Post Synod Musings #1 Single Governance

I am still en route home from Synod. I made it as far as Washington DC. I missed my connecting train from here to Trenton NJ so I have time to muse. I would have made the connection except for the fact that the Red Caps were busy and they did not come to collect me until it was too late.
No matter, I am getting on a train that goes directly to Princeton Jct so that I will not have to change trains in Trenton and I have time to muse on this blog.

I received the following e-mail from John Deckenback our Central Atlantic Conference Minister. You have met him at Christ Church. I am copying it here without comment. That will come in further musings.

"Single Governance" for the national settings of the UCC was a major topic of conversation at the CAC Annual Meeting last month as we considered resolutions from the Catoctin and Potomac Associations.

This was also a major topic at the just-completed General Synod in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In the end a "substitute" motion was presented by a Synod Committee. Here is the final text as approved by the delegates:

1 SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION
2 TOWARD UNIFIED GOVERNANCE FOR THE NATIONAL
3 SETTING OF THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

4 APPROVED

5 BE IT RESOLVED that since the dialogue regarding governance has surfaced historical
6 and present tensions regarding matters of race and ethnicity in our denomination, the
7 General Synod requests the Executive Council and the Covenanted Ministries Boards to
8 engage in further sacred conversations on race, especially around what it means to be an
9 anti-racist, multi-cultural, multi-racial church. This conversation would be separate from,
10 although possibly concurrent with, the discussion on governance in recognition that we
11 cannot heal relational issues through governance discussions, but we do need to move
12 toward reconciliation.
13
14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Synod requests that the Executive
15 Council appoint a Working Group with representatives from the Collegium of Officers,
16 members of the Executive Council, Covenanted Ministry Boards, Affiliated and
17 Associated Ministry Boards, the Council of Conference Ministers, and the Historically
18 Underrepresented Groups, to guide work toward Unified Governance in preparation for
19 action by the Twenty-Eighth General Synod. In consultation with the Chair of the
20 Executive Council, each of these bodies would identify their representative so that the
21 diversity of the church would be well represented in the Working Group.
22
23 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that General Synod requests that local churches,
24 Associations, Conferences, and Historically Underrepresented Groups engage in dialogue
25 and discernment regarding Unified Governance for the National Setting and report back
26 to the Working Group by Fall 2010. The Working Group, in a transparent way, will
27 document all information received and include it in the discernment process.
28
29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Twenty-Seventh General Synod affirms the
30 principle of a Unified Governing Board as the basic governance structure of the national
31 setting of the United Church of Christ, based on theological reflection, and practices of
32 good governance that include strategic planning, resource development, and monitoring
33 and oversight, incorporating the principles and concepts contained in the Fall 2008
34 Governance Follow-up Team II proposal, in order to carry out faithfully the mission of
35 the church.
36
37 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the General Synod requests that the Executive
38 Council and the Covenanted Ministry Boards bring to the Twenty-Eighth General Synod
39 a proposal for a Unified Governing Board with changes in the constitution and By-Laws
40 necessary to begin implementation of a Unified Governance structure.
41
42
43
44 The above resolution replaces 10 resolutions sent to Committee at
45 General Synod. The Committee recommended “no action” on the
46 submitted resolutions.

Rev. Dr. John R. Deckenback
Conference Minister
United Church of Christ Central Atlantic Conference
916 South Rolling Road, Baltimore, MD 21228
410 788 4190 (office) 443 253 2343 (cell)

Jeannette Brown

Synod Day 5 Tuesday

Well this was the day! I decided I needed to sleep and then have my last swim in the pool followed by breakfast so I arrived at the Plenary session late, 9:30 AM, they start promptly at 8:30 AM! I arrived just in time to find out from my new friend that they were finishing the voting on Single Governance which was the most controversial business of the synod. They gave one committee all six or more resolutions which dealt with the topic of single governance. This committee looked at them all and came up with a new resolution which was a compromise. Here is the report that is on the UCC website:

Synod votes for a unified governance structure

Written by W. Evan Golder
June 30, 2009

Tuesday morning’s first order of Synod business was consideration of a unified governance structure for the national structure – and the motion was adopted. The effort required 49 minutes, with 29 speakers engaging in debate.

Currently, five different boards guide UCC policy and decision-making in the national setting. With this motion, General Synod affirmed the principle of a single, unified governance board.

