 Greetings friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for September 6th, 2012, 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 Dr. Michael Seba, Southwest Regional Minister. In the 35th chapter of Isaiah, the Prophet describes a future of wonder and beauty. He writes, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. And amidst all that, those who have been exiles will come home. In 2010, Dan Savage and Terry Miller founded It Gets Better as an outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender teens who are at risk of suicide because of harassment, bullying, and lack of understanding from family and friends. The project encouraged adults to videotape messages to teens, to assure them that it does indeed get better, to encourage them to persevere, to accept and love who they are, and to seek out help and support, to not give up on life and to not lose hope. Currently, over 30,000 videos have been uploaded to the website, itgetsbetter.org. These videos have been viewed more than 40 million times. While some of the messages came from famous people, most came from ordinary individuals of all ages, genders, backgrounds, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. Together, they offer a moving testimony to the power that comes from collectively and individually speaking words of hope to those who are in despair. Isaiah also speaks to a people who are without hope. The people of Israel had lost their land, their place of worship, and their way of life. The exile in which they live is a new wilderness. The promise of a return to Jerusalem elicits more fear than hope. The present is awful, and the future doesn't look any better. Isaiah boldly proclaims to the people of his time and place, it gets better. The desert which seems dead to you won't just blossom, it will sing. Disabilities will be healed. The dry landscape will become wet. No one will get lost on God's highway. Those who were overwhelmed with sorrow will sing for joy. Isaiah is right to proclaim that God and only God can achieve such an overwhelming transformation. But God works through creation and through people. God speaks through the prophet. God acts through all creation. God builds highways, but we walk on them. God gives us voice, but we are the ones who must sing, write, preach, record, and proclaim. God calls us to bring water to the thirsty in a dry land. God calls us to proclaim hope in the face of despair. God calls us to proclaim to young and old, gay and straight, but it does indeed get better if we all travel the road and share the journey together. Here is a prayer for this week. God of hope, we know how easy it is for anyone to lose hope. Help us to proclaim good news to those who think the bad news is too much to bear. May we offer your hope to all who need hope, especially those who are most vulnerable. We pray in the name of Jesus, who brought good news and who was persecuted for who he was. In the news this week, as the working season turns to fall and students return to school, we've been doing some renovation work here at United Church Center in Hartford, replacing a decade old carpet on the basement level with new flooring. The carpet had endured several inundations over the years, including a major flood this summer when a heavy downpour overwhelmed Hartford storm drains and sent water up through sewer pipes into basements around the city. The new floor, funded by an insurance settlement, is a composite material that should hold up better if the waters return. The work required a temporary shutdown of the conference's email, which was then extended when the mail server coincidentally suffered a hardware failure when it was signed to restart it. Email services were restored after about six hours by 4 p.m. on Tuesday. We'd like to remind you of a couple of stories we ran last week. The Faith IN project first appeared with marches, rallies, and hands-on projects in Cleveland, Ohio where our denomination's national headquarters is. During the national youth event in July, participants learned about the project, intended to inspire local church outreach projects and make them more visible in their communities. Among the suggestions included in the project guide, adopt a street, partner with a school, share food, inspire joy, and most important of all, be the church worth joining. There's more information and a supportive community on the initiative's website, faithinproject.com. Next April, UCC churches and people will take on another major project, much like last November's Mission One effort. Titled Mission For One Earth, it will be 50 great days of love and labor on behalf of our home planet. The three goals are 100,000 trees planted around the world, 100,000 environmental advocacy letters sent to elected officials and the media, and one million hours of engaged care for the earth, including cleanup, advocacy, and education. Mission For One Earth begins on April 1st, the day after Easter Sunday, and runs the 50 days of the Easter season to conclude on Pentecost. For more information, visit ucc.org slash earth. You'll find all the current headlines on our website at ctucc.org slash news. It's time to register for General Association, the Connecticut Conference's annual gathering of authorized ministers, church musicians, and Christian educators to be held at Silver Lake September 23rd through 25th. Bishop Yvette Flunder of City of Refuge in San Francisco, one of the UCC's most dynamic congregations, will lead the group in living into a revival of self, church, and community. Revival, she says, is not an event. Revival is a way to live. It's a lifestyle. Also on the program, Interim Conference Minister Chuck Wildman, the General Association Banquet, and even Time on the High Ropes Challenge Course. Find out more and register at ctucc.org slash g-e-n-l-a-s-s-n. Plan to be at Middletown High School on Saturday, October 20th for the fall meeting of the Connecticut Conference. The program for the day is to lift up and celebrate bold inspirational goals. That's what we mean by the theme, Go Big. The conference will welcome as keynote speaker, the Reverend J. Bennett Guess, Executive Minister for Local Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ. In addition, we'll hear from Interim Conference Minister, the Reverend Charles L. Wildman, and from Conference Preacher, the Reverend Allison Buttrick Patton. Delegates will consider three resolutions and a new budget and funding plan for 2013. On Friday, October 19th, the authorized minister's luncheon features the Reverend Christopher L. Weber, who will describe the birth of a vision conceived 170 years ago when he speaks on defining the dream, James Pennington, and the beginning of the struggle for racial equality in America. Learn about strategic planning for congregations in West Hartford, September 11th through 13th. Patricia Bjorling is offering a workshop on creating a season of generosity as a new approach to stewardship in Meridan on September 15th. If you're interested in next spring's international mission trip with simply smiles to Oaxaca, Mexico, then be at Silver Lake on September 16th and come to Hartford on the 19th to honor conference registrar Sue Furness, who is retiring after nearly 30 years of service. The thinking about working for God congregational retreat in September 22nd at Silver Lake and ripples in the water building an open and affirming movement is the same day in North Haven. Connecticut women of the UCC hold their first fall retreat in Mystic on September 29th. Bishop Carlton Pearson will speak on live-by-faith due justice in Hartford on October 13th. And you can always learn about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference at ctucc.org slash events. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Michael Sebo for his 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.