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| Barack Obama |
HARTFORD (06/05/2007) -- U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D, IL), an active UCC member since 1988, has accepted an invitation to speak at UCC General Synod 26, June 22-26, in Hartford. The invitation was issued more than a year ago.
Obama, a member of Trinity UCC in Chicago, will speak to delegates and visitors during the special daylong “Synod in the City” event on Saturday, June 23, at the Hartford Civic Center.
Obama joins an impressive line-up of presenters during the five-day General Synod that includes journalist Bill Moyers, activist Marian Wright Edelman, preacher Peter Gomes, actress Lynn Redgrave, author Marilynne Robinson, columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr. and many more. Additional information is available at www.ucc.org/synod.
Obama, a Democratic candidate for President, has spoken often about his profession of faith, his membership in the UCC and the need for the nation to take seriously the concerns of religious Americans.
The Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC’s general minister and president, said Obama will further strengthen the draw to the UCC’s 50th anniversary gathering.
“Sen. Obama is one of the most exciting figures on the political landscape today,” Thomas said. “More than that, he is a public figure who takes seriously the relationship between faith and public life. We look forward to being challenged by one of our how to make adifference in the world.”
As of early May, more than 6,000 people had registered for General Synod, which guarantees it will be the denomination’s largest national gathering in its 50- year history. With several weeks still remaining, there’s time to join the celebration gathering, the first ever Synod in Connecticut, where the United Church of Christ is the largest Protestant church.
Billed as a high-point of the five-day gathering, “Synod in the City” will be a day-long series of celebratory events held in multiple venues throughout downtown Hartford where an array of speakers, artists and performers will help take Synod out of its traditional convention-hall setting and into the streets of the city. “The world comes to Hartford … courtesy of the UCC” is how the event is being billed locally.
“You come to church — in the first place — precisely because you are of this world, not apart from it,” Obama said. “Trinity UCC has been a true community to me — a place in which the mind, heart and soul come together to celebrate God’s goodness.”
