Did you miss me?!  Ok, maybe not, if you are like me and groan at numbers of emails.  But I also treasure being connected so email is yet another mixed blessing.

 

I have saved up a bunch of things I will be sending in the next few weeks.  This time I want to share a summer reflection, offer some thanks, and give a few notes about General Synod.  Short, I promise!!

 

Last Monday (my day off), I went early to walk at the LA Arboretum, near our home. The still early morning summer  beauty was overwhelming and as I walked a little worship tune usually used in sanctuaries came into my mind: "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place..."  As I prayed for several friends with serious illness,  I felt enormously grateful for the ability to walk at all and to be in such a breathtakingly beautiful place.  Up above the little waterfall, hummingbirds fluttered, flowers bloomed brilliantly, and the majestic mountains stood watch.  But as I sang my summer prayer of joy, I also began to think---as I so often do---about other places where God's presence all the more surely is but the beauty may be more subtle, if at all.  I thought of children in Angola, walking, not for prayer or pleasure but miles and miles for a bucket of water to carry on their heads to their home for that day's cooking.  I thought of Palestinian workers blistering in the heat as they try to get through the 'wall' to work on the Israeli side.  And I thought of our women and men in the armed forces in hot Iraq and Afghanistan, dusty and dry in a sadly new kind of warfare. And I thought of the man I pass on a Pasadena streetcorner where he sets up his shopping basket 'home' ..  My  Calvinist background wells up at such times and I am tempted by the abyss of guilty despair at my own comfort and beautiful context while others so desperately eke out their livelihoods in hard places. (Am I the only one who does that?)  But on this summer day it seemed grossly ungrateful to wallow there.  Instead I chose to simply give profound thanks for the wonder of such magnificent treasures of beauty and to pray that such moments will move me to give all the more of my small being to do whatever I can, however I can, whenever I can to work for a world where every child of God experiences their own abundant joy and beauty. 

Just my small reflection...May your summer be blessed with moments of beauty, wonder, family and joy.

 

Belatedly, I want to add my own word of appreciation to every congregation and person who contributed to the more than 1500 school kits this Conference has sent to Church World Service! It was an awesome moment at Annual Gathering when those kits were 'paraded' into the Claremont sanctuary.  John McCollough (Director of CWS) and I were blown away.  A recent letter of thanks from John for the kits tells us that recently 9,750 school kits were sent to the Dominican Republic!  Your gifts have also multiplied the gift in that we had offered a friendly challenge to our Disciples of Christ partners in this region to match our goal of 500 kits but after your response, they have increased their goal to 1500 by their fall meeting!   Finally, I want to note special appreciation to the staff and sewers from the Retirement Housing Foundation who made almost 500 of the cloth bags and gave them to congregations to fill.   What a terrific partnership among local churches, a Conference, a UCC Health and Human Service agency and an ecumenical global ministry organization!!!  God is SO GOOD!  Just imagine for a  moment as you read this, what joy your pencils and crayons will bring to a child somewhere in the world and imagine their whispered 'wow---thank you!'.

 

While I'm expressing thanks, many such thanks go out on behalf of our whole Conference to the eleven folk who gave a week of their time and energy to being our delegates to the 2009 General Synod.  While it is a great privilege and opportunity to be a delegate, it is also a big chunk of time and effort to do this on our behalf.  Don't forget that you can invite a delegate to come and share their experiences with you in a worship service, board meeting or other occasion.  You can also go online to the United Church of Christ website and see videos of the speakers and other aspects of Synod.  Some of our delegates are writing their reflections and you will be able to read them in our new online magazine coming this fall.

 

For some of us, General Synod is a great big family reunion and I was personally blessed with seeing, hugging and visiting with many folks from the three Conferences where I have previously lived and served.  Worship at Synod is another highlight for me---the singing is splendid and we even had a full orchestra, from the UCC Cathedral of Hope in Texas!  A wonderful tribute to our General Minister and President, John Thomas, was a special time---ask a delegate about John's red shoes!   A day of special speakers and worskshops was highlighted for me by hearing Krista Tibbett from public radio's Speaking of Faith and by the moving dance of a group of wheelchaired and non-wheeled dancers.  We from SCNC were delighted to meet one of our 'own', Juan Antonio Richards, a young man from one congregation considering UCC standing, who wowed Synod attendees with his virtuoso violin, and a Disciple from our area who was the choreographer for some meaningful worship dance. New treasures among us!

 

I wish every one of you could have been there but don't forget the good news that ALL Southern Cal Nevada UCC folks will have a chance to be a part of General Synod right here in 2013.  LOTS and lots of volunteers will be needed or you can 'just come'.  Don't miss it!

 

Well, enough for now from me but coming soon: 

Summer blessings, dear friends!

Jane