Annual Meeting 2001 -- Day Two

The Conference's second day of its yearly gathering saw a great deal of activity. Dr. Dale Bishop, Executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ, spoke powerfully about the struggles, successes and sorrows of Christian/Muslim and American/Middle Eastern relations. An attentive and appreciate audience then engaged Dr. Bishop in a lively and intelligent conversation on the church's mission endeavors of the past and the possibilities for the future.

Dr. Bishop suggested that it is very easy to ask the wrong questions when confronted by such horror, such as, "Do we have the capacity to overcome terrorists?" or "Why do they hate us?" While nothing can justify the horror, the recent history of American acquienscence to the corrupt Saudi rulers and their home-grown terrorists, starvation of Iraqi children, and tendency to support resistance movements such as Hamas and then repudiate them make the anger comprehensible. "There are no quick fixes," he said. "We have to ask the hard questions."

The church, William Coffin has noted, tends to go political when it should be religious, and religious when it should be political. Bishop encouraged the church to focus on the spiritual in these days, noting that the Hope from the Rubble offering will provide a service unavailable from anyone else: support, guidance and counseling for those who counsel families, survivors, and rescue workers. He suggested we ask the question Jesus asked his disciples: who do you say that I am?

A part of that question is the issue of the cross and its meaning for Christians and for Muslims. In Islam, where Jesus is considered a great prophet, a different story is told. Since it is not possible that a great prophet should die in such a way, Islam teaches that he escaped arrest and died many years later. Dr. Bishop described visiting a site identified as Jesus' tomb in Kashmir. "The cross," he said, "is counterintuitive," apparently futile and manifestly faithful. And when we do the counterintuitive, we usually seem to get it right.

Delegates later engaged in the difficult labor of preparing a Conference statement which would be meaningful in the aftermath of September 11th's terrorist attacks. They had been well fed by the dialogue with Dale Bishop and by a presentation by Regional Ministers Kent Siladi, Joe Neville, and Judy Hjorth, in which they described some of the words and deeds they had seen in local churches in the aftermath of the dreadful events just five weeks before. The delegates voted a resolution entitled "A Christian Response To September 11" after a great deal of debate.

As one part of the body labored in the Killingly High School auditorium, another part worked with hands, arms, legs and feet -- and a good deal of elbow grease -- in this year's Youth Mission Day. Two hundred sixteen youth were commissioned that morning and went on to a day of wood stripping, painting, raking, and cleaning. A large part of the group returned that evening to share thoughts of the day, a large banner they had made to send to New York, and video images of their labors. Conference Youth Ministry Specialists Merrillyn Garcia and Cheryl Thomas coordinated the project.

The Conference also celebrated the lay ministry of Samantha Leathers, an eleven-year-old girl who began by dedicating her birthday presents to funding cancer research and has gone on to engage others in this ministry that has the promise of bringing great healing to others. They heard from Bangor Theological Seminary President the Rev. Dr. William Imes and Andover Newton Theological School President the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Griffin. The Rev. Don Steinle and the Rev. Edwin Ayala of the Christian Activities Council played a video describing their vital ministry in downtown Hartford. The Rev. Joyce Hollyday, Associate Conference Minister in the Southeast Conference told of the Rekindle the Gift Program, which seeks to support and strengthen the surviving churches founded by the American Missionary Association in the south following the Civil War.

Delegates celebrated the addition of United Congregational Church of Bridgeport and Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ of Wallingford to the Conference, and honored retiring Conference Attorney Bob Schmalz for his years of service. Churches contributing a tithe of their operating expenses to Our Church's Wider Mission Support were honored, as were congregations which had voted to become Open and Affirming in the last year.

To close the evening, the Conference had fun, playing an information and trivia game hosted by Conference Minister Davida Foy Crabtree. Lillian Daniel of New Haven, Bob Naylor of Simsbury and David Peters of Roxbury represented their regions in the contest, which allowed the audience to participate when the contestants were stumped. The result: the audience won! with David Peters coming in with a very dramatic second place.

Sunday's agenda includes action on the annual budgets of the Trustees of the Fund for Ministers and the Missionary Society of Connecticut, continued consideration of resolutions, election of officers and committees, and the keynote address of Hartford Seminary professor Dr. Jane Smith. The day will conclude with festival worship at 1:30 pm.