GS27 asked the Executive Council and the Covenanted Ministry Boards to bring to General Synod 28 a proposal for a single governance board, along with necessary constitution and bylaw changes. That Synod is planned for Tampa, Fla., in 2011.

Conspicuous by its absence was any floor discussion of the issue that had attracted the most opposition prior to Synod: the concern of the racial and ethnic constituency groups about losing their hard-earned representation on the current governing boards.

After the vote, protesters gathered at microphones to request reconsideration of the vote so they could introduce a minority resolution. The moderator ruled the request out of order.

Now I was at the meeting and from what I heard, people were at the mike to present the minority opinion but the question was called before they could speak. Calling the question ends debate according to Roberts Rules and the delegates voted to end debate.

Well that's went the ruckus started and they wanted to reconsider the vote etc but according to Roberts Rules it was out of order. People are allowed to react to this at the center mike according to the standing rules of the synod and react they did. Minorities in the UCC, African Americans and Asian and Pacific Islanders felt that they were not a part of the original meetings about the new governance structure and wanted a pause so that all voices could be heard. I have a copy of the resolution that was passed and I will scan it or try to find it on the UCC web so that you can read it. One of most important things in this resolution that was passed is that the Sacred Conversations about Race should continue. I will write a separate blog about that in the future because of course, I have some opinions.

In fact there was another resolution about "Sacred Conversations about

Race" that was introduced and passed. It called for resources from UCC to facilitate these conversations:

Synod says Sacred Conversations on Race to continue

Written by J. Martin Bailey

June 30, 2009

The 27th General Synod requested the Justice and Witness Ministries covenanted ministry to take the lead in continuing the program of Sacred Conversations on Race.

The delegates called on conferences, associations and congregations to "establish, promote and encourage" the conversations.

The resolution, which passed without objection, had been proposed originally by the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference.

They went on to other business before lunch. At lunch time I decided to find the Bank of America ATM to save money and found a newly opened restaurant that served Mediterranean fast food. Greek and Israeli. I had lemon chicken soup and a Greek salad which was good.

After lunch the delegates concluded business. There are a lot of resolutions that they considered but I will highlight one here. The rest can be found on the UCC website. Here it is:

General Synod encourages diversity education in public school

Written by J. Martin Bailey
June 30, 2009

The experience of two UCC congregations in California prompted the denomination's General Synod to urge churches in assisting public school efforts to protect children and help them understand people of other races and sexual orientation.

The congregations in Hayward and Alameda have longed worked with their local schools and their pastors accepted invitations to participate in school programs designed to end bullying and harassment. Delegates learned that frequent taunts of "You're so gay!" has led to violence and to two suicides.

Those schools and several others in California have been targeted by "traditional values" groups following programs designed to create safe schools as required by state law. An organized campaign of intimidation has been directed at schools that have sought to protect children of gay and lesbian parents and children whose parents are immigrants or from a different country of origin.

The General Synod action, approved by an overwhelming majority after extensive debate, encourages public schools to develop programs that help to keep all children safe, and for churches to assist in appropriate ways. The resolution includes recommendations to local churches, Conferences and to national ministries.

The educational programs are to embrace students of all races, ethnic origins, genders, faiths, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, socio-economic classes, countries of origin, and their families.

During the debate Synod delegates listened to appeals that the California churches not expect nationwide support for programs designed to protect children of gay or lesbian parents, or that sexual orientation and gender identities be separated from racial and ethnic diversity. Attempts to modify the resolution failed.

The two UCC pastors have resisted the pressures that included personal threats and legal actions. Both Eden UCC in Hayward, Calif., and First Congregational UCC of Alameda, Calif., have supported their pastors, the Rev. Arlene Nehring and the Rev. Laura Rose. Their efforts have also been supported by their Conference Minister, the Rev. Mary Susan Gast.

It is my opinion that this resolution mixes apples and oranges. I agree that schools should have education programs about sexual orientation, but I also think they need to have programs that cover the racial diversity of the students so that they can understand the differences and similarities between races. That has not happened yet in some schools.

The evening ended with a worship service which ended Synod.

The next Synod will be in 2011 in Tampa Bay Florida. This was a switch from Hawaii due to the economy.

