Last month one of the founding saints of the United Church of Christ, our own Conference Minister Emeritus, Nathanael Guptill, went to his eternal rest in Christ. Nat and I had a long and storied relationship. In the early days, it was fraught with difficulty as I advocated for a new kind of church, one that would be relevant and inclusive, particularly of the gifts of women. Young troublemaker that I was, I projected all kinds of things onto him. I thought he opposed what I stood for. I thought he only wanted to retain the old ways and wasn't open to the new. I thought he was more concerned about his own power than he was about the empowerment of the people of the churches. I was wrong.
Then I was elected Conference Minister in Southern California, and he quipped to me and to others, "Davida Crabtree and the San Andreas Fault, now there's a combination!" A few weeks later, after I stood before the General Synod in Norfolk, VA to speak of the devastation the Sierra Madre earthquake had caused, Nat came rushing up to me as I left the stage, saying "I am so sorry; you know I never meant anything serious by my little joke!" I replied that of course I knew that, and it was fine but I'd like his advice about how to handle this disaster because I knew he'd been through the blizzard of 1888. He blinked and then saw the twinkle in my eye and ever since then, our relationship had been mutually supportive and deeply caring.
I've said this before, but it bears repeating: the United Church of Christ is an amazing instrument of God's grace. It has been able to receive the gifts of both Nathanael Guptill and Davida Foy Crabtree and to enable us in reconciling relationship, discovering our mutual conviction in Christ. Our love of this Church was deeply shared, and so our ability to admit our mistakes about each another was easy.
Shortly after I was called initially to conference ministry back in 1991 in California, I called Nat on the phone to share the news with him and to ask his advice as I planned my entry into this work. Typical of Nat, he had just one pithy response: "Just remember that every dollar that comes through that office has been consecrated to Jesus Christ in some church somewhere and you'll be fine." That wisdom has guided me in all my work ever since, in part because one thing Nat and I shared was a fiscal conservatism, and another is a conviction about the primacy of Jesus Christ in our lives.
In my years as your Conference Minister, I have visited with him in Florida and in North Carolina on your behalf several times, bringing him news of our common life and expressing our continuing honor of him as Conference Minister Emeritus.
It has been 27 years since Nat retired. In his honor, he and I are going to have a conversation tonight, a conversation somewhat like one he had with Amos Bassett in his annual address in 1972. Amos was the minister in whose parsonage the General Association founded the Missionary Society of Connecticut in 1798.
The truth is that I have had conversations in my head with Nathanael over the years, as well as in person. The joy in this address is that I actually have access to some of Nat's own words to ensure that I don't simply project my own thoughts into his! (In the printed version of this address, his actual words will appear in italics and the source will be cited.) Now, mind you, we will get to some of my thoughts about the year ahead, but then you expect that.
In late years, I came to call him "Nathanael". I felt such deep affection and respect for him that somehow "Nat" seemed truncated. Besides, his loving wife, Helen, had always called him "Nathanel", so I was pretty sure he liked his name.
"Nathanael, your Connecticut Conference has had quite a year! We invited the national staff of Wider Church Ministries to lead our meeting last fall at the new Convention Center in Hartford and people learned a lot about our global mission. Was it as challenging in your day to help people understand the importance of our long-term witness in places all around the world?" "Well, he replied, as Amos told me in 1972, "there still is no more important work to be done...than sharing the glory of Jesus Christ with the world, and they better be about it with renewed vigor. And, by the way, what have you been doing about that lately?"
"These days, Nat, many of our churches are engaged in direct mission in places like South Africa, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Palestine... Because of our affluence and the ease of travel, it's become harder to help the churches see the crucial importance of the decades of relationships we have built in countries all over the world. What can I tell them to help them catch the vision?" To which Nathanael responded, "You remember how every time we've been together I've asked you whether Connecticut is still sending $2,000,000 to the wider mission and how embarrassed you have been to have to tell me no? I do understand what you are facing, but just keep at it. I trust them to listen and eventually they'll get it. Just help them understand that without their giving generously to Our Church's Wider Mission, we wouldn't have schools, colleges, hospitals and missionaries all over the world, partners who are there long-term and make a real difference in times of trouble - like hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, wars and famines. And we wouldn't have new churches in gospel-lacking places in this country. We wouldn't even have Silver Lake!"
