 Greetings, friends. Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for May 9, 2013, 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 Cecile Gilson, assistant to the conference minister. Cecile has had a heart filled with joy these last few weeks, and she finds an echo for her soul in the first and last lines of Psalm 97. The Lord rules. Let the earth rejoice. Let all the islands celebrate. Rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones. Give thanks to His holy name. On Saturday, April 20th, the Connecticut Conference gathered in a special meeting to consider the recommendation by the board of directors and the search committee to elect the Reverend Ken Salotti as our next conference minister. Annual meetings and other gatherings of the conference are usually spirit filled and inspiring, but this one was especially so. As a conference and as a staff, we have been on a long journey. At times that journey has been forward moving, but at other times it has felt like the journey through the wilderness. Putting our faith and trust in God and the search committee is good and right, but not always the easiest thing to do. Letting go and letting God is particularly difficult if you are a control freak like me. All along the way, I knew with absolute certainty that things were progressing as they should. I had no doubt that the right candidate would be presented and the conference and staff can continue to become God's instrument in this time. On that sunny Saturday in April, I knew that in fact God had been guiding us as I knew God would. With a sanctuary filled with voices raised in song, we began a time of discernment. Everyone listening deeply to the search committee and the candidate. Questions were raised and answered with faith filled words. When the vote was announced, the sense of joy and hope in the room was palpable. Many eyes were filled with tears of joy and relief. Now we begin the hard work of discerning who and whose we are as the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ with God's help we will. There is a prayer for this week. God of wisdom and strength, help us discern your will in the coming weeks and months. Guide our deliberations and our prayers so that we may fully be your people in this time. Amen. In the news this week, Church World Service delivered its 2,500th emergency cleanup bucket to Illinois this week, where their contents of scrubbing utensils and scouring soaps have been helping residents cope with widespread flooding from heavy spring rains. With so many of these buckets shipped, the Ecumenical Helping Agency has issued a call for new contributions of cleanup buckets, as the supply is low and new needs lie ahead. In Connecticut, they can be dropped off at Center Congregational Church UCC in Meridan. Visit our website for information about how to prepare the cleanup buckets, and thank you for your help. We have a lot of environmental justice news this week, as we continue to work at our mission for One Earth Goals in the United Church of Christ. Silver Lake Conference Center has created a new Environmental Justice Center at the Connecticut Conference's Camp and Retreat Center in Sharon, which will develop educational programs and resources, and serve as a networking hub for environmental efforts throughout New England and the nation. Pammeriffian has been appointed Sustainability Director there, and will offer awareness programs to summer conferees and retreat guests, as well as providing that point of contact for environmental advocates. The UCC's Minister for Environmental Justice, Jim Deming, joined Pammeriffian in leading a train-the-trainer weekend event in April, which included a field trip to Bridgeport, where they looked at the impact of Connecticut's last coal-fired power plant on the health of its nearby neighbors. We learned, said Erythian, why it's so important to be a witness to what is happening to our Earth, and to the marginalized communities that are disproportionately bearing the burden of pollution from industry. In an essay on our website this week, Silver Lake co-director Andrews explains why we can't wait to deal with the issues of environmental damage and climate change. It is beyond time to transform our outdoor ministry centers, churches, and communities into an assertive movement for freedom, she declares, the right to a thriving, habitable planet and the right to a simple walk in the woods. If we do not pledge collective mass change as Earth inhabitants, we may not have a home planet to inhabit sustainably soon. Cornwall United Church of Christ stands just off one of the main roads to Silver Lake there in northwest Connecticut, and there too the members are concerned for the health of planet Earth. They have been vigorously supporting a local trash recycling program such that their town has one of the highest recycling rates in the state. And when Mission 401 Earth draws to a close on Pentecost Sunday, May 19th, they will gather for a Vesper service at the local landfill, which isn't simply a dump, but an award-winning trash collection and sorting facility. We are hoping people leave the service in a celebratory mood for the fact that we have a unique landfill and a very conscious skier in this town about waste and clean energy, said Tracy Gray, the director of Christian Education and the church's secretary. We are hoping they go away with a sense of accomplishment and joy that we are conscious not just during the 50 days, but all the time, in God's creation and how we care for it. To learn more about these stories, including Anne Hughes' complete essay and an account of the climate revival in Boston on April 27th, please visit us at ctucc.org slash news. As the sun finally shines a little longer this spring, imagine your bare feet greeting the warm sand between your toes. Imagine the fireflies sparkling along the tree line above the campfire. Here you're the singing floating over the hill from the waterfall chapel. Feel in the delight of discovering a new best friend in the bunk above you. In your imagination, you're at Silver Lake already for a week-long outdoor ministry experience that changes lives and makes friend-making easy. Greet God in God's backyard at Silver Lake this summer. Learn more and register at www.silverlakect.org. We look forward to welcoming you to Silver Lake, your conference center. Register your child now for a soul-enriching week at Silver Lake this summer. Visit us at silverlakect.org. This year's youth revival will be celebrated at United Congregational Church in Bridgeport tomorrow evening, May 10th, and it will be quite an evening. Don't miss it. Connecticut's retired clergy, known as the Saints, meet on May 16th in Cromwell. The Minority Empowerment Committee will hold its first celebratory worship service in New Haven on May 17th, featuring the preaching of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Clemens, Sr. On the edge of fire, a father and son retreat is the weekend of May 17th at Silver Lake. Gift Squared will hold an adult training retreat at United Church Center in Hartford on May 20th. Silver Lake will host the Conference Choir Retreat on May 25th, our first experiment with a multicultural music experience for conference meetings. Hartford Seminary holds a day-long celebration of Duncan Black McDonald on June 2nd, called Encountering the Religious Other. Play for God and for the benefit of young people this summer at the Silver Lake Golf Tournament on June 4th in Waterbury. And on June 9th, we'll get together in Bloomfield to honor our outgoing Interim Conference Minister, the Rev. Charles L. Wildman, and to thank him for his three years of faithful, spirit-led leadership to this conference. Please join us. And you can always learn more about what's coming up in the Connecticut Conference by visiting us at ctucc.org slash events. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Cecile Gilson 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 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.