Jeannette

Synod Day 4 Monday

Monday was Service Day for visitors and work day for delegates. Some people went to Habitat for Humanity to help build a house and some went to a nursing home to talk to the old people. Since I am one I did not want to do that! So I chose to go to the United Church Outreach Ministry Center. It is a food bank, tutoring center for kids and and education center for adults. Food banks in Grand Rapids are all linked so that the people must register to receive food and wait while they are checked to see that they are not abusing the service. Then they can come once or twice a month to receive food. Plus Fema supplies milk so once a week they can come and receive an amount of milk depending on the number of children in the family. They also have a used clothing and furniture center. The center is located in an old funeral home but they have space for the food and several trucks stocked with excess food and furniture.
We were greeted by the director of the center who assigned jobs to us. Some people cleaned out the freezer so it could be moved some people stocked the shelves with food, some people repacked flour and other food that was supplied in bulk. Some painted the walls and offices and I chose to help get the notebooks used in tutoring to be ready for next fall. They reuse notebooks so I had to make them look like they were new and put new labels on them so that the kids could put their name on them. I found out about the tutoring program and plan to send them some science activities from the American Chemical Society that they can distribute. I will also see if some of the college student who tutor can help with the science activities.
Another group of students arrived after we came and they were also put to work, mostly painting. The youth groups at Synod had been working all week doing service projects so this was not new to them. I will write more about the youth and young adults at Synod later. About 11:30 AM lunch arrived! We had pulled pork sandwiches which was good. The bus to take us back to the convention center was to arrive at 12:30 but the director kept people working even after lunch until we got on the bus. I finished my job and went out into the parking lot to practice my Speak Out.
We got back into the convention center about 1:30 which was well in time for the the afternoon session.
The first thing that happens during any Synod business session is "Speak Out". This is a session where anyone can "Speak Out" for one minute about any subject not on the agenda of Synod. I chose to speak about blood cancers of course and funding for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via the "Light the Night" walk. I managed to do it in one minute. After my performance I went to sit in the audience and observe the delegates debate the resolutions. I will talk about the resolutions in a later blog, I just want to give an overview of my day here. I wound up sitting next to another visitor from the state of New York. His wife was a delegate. He had printed out all the resolutions and was following the voting etc. It was nice to sit next to him as we had a running conversation going about the event. We wound up sitting next to each other by choice during all the plenary sessions.
That evening Geoffrey Black was elected the new General Minister replacing John Thoma. He was the New York Conference Minister and he is the second African American to head the United Church of Christ. We also elected The Rev Linda Jaramillo Executive Minister of Justice and Witness Ministries and The Rev. Stephen Sterner Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries and members of the board of directors.
The evening ended with a short worships service which is different because it was liturgical dancers interpreting Scripture as it was read.
I will write about Tuesday tomorrow. I am a day behind because I got tired Monday night and went to bed instead of blogging. Tomorrow Wednesday, I leave for home, I will have time to do some blogging tomorrow since I have a long layover between trains in Chicago.
Jeannette

Synod Day 3 Sunday

Today was Sunday and another day of rest. Well it was a day of rest for us visitors. The delegates are working hard on resolutions. I will speak about them tomorrow. Today started out with the Sacred Conversations about Race. We will have them some time at Christ Church I hope. We were supposed to have them last fall but somehow that did not happen. There were several different groups who talked about several different topics. The topics were: Race, Media and Politics, Race and the Environment, Race and Gender, race and LGBT, Race and Immigration, Race and Religion, Race and the New Generation, Race,Economics and Poverty, Race and Education, Race and Daily Life, Race and the Criminal Justice System, Race and Culture,and Race in the UCC. So you see there is something for everyone to discuss. I was torn between Race and Education and Race and Every Day Life. I chose Race and Education because that's my passion but Race and Every Day Life is something I live. For example when I went to buy a dress for a big occasion at a store in the Short Hills Mall, the clerks ignored me and I was ready to pay $l00 or more for that dress. That's is an example of Race and every day life. Or else clerks come over to you with the "Can I help you?" and then hover over you while you are in the store in case you are going to steal something, I guess.
But in the Race and Education group was a diverse group of mostly educators. It started by a talk by a young African American music teacher who teaches Band at a middle school in Greensboro NC. He spoke about his experiences as a teacher and the impact of the "No Child Left Behind Act" on the schools. Then we broke up into groups of three to discuss this and then larger groups. Each of the larger groups then reported out our finding. Most of what was said has been said before. The big action item is telling Congress when they reauthorize "No Child Left Behind" to put teeth into the bill. Right now it is an unfunded mandate and teachers spend a lot of time teaching to the test for fear of their jobs. It can be done better with alternative means of assessment. But I have blogged about this before so look at the old blogs.
Today was also the United Black Christians Celebration Luncheon. I had a ticket to this luncheon so I dressed up for the occasion. I wore my Afrocentric dress as most of the people there tend to wear Afrocentric clothing both men and women. The United Black Christians was started in 1970. It's mission Statement is:
To provide VOICE for all of the African American members of the United Church of Christ.
To strengthen the Black churches within the United Church of Christ.
To train and nurture leaders of our churches for Gospel inspired service to the Black Community
To provide support for institutions that strengthen our community,
To provide a relevant ministry for our youth and young adults,
To empower the laity for a present day ministry,
To be active advocates for liberation and racial justice at home and abroad,
To provide spiritual nurture for our members,
to enhance clergy-lay ministry partnerships, and
To preserve our history as a people within the United Church of Christ.

