. And Abram, well, he went and did it. The second story comes from the third chapter of John's Gospel, and it's that of Jesus and Nicodemus, their nighttime conversation about being born anew or born from above. The story concludes with these famous words. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. One of the delights of my day comes from a friend who via social networking lets us all know what special day it is. Some of them are well known, some have deep emotional connections, and some are just plain silly. Mother's day might be an example of a well-known holiday. AIDS Awareness Day is one with a great connection. And international talk like a pirate day, well, that's just silly. As an editor, I confess a special affection for National Grammar Day, which came by recently, though I can't see any reason that it should fall the same day as National Pancake Day and Toy Soldier Day. Well, this past Monday, March 10th was the international day of awesomeness. This was one I'd actually heard about before, and knowing it was coming, I hoped that our lectionary would provide some references to awesome, and I was not disappointed. There in the very first text, God summons Abram, this is the person who later takes the name Abraham, and God says to him, in effect, go and be awesome. Awesome. Reading a little further in the lectionary, the apostle Paul in the fourth chapter of Romans manages to say, despite some truly tortured language, I've got to say it's not his best moment as a writer. That Abraham was awesome in his faith, and by sharing the faith of Abraham, you can be awesome, too. Awesome. And then here in John's Gospel, Jesus and Nicodemus speak to each other in metaphors. Now, I'm quite sure Nicodemus knew quite well what Jesus was getting at about a second birth, and Nicodemus is quite right. It's hard for people to make a new start, nearly as hard as it would be to crawl back into the womb. But Jesus has no patience for the difficulty. Nicodemus has missed two critical points. First, he's ignored the active presence of God, the wind that comes and goes without anyone quite knowing its source or its destination, and not always clear on its effects while it was present. And second, Nicodemus has forgotten that we are all children of God. Even our flesh born of flesh was originally born of the Spirit. All things are possible with God, and therefore far more is possible from the children of God than Nicodemus conceives. We have it within us to be renewed, to start again, to be born from above. Awesome! And that leads me to recast the last line of this text. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world. But you know, in order that the world might be awesome through Him, here is a prayer for this week. God, you are awesome in your power to love, to revive and to renew. We would be awesome for each other and for you. So bless the earth through us, for we would have it be truly awesome. Amen. Please hold in prayer this week the friends and family of Joan Dean, spouse of the Reverend David Dean, and an accomplished potter known for her communion chalices and wind chimes. She died on February 20th at the age of 84. In the news this week, the Reverend Jim Silver shared two sad sentences with us this week, quoting his wife of many years who suffers from hearing loss. I couldn't hear anything in church today, she told him. I wonder if I should have even bothered to come. Reverend Silver strongly urges all houses of worship to install hearing assistance for their worshipers and observes that at the First Church of Christ Congregational UCC in Middletown, they added a transmitter and six headsets for less than you might expect for $500 to help their people participate fully in the worship of God. It's a familiar notion. Invite a few musical groups, put them on a stage one after the other and call it a battle of the bands. But the Asylum Hill Congregational Church UCC in Hartford was raising funds for a violence prevention program and the word battle sent the wrong message. So on March 1st they held the reconciliation of the bands and the three groups who came from very different musical styles joined together for several songs as an embodiment of the evening's cause. Mission for One Earth is coming just a couple of weeks away now when members and friends of UCC churches across New England will learn and labor on behalf of our planet. We aim to write 5,000 advocacy letters, plant 50,000 trees and engage in 75,000 hours of earth care in our little corner of the world. We have Mission for One Earth buttons ready and available for purchase now to help you tell the story in a visible way. And we're calling on our local churches here in Connecticut to send us a pledge to let us know what their 2014 our church's wider mission basic support gift will be. A pledge also signals a faith commitment to our common missions at the Reverend Kent J. Salati in a letter to the Connecticut Conference. A pledge says we are with you. As an added incentive we're holding a drawing. One church that gets its pledge in by April 1st will receive a Silver Lake Campership for one of its young people helping them to experience the joys found in God's backyard. Another fortunate church with their pledge in by April 1st will receive an iPad mini. Our church's wider mission funds much of the work of the UCC at the national, international and conference levels. It is the primary funding source for ConferenceCast. We added new features to the CT UCC mobile app for iOS and Android devices this week. You can now read our weekly spirit calendar and spirited Wednesday devotionals as well as hearing them through ConferenceCast. And you'll find more on these stories plus all the current headlines on our website at ctucc.org slash news. It's crazy cold out Tim. I know and I can't even feel my toes but you know what I'm really psyched for? What's letting 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 some are 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, toasting 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. Learn about children's ministry in the way of Jesus through a series of webinars. The next one is March 17th. Stepping Stones takes up the challenges of the pastoral care of youth on March 19th in the Southington. Silver Lake's maple sugaring weekend for young people in grade 6 through 8 will be March 21st through 23rd. Tapping trees, boiling sap and renewing a sense of the sweetness of God's creation. Stepping Stones holds a workshop on sacred dance on March 25th in Southington. The New England women's celebration will be held March 28th through 30th in Portland, Maine. Register today at uccwomencelebration.org. The deadline is March 15th. Learn about fossil fuel divestment on March 29th in Hamden. The Spring Women's Spirit Retreat of Yoga and Sacred Chant will be at Silver Lake the weekend of April 4th through 6th. There'll be a showing of the film Gasland Part 2 about the risks of hydraulic fracturing or fracking in Southington on April 11th. Spring Action Weekend which prepares Silver Lake Conference Center for the summer program runs April 25th through the 27th. That's also the weekend of the Awakenings Conference in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The Farmington Valley Association and Simply Smiles is 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 its summer program on May 4th. By all means come then but also visit SilverLakeCT.org to find out about summer offerings and to register. Mark your calendars now for May 17th, the 4th annual Youth Revival to be held this year at Dickswell Avenue UCC in New Haven. And golfers, I know it's cold now but go get your clubs ready for the 8th annual Silver Lake Golf Tournament held June 3rd in Waterbury. You can always learn more about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference by visiting us at CTUCC.org slash events. We conclude today with a spirited Wednesday thought from the Reverend Gordon Bates, Minister of Visitation at the First Church of Christ Congregational UCC in Glastonbury. Impressed by an expansive reading of the Apostles Creed and David Steindahl Rast's book Beyond Words, Reverend Bates writes, What had seemed to be inadequate to our 21st century discipleship became a doorway through which we could feel a new kinship with other religions and people of no religion, offering an opportunity for greater openness to the spirit at work in the world. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to you for listening 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.