 Greetings friends! Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for November 21, 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 Mary Nelson Abbott, South Central Regional Minister. In the 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells the famous story about the last judgment, when some will be told that they had failed to help the Son of Man in all kinds of distress, and others will be thanked for their assistance. When they ask when they helped the hungry, thirsty, unwelcomed, naked, sick, or imprisoned King of the Church, they receive this answer. Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. I saw a post on Facebook the other day, one of those friend of a friend posts from a pastor asking for prayers for her congregation and the urban homeless population they serve. It seems one of their members, a man with no place to live, had frozen to death while sleeping on the steps of the church one cold night. Suddenly, for that church family, the plight of our homeless brothers and sisters became startlingly personal. The legacy that man will leave his congregation is a determination to use their church building as an emergency warming center when the temperature dips dangerously low. This weekend I visited my hometown and learned about the new homeless shelter that several churches had joined together to build a few years ago. It was a brand new facility with 250 beds, far more than the previous shelter's capacity, and every bed was filled the first night it was operational. Everyone involved in the project shook their heads in wonder. God knows, shelters are important, valuable, critical even, our care for the most vulnerable in our society, people who are homeless, people who are elderly, people who are physically or mentally challenged, people who live with violence in their neighborhoods and in their homes, and so many more, our care for vulnerable people is a necessary component of how we live out our faith. Shelters are a start, but they will never be enough to solve the problem. More beds will bring more people inside, but there will always be more than enough people to fill the beds we provide. There are plenty of resources to go around, but income inequality continues to increase in America. Meanwhile, we continue to hear that our economy is strengthening every day. We measure success by how many people have less than we do. Someday, we are going to have to confess the truth. Homelessness exists because we lack the will to eliminate it. As a wise mentor of mine frequently said, we belong to one another because we belong to Christ. The kingdom of God is among us and we are responsible for bringing it to fullness. It was Jesus who froze to death on the steps of that church. It was Jesus who filled that shelter to capacity. It is Jesus that we ignore on the street, avoiding eye contact as he begs for change. Here is a prayer for today. Jesus, I see you every day and ignore you. The next time I try to walk past you without helping, stick out your cane and trip me. Amen. In the news this week, the Reverend James Pennington escaped slavery in Maryland and went on to become the first African-American accepted at Yale University, the pastor of the Talcott Street Congregational Church in Hartford, and a leader of the Amistad Committees efforts to free the 49 kidnapped Africans who had attempted to sail home aboard the schooner La Amistad. Last Sunday, the pulpit Bible he used was presented to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African-American Culture and History by Faith Congregational Church, UCC, today's name for the Talcott Street Church. Museum curator Nancy Burkaw accepted the Bible for its 10-year loan from senior pastor of the Reverend Stephen Camp and associate pastor of the Reverend Mia Douglas, and she looks forward to displaying it and giving it the attention it deserves. As the nation awaits the decision of a St. Louis County grand jury about whether to indict Ferguson Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in August's shooting death of Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American team, the Connecticut Conference advised local church leaders to prepare for that event. In a message sent this week, the Sacred Conversation on Race Ministry team recommends prayer for those involved, anticipation of community needs, gathering resources for conversations, creating safe spaces for those discussions, and preaching against racism now and on a regular basis. The goal of this ministry is nothing less than to eradicate racism. The boards of directors of three New England UCC conferences, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, met together for the very first time last weekend. Massachusetts conference minister, the Reverend Jim Antel, described it as mapping the future together. The day-long retreat helped these church leaders understand the strengths within each conference and puts them on the road to sharing those strengths effectively with each other. It was surprising how natural it felt, said the Reverend Deborah Blood, who chairs the board of the Connecticut Conference. She went on to say even a couple of years ago it would have felt really radical and a little scary and a little crazy to bring these boards together. Now it feels absolutely right. This idea of interdependence is just easier in a way that is unexpected. Last Saturday, 26 clergy and lay leaders came together to learn more about motivating church members to take stands for social justice. Participant, the Reverend Stephanie Haynes, minister of mission and faith formation at the Gilead Congregational Church UCC in Hebron, described the day this way. If we are to realize God's vision, we as faith communities cannot ignore issues of social justice. The workshop was a great help and inspiration to me on how to go about doing this important work within our church. A new edition of Vantage Point has been posted to our website and YouTube channel today. Conference moderator, the Reverend de Maris Whitaker, pastor of Center Church UCC in Hartford, joins conference minister of the Reverend Kent Silotti for a conversation on interdependent ministry and of course, the power of Thanksgiving. On behalf of our conference staff here, we are so thankful that we are in a shared ministry with you, the people of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, gifted leaders like de Maris who every day try to live out the gospel. So as we count our blessings as the staff of the conference, we include you in our prayers of Thanksgiving. A blessed Thanksgiving to you and yours. God be with you. Make sure to visit our website for Kent's conversation with de Maris and for more on all these stories. We owe a special thanks this week to Ginny Wickersham who covered the Pennington Bible loan to the Smithsonian for us and who is the first of our CT UCC chroniclers to bring us a story. So thank you Ginny and we're eager to receive the gifts of your fellow volunteers. You'll find her story and all the current headlines at ctucc.org slash news. The Christmas at Silver Lake weekend retreats, one for fifth and sixth graders and another for seventh and eighth graders will be December fifth through the seventh out at Silver Lake. In the new year, consider joining the Farmington Valley Association's mission trip with simply smiles to the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The trip is in May and there's an information session in Avon on January 7th. If you're a high school aged youth who's thinking about working for God for a living, there's a weekend retreat for you at Silver Lake, the weekend of January 30th. And we want to draw special attention to the year's confirmation retreats. If you're leading one of these classes, consider bringing your group to Silver Lake for a weekend with other young people. We have openings in the retreats in January, February and March and get Super Saturday on your calendar. This day of workshops, which we enjoy in cooperation with the Massachusetts Conference, is scheduled for March 21st in Ludlow, Massachusetts. To learn more about these events or to register, visit us at ctucc.org slash events. Our spirited Wednesday thought comes from the Reverend Susan Izard, Minister of Spiritual Life at the First Church of Christ Congregational UCC in West Hartford. She wonders what it would be like for pastors to give thanks without ceasing for the faith of their parishioners and resolves for her thanksgiving practice to do precisely that. She writes, So while I can't see your face, I have heard of you and your faith, just as St. Paul heard of those in Ephesus. I give ceaseless thanks for your faith and love for God. We could not be the body of Christ without you. And that brings this 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 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. And a program note. Conference cast will take the week off for the Thanksgiving holiday. So while we're away, may you discover new sources of joy and blessing in this time so that your thanks to God flows as freely as a summer breeze. God's grace be with you.