July 7, 2011 Blog

Dear Family of Faith,
I missed you when I was gone!! I had a fabulous time visiting family in Calgary, Alberta, and hiking through valleys and up mountains in the Canadian Rockies. I have lots of photos to show, too! I even got to drive a fancy car when I was there-- a red Porsche Boxter convertible (stick shift, of course!) I felt like a movie star :-) More recently I spent time at the General Synod meeting in Tampa with other volunteers from our church and Conference. It was a marvelous time. I know that those of you who went by bus last Sunday to enjoy the service appreciated the once-in-a-lifetime chance to worship with our brothers and sisters from around the nation (even if it did take us three buses to get there and back!! Andrea Gleason has threatened never to do a bus trip again!! Encourage her next time you see her!) . Meredith Suld expressed so well what we experienced: "Words fail me when I reflect on Sunday's Synod worship experience. It was so creative, fresh, dramatic in every way. I think we were all totally blown away. I've been poring over the marvelous liturgy ever since. How privileged we were to share that great experience! It's great to be part of the UCC!" If anyone would like to see the entire worship service on the Internet, you can access the video at the following website: www.ucc.org/synod/video/sunday-worship-service.html Talia Raymond and her youth dance group from Winter Park were part of the worship, too! I'm sure that Wayne and Sherrie couldn't have been prouder! Thanks to all the cookie bakers, too. I know that Jill and Kim and Kevin West did a lot of work along with others. Thanks to all of you we met our 200 dozen goal!! I was feeling pretty smug about that until one lady said, "Our church brought 1,000 dozen!" Of course their church is four times larger than ours! The cookies were piled to the ceiling-- just ask Karen and Linda Schrader who worked one day sorting them! They were all so delicious. I should know, I took one every time I passed the cookie tables! Maybe that's why I have this 'cookie ring' around my middle right now?
During the Opening Worship Service at Synod the Rev, Marilyn Pagan-Banks, Director of A Just Harvest, spoke. One thing she said greatly challenged me to think: "When I give bread to the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why people are poor, they call me a Communist." Her words brought out how reticent we are to hear anything that might upset our way of living. So much of help and assistance given these days is really a band-aid approach to a systemic problem. Why is it that the richest country in the world still has hungry people? I am so proud of all of you for contributing regularly to our Food Sunday offerings; we need to do that because people on our backstep are hungry. Even so, the money we send to our UCC missions (OCWM) helps others to advocate for changes that will fight the poverty that causes hunger. We must never be afraid to ask the hard questions about any of the injustices in our nation.
Another memorable idea came from Sunday's preacher, the Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, of Coral Gables Congregational UCC, who quoted Bishop John Shelby Spong. Bishop Spong said of the UCC that 'no church committed to social justice will ever be a majority denomination; but that, even so, the entire Christian world benefits from the witness that the UCC bears to justice issues.' I so agree with that statement, for it means that we at Spring Hill UCC have an important witness to make in our own community because even those who don't agree with everything we stand for can benefit from our understanding of God's grace and our extravagant welcome. Not only that, but even in our own personal lives we can stand up for what is right even if the majority of the group around us wants to continue in old ways that hurt and abuse. A small voice for good is still a voice for good. One lone candle can brighten a dark room. John the Baptist was a lone voice in the wilderness; Jesus himself was left pretty much alone in the end; yet both of these men were sent from God to bring truth and light to the world. That is our own vocation as well. Never be intimdated because your opinion is not shared by the majority. God never calls us to be popular or even successful, only faithful.