 Greetings friends! Welcome to CTUCC Conference Cast for March 13, 2015, 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 David McAllister, Associate Conference Minister for Leadership and Vitality. She's inspired this week by these words of Dennis Bratcher, author of the blog titled The Voice. He writes, Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some churches today still observe a rigid schedule of fasting on certain days during Lent, especially the giving up of meat, alcohol, sweets, and other types of food. Other traditions do not place as great an emphasis on fasting, but focus on charitable deeds, especially helping those in physical need with food and clothing or simply the giving of money to charities. Most Christian churches that observe Lent at all focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God's grace. This past weekend we commemorated the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. On March 7, 1965, over 600 men and women led by civil rights leaders including John Lewis attempted to across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. They were marching to Montgomery to raise awareness on the abuses that African Americans endured when they attempted to fulfill their constitutional right to vote. As they attempted to cross the bridge, they were met by Alabama state troopers who dispersed the crowd using tear gas and billy clubs. Over 50 people were hospitalized and John Lewis' skull was fractured. I offered the spirit calendar in December and began with a quote from Dennis Bratcher of the website, The Voice. I was struck by his clear connection between advent and justice. I returned to his post to see if there was a link between Lent and justice. He made no explicit claim in his post, but simply reminded readers that Lent is a time to fast, to offer charitable deeds, and to pray. He suggested that the prayer should focus on penance and our collective need to repent for failures and sin. Is Lent the time to fast, from apathetic responses to the cries that black lives matter? Is it a time to offer genuine aid to those who still fight to have their constitutional rights honored, or a time to pray for our country's original sin, slavery? Perhaps these are inappropriate suggestions for Lent. After all, Lent is a relatively short season in our liturgical calendar. To take up these tasks faithfully for the remainder of the 40 days of Lent, and then to joyfully lay them down on Easter would betray God's call of the church. I think that Bratcher was right to leave the work of justice out of Lent. It is too important to take up in the 40 days alone. Perhaps we can use this time to prepare for the long work of justice. Here is a prayer for this week. We pray for courage, consistency, and stamina to fight in the long work of justice. Amen. In the news this week, Sunday was a day of celebration and dedication in the Connecticut Conference. At the Asylum Hill Congregational Church UCC in Hartford, Senior Pastor the Reverend Matthew Laney opened the observance of Amistad Sunday with these words, Black Lives Matter. That is the essence of the Amistad story. Six Hartford Area congregations joined to recall the struggle of 53 African captives to win their freedom through the U.S. courts after they were enslaved illegally even under the law in 1839. Detained by federal officials in Connecticut, they received aid from congregational churches here and eventually won both their freedom and assistance in returning to their homeland. The Reverend Stephen Camp of Faith Congregational Church UCC noted that the struggle for justice is not as clear as it was when the question was slavery. He said, Today it has become harder to distinguish a division such as that to place blame so definitively. Back then the pain was obvious, the fear was understandable, the anger apparent and plain, but now it is delicately spoken and clever at best. The worshipers came together so that the words and music could help them to clarify the cause, the cause of today and to equip them for the work ahead. Also on Sunday members and friends of the Sogata Congregational Church UCC in Westport celebrated that congregation's return to their sanctuary 40 months after a fire raged through their parlor and choir rehearsal room and nearly destroyed the entire building. John Walsh who chaired the building committee recalled answering a text from his daughter as he stood outside the church the night of the fire. She said, Dad, I saw her in Westport now. The church is on fire. He said, Will it be okay? I timed firebath damage extensive. And then I thought about it. This was her church, a church that meant so much to her. Really the only church she'd ever known, a church that meant so much to our family and so much. There's so many people in this community. I added, Church will be okay. And I get sent. And then I thought about it. He's roaring out of control and I said to myself, I hope those are not a few words. For senior pastor, the Reverend Allison Buttrick Patton, the rededication marks the opportunity to change from guest to host. That loss has a way of expanding our view if we let it. A pulling back the curtain to show us that a hardship connects us with the whole human race. Reminds us that we ought to look after each other. That we are called to be the first one in the world. Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle, said the Scottish author, Ian McCleary. And do not oppress the alien, the soldier, God commanded Israelites, for you know the heart of the soldier. In other words, welcome others because you know what it's like to need a gracious welcome. May the people who gather here experience grace, feeling joy, kindness, comfort and challenge. May the people who gather here experience grace, healing, joy, kindness, comfort and challenge. May we love each other well here. And may the doors that welcome us in today also open out to remind us that here we are equipped to serve because we call us to be healers in a broken world, voices in the wilderness, companions on the journey, seekers after justice, and bearers of your light. In your holy name we pray. New vantage point released this week, Conference Minister of the Reverend Kent Solati welcomed two pastors of neighboring churches, the Reverend Bridget Fiddler of the First Church of Christ Congregational UCC in Suffield and the Reverend Eric Fistler of the West Suffield Congregational Church UCC. And yes, it's pure coincidence that two pastors in the same town have names that sound so similar. For some years now the two leaders and their two congregations have developed significant ministries together. They observe holidays with each other, they study together, they train lay leaders for the two churches side by side and they cooperate in outreach ministries and service projects. As Reverend Fistler says, and there's a little bit of excitement to see where will God lead us in the next year. That is just wonderful. It is so great. And we'll be wondering with that same excitement as well. See that complete vantage point interview, read more about the Amistad service and see more photos from the Suggatech dedication and keep up with all the current headlines at ctucc.org slash news. We have word that with gifts pledged by some Connecticut Conference churches and associations, the Leadership Studio campaign has passed the $5,000 mark, one-third of the way to our goal of $15,000. Help us create this space for leaders to learn and grow so that congregations and ministries can learn and grow. To learn more and to donate, visit us at ctucc.org slash studio. Next week friends is a milestone for ctucc conference cast. It will be our 200th episode. I'll have a little bit more to say about that next week and it looks like we'll need to hold the party off a bit because we've got a lot of material coming in the next couple of weeks. But I'm going to take this moment to thank you for the support that you've offered. You've listened, you've commented, you've liked, you've shared. This program is about declaring good news. Good news that God loves us, all of us. Good news that people are willing to express that love concretely in the world. Good news that here are some of the ways that they do it. I've been blessed to be able to prepare and to share these stories. And I'm grateful to you. Tomorrow the UCC's general counsel, Don Clark, will lead a workshop on governing boards and safe conduct policies for church lay leaders in Middlefield. Advanced registration for Super Saturday is now closed and there may or may not be room for walk-ins. The stay of workshops features keynote speaker, the Reverend Ruben Duran, who promotes new church development for the evangelical Lutheran church in America and was recently featured in the Christian Century. This joint venture with the Massachusetts conference will be held next Saturday in Ludlow, Massachusetts and we'll have the story from there. The women's yoga and spirit retreat is at Silver Lake March 27th through the 29th. The Maple Sugaring Weekend welcomes middle school aged youth for an experience of the sweetness of creation. Tapping trees and boiling sap as people have for hundreds of years. That's also being held the weekend of March 27th. Stepping Stones offers part one of keeping our churches safe on April 9th in Hartford. You can also register for stewardship in the changing church from consumerism to generosity. This year's ecumenical stewardship event which runs April 17th and 18th in Boxborough, Massachusetts. Silver Lake's spring action weekend is May 1st through 3rd that helps our outdoor ministry center in Sharon prepare for the summer conference season. And the conference's youth revival is May 3rd in Bloomfield. Registration is also open for the New England Association of United Church Educators event running May 5th through 7th in Craigville, Massachusetts. Boundary training for authorized ministers will next be held on May 7th in Tolland. To learn more about these events order register, visit us at ctucc.org slash events. Our spirited Wednesday thought comes from the Reverend Jonathan Chapman, pastor of the Westfield Congregational Church UCC in Danielson. In the third chapter of John's Gospel, the evangelist observes that those who do evil hate the light and do not come to it lest their deeds be exposed whereas those who do what is true come to the light. Reverend Chapman writes, the truth is we are people of light and darkness, rays of light and long shadows of despair. We look toward the dawn for the future it brings and covet the sunset for the avoidance of truth it secures. And just when we realize that great cosmic battle of light and dark of good and evil is the same pole we each feel, the psalmist reminds us to give thanks to God for God is good because God's faithful love lasts forever. Through it all God is with us. And that brings this conference cast to a close. Thanks to Day McAllister 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 Associate Conference Minister for Proclamation, Identity, and Communication 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. Okay, that may be the role. That's okay.