 Welcome to this edition of Vantage Point. I am pleased to have my co-worker here, Karen Zeal. She is the Minister of Faith Formation for the Connecticut Conference and the first question I wanted to ask you Karen is what is this thing called faith formation? Faith formation Kent is quite simply forming people in faith and everything we do in our lives, everything the church does teaches. So all of our experiences, our relationships, those opportunities to tell our stories and hear the stories of others, all of that forms our faith if we think about how is God present in those moments. So Karen, we've got an event called Super Saturday coming up on March 1st in Ludlow, Massachusetts and not everybody knows what Super Saturday actually is. So what is this thing called Super Saturday? Super Saturday Kent is a collaborative event between the Connecticut and Massachusetts conferences with a keynote speaker, with over 45 workshops, with a marketplace, a bookstore and more. It's an opportunity for church leaders and members to come together into network to discover best practices and new strategies for the many ministries that they lead in the life of a local church. Sounds like a really good event for us to go to. Why would I want to wake up in my bed on a Saturday morning, get in my car with others from my church and drive to Ludlow, Massachusetts? The opportunity to learn from people who are engaged in God's mission and ministry and the life of the local church who are energized and eager to share what they've discovered about effective ways to do that in the 21st century church is to me a real draw and to many of the people that I serve who are looking for resources, not only print resources, but people resources to share what they've discovered in effecting change in the life of their church and their communities. Sounds great. And the theme I believe is risking vision which for me intrigues me enough to want to go to be a part of this day. So the keynote speaker for this event is Diana Butler Bass. What can you tell me about Diana? Diana is a religious historian and scholar, Kent who has written many, authored many good books recently about the church in the 21st century and this time in the life of our congregations. She talks to us about strategies for engaging new ministries and new way of ministry to meet the needs of God's people today. In her book Christianity after religion Diana Butler Bass says this, ours is a time of awakening. Since awakenings are cyclical times of endings and new beginnings, events that occur with some regularity as spiritual seasons, then it is easier to participate in what is happening around us with a sense of awareness, purpose, hope, and creative possibility. She talks about culture and church, how those affect one another and how we're called to affect one another. So I've heard Diana speak and one of the things that really interests me about what she has to say is the church can't look inward, the church can't focus in on its own needs, the church has to look outwards and literally take the church into the streets which is pretty biblical. The book of Acts, the church was born literally flinging wide the doors and taking the faith to the streets. So Diana will help create a vision for where the church of the future might need to go. So we are excited about her being our keynote speaker for the event. So Karen, how would I register for this event? There's a simple link on the Massachusetts conference website Kent that gives you all the information you need and walks you through a simple process of registration. You can choose your workshops. And there's 45 different workshops and the topics are quite comprehensive. So and half of the leadership, as I understand it, is from Massachusetts for the workshops and half is from Connecticut. So we are full participants in this project. That's right. The wonderful thing about this collaboration is that we can pull from folks in both of our states, each of our states, who are doing amazing things in leading folks through opportunities to learn more about the ministries they're engaged in. So as we work on this image of interdependence, how we need each other, this is one experiment. The Massachusetts conference can't say to the Connecticut conference, I have no need of you in the Connecticut conference can't say to the Massachusetts, I have no need of you. This collaboration is one example of an experiment of us working together in some new and dynamic and exciting ways. And I'm really excited about this event. I appreciate the work that you've done as part of the planning team for this event. And we encourage all of you to get in your cars March 1st and drive to Ludlow, Massachusetts. It will be worth your time. Thank you, Karen, for being here today. Thank you, Kent. From the United Church of Christ Resource Worshipways, Marilyn Levine, a UCC pastor from North Dakota, offers this prayer as we close our time today. Great God, gardener, creator of all living things, you live with us today shining like the February sun and promising tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. The crocus tells us you are near and the snow drops make vows you alone can keep. May we find you in every blooming thing beneath the snows of our lives. May we see you in the brightness of the morning streaming through these windows. May we know you in the promise of today and today and today becoming always becoming. Amen.