I am a member of the United Black Christians. John Thomas came to the luncheon to say his goodbye's as well as the new General Minister nominee Rev. Black.
The program was filled with music and another sermon by an African American minister Rev. Henry Simmons.

After the luncheon we all went back to the convention center to attend the afternoon worship service to which the general public was invited. The Rev John Thomas preached and the choir sang. I am glad I was not in the choir because they only sang one song and their rehearsal was during the United Black Christians luncheon.

After the worship service the delegates got down to business to review the numerous resolutions. Since I am not a delegate I went back to my hotel for rest and relaxation. Tomorrow is the service project day.
The Synod is being webcast live if you would like to see what is going on.
Jeannette Brown

Synod Day 2 River City Saturday

Today was a special day River City Saturday. It was a day of special events which means the business of the Synod was not done while we had these special events which were fun, but I think I would be mad if I were a delegate because there is a lot of work for the delegates to do and not a lot of time assigned to that work. But this is the view of a visitor maybe they are working behind the scenes.
The day started with worship at 8:30 AM in the Plenary Hall. Ina and I got there late but in time to hear Eugene Robinson the Washington Post writer and TV commentator speak. He is writing a book about African Americans and their status post civil rights legislation. He started it before the election of our current president. He spoke about his life growing up in the segregated south and the status of African American now. One of the things he predicts is that our races are becoming blended and there will be no minority race in 40 years. He said "there is no right American history , no standard American history, our divisions are our strength".

The next event I went to was the Praise Hymnal workshop. The UCC has produced a new Praise music hymnal entitles "Sing!Pray and Praise". This workshop talked about how the hymnal was written and how they chose the music. Right now it is just words and music the accompaniment version will come out later this year. There is some music in it that is good so I purchased five copies ( they were running a sale). I will give two to Holly and Ms Allie and the other two are going to the church in Flemington and one for me.

I was tired and but instead of going back to the hotel I got some lunch and went to watch the river. In the afternoon there was a talk by Ray Suarez of PBS and Krista Tippett of "Speaking of Faith" on NPR. Both talks were very good.
After that Ina and I went to dinner and then to the evening event which was a send off for John Thomas the current General Minister of the UCC. Synod will elect a new General Minister this session. John Thomas's twin brother Dick was also there and confused one video photographer. Since Dick is a member of the New Jersey Association and in New Jersey I don't confuse them. Besides Dick is a fellow chemist.
Tomorrow is Conversations about Race. That should be interesting.

Jeannette Brown

27th General Synod UCC Grand Rapids Michigan

Here is my blog from GS27 in Grand Rapids Michigan. This is about the fourth or fifth time I have been to a General Synod as a visitor. My first Synod was held in Providence Rhode Island.
This time I took the train from Washington DC to Chicago IL and then the train from Chicago to Grand Rapids after a layover of all day. The Grand Rapids train ride was interesting. We found out later that most of the people on the train were going to Synod. In fact the conductor commented that he had never seen so many people bound for Grand Rapids. The train left the station on time and got somewhere in Indiana and stopped. We waited for a while and then the train backed up. It seems the CSX dispatcher had sent us on the wrong track! CSX the freight line owns the track. Well we got almost to Grand Rapids and we stopped again. It turns out that CSX said there was Amtrak equipment in the way. They got that straighten out and we headed for Grand Rapids one hour late.
Ina Isobe was waiting for me at the station. She is from Union Congregational Church in Montclair and also a visitor at synod. She is my room mate till Sunday. She was among a group of UCC bikers who biked from Syracuse to Grand Rapids. She is going home by Amtrak.
This morning I visited the widower of one of the women chemists that I am working on for my book. He is an Episcopal priest at St. Marks here in Grand Rapids. The woman died in 1997 but I wanted to check with him about her life.
At about noon I checked in to synod and attended a hearing about the proposed governance changes. The UCC would like to change the governance structure to have one group rather than the five groups each with their own board that meets twice a year. it is very complicated but if you want more information about this I refer you to the UCC website.
After the hearing the business of Synod started.
I went to the Science and Religion Network dinner. The Science and Religion Network is a group of scientists who ponder the interface between religion and science. They are now working on evolution. There was a speaker at the diner who talked about evolution.
After the dinner it was back to the Opening Worship in the Plenary Hall. We had a rousing sermon by The Rev. Otis Moss III who is the new minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. This was the same church that Barack Obama use to attend. Choir members from that church sang the music and the liturgical dance troupe danced the music. I have always wanted Christ Church to have a liturgical dance group, because I think it is so cool. The Rev Moss sounds a lot like Martin Luther King Jr. when he preaches, or maybe it is the same lively way all African American ministers preach. They start out slowly but their body seems to be on springs as they jump up and down and then they wind up and let it fly and it goes on and on for an hour. He was very good. We got back to the hotel late last night and I fell asleep writing the first draft of this blog.

Jeannette

Christ Church Women's Retreat and other retreats

Well I finally went on the Christ Church women's retreat. It is run by Rev Julie Yarborugh our associate minister. Julie said this was the 13th retreat that she has run. Well 13 is my lucky number as I was born on the 13th and lived at 13 Dennis Place in Summit for years so I am not afraid of the number 13. It the first time I had no real excuse not to go on the the retreat so I went and I am glad because I had fun.
This year it was held at a new location for the retreat, the Carmel Retreat Center in Mahwah New Jersey which is about as far north as you can go in New Jersey without going into New York state.
It is lovely in the hills of New Jersey, I hesitate to say mountains in case people who really live in the mountains read this. I went with my Hillsborough friend and Christ Church member Kathryn and for us it was a straight ride up I 287. We could have gone all the way on Route 202, but even though that would be scenic it would also be very slow.
The Carmel Retreat house" began as the private estate of Clarence Chapman, a New York financier whose principal interests were in mining and shipbuilding. A ship's bell forged by the Menelly Bell Company of Troy, New York in 1903 still reminds visitors of Mr. Chapman's business interests when they visit the site of his summer home in the Ramapo River Valley of New Jersey. He named the estate "Welawiben", a word created by him to connote good health and fellowship " For more information about the estate and it's history see this website: http://www.carmelretreat.com/html/about/history.html

This year thirty women decided to go on the retreat which is the largest group ever. Julie thought it was because of the topic. "Hope in HardTimes". I guess I went just to see what it was like.
I am not going to discuss everything we did because that would not be right. It was an opportunity for me to meet and interact with some of the women of the church and their friends as we were allowed to bring non church members. Almost everyone in the church knows me because I sing in the choir and I am very vocal about UCC announcements but I don't know everyone in church. This was indeed a way to interact and meet with the women.
What was good about the retreat was silence. Many people took a walk or a run around the property when we had breaks. It is a beautiful property to walk. I did not because walking is hard for me and I also have a cold.
Sunday we did a craft project lead by Lynn our crafts person. At first we all thought it might be too hard but we all got into the project and came out with very pretty accordion books that we made by making a printing block and printing on paper.
The meals were good and a good time for informal fellowship and talks with people whom I did not know until then.
This retreat was good time to get away and think about our lives without the hustle and bustle of life.
So as not to reveal all that we did I will leave it at that.
This was the first Christ Church retreat I have been on but not the first retreat in my life. I am a Turtle Sister which means I have been on the Turtle Island Project retreat twice. This is held in Arizona in the fall. This year it will be either the first or second weekend in October and I hope to fit it into my plans again. You are welcome to join me.The highlight of this retreat is the sweat lodge. The retreat is run by three therapists, one of them being a Native American and another being Native American and African American. The sweat lodge takes some getting used to. As I said I hope to go again this year if I can fit it into my schedule.
Sorry guys these retreats are only for women. Do you have retreats like this?
Jeannette Brown