"Speaking of disasters, Nathanael..." "Oh no, you're going to remind me of that awful joke I tried to make about you and the San Andreas Fault!" "No, Nat, that's way behind us. What I want to tell you is that Newell and Jane Curtis are finally retiring!" "What??? I thought that old Newell retired years ago - he must be 80 by now!" "That's exactly the point, Nat, he and Jane have reached the age at which they want some time for themselves, so they are retiring after eight years as our volunteer Disaster Ministries Coordinators. Let me get them up here so everyone can thank them!"
A special presentation was given to Jane and Newell Curtis in recognition of their service in coordinating disaster response in the Conference.
And we will not be without coordinators as two women from the Somers church are taking their place. I'm pleased to introduce Jo-Ann Hornyak and Anne Kirkpatrick. They are available to you as your churches prepare for local and state disasters and also to help you respond to disaster needs in other places like the Gulf Coast. The incidence of disasters seems to be increasing and this is an important way to demonstrate our Christian caring. Thank you Jo-Ann and Anne!
"You know about these things, right, Nat - you remember the blizzard of '88, or was it the hurricane of '38?"
Throughout this year, Nat, we have been working hard to raise the churches' consciousness about our shared responsibility for Silver Lake and its future. To some degree they have fallen away from using that wonderful place. I think it's because of the bunk beds and you know that Retreat Center we built during your first years? It is so musty and in such disrepair that we really don't think we should continue using it. We've done the best we could with what we've had to keep things up, but it hasn't been good enough. For your funeral and memorial service, I read all your Conference addresses, and I was amazed at the truth of that old saw, "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Here's what you said at one point (again in 1972 - 35 years ago - the year of my ordination!):
"Unhappily, the bad news is also in plentiful supply:
Wow, Nathanael, I could say almost the same thing today, except that OCWM actually went up, and support for the campaign for Silver Lake and Back Bay Mission is ramping up and growing warmer. I'm hoping it'll be hot as blazes by next spring! Why, just last month we received a pledge for $500,000 from one individual. As a matter of fact, I'm sure you remember Rev. Harold Smith, don't you? Thank you, Harold!
One of the conversations I have had with Nat in my mind from time to time has been about the challenge of the tension between our faithfulness to the gospel and our devotion to the unity of the Church. Every pastor knows that tension. It is not new to our generation. Imagine the conflict generated by early resolutions against slavery; or the controversies the Amistad Committee created when it argued for the freedom of the captives; or the aghast responses across the church when that little church in South Butler, New York called and ordained Antoinette Brown to be its minister in 1853!
We will always disagree to some degree about the application of the gospel to our life as a society. Just now we have disagreements about the war in Iraq, about a possible war on Iran, about encouraging our churches to be more inviting to those who have felt - and have indeed been - closed out. What is most important is that we stay in relationship with one another. It is the way of the world to divide and the way of Christ to unite. When we decide that we want to be connected only to those who agree with us, we are poorer spiritually as a result.
I remember you speaking, Nathanael, one year at Annual Meeting about your challenges in this regard. Let me look here, ah, it was 1972 again! You told us that you did in fact have a goal (people were wanting a whole system of goals and objectives and action plans back then, and nothing would do but for you to be able to recite them!) Here is what you said, and I join you in saying it: "But I do have a goal, very proximate and very long-range, with which I invite you all to ally yourselves. That goal is to keep alive in this venerable state a religious community wide enough and catholic enough to include people and groups with a wide range of goals and priorities: people who see the purpose of the church to be the changing of society, those who see it as the changing of individual lives, those who see it as the agent of God's mission to the whole world in service and witness, and those who find in it an oasis of hope in a desert of despair."
Amen, Nat. The nation was polarized in your day over VietNam, civil rights, the women's movement, and sexual freedom. What was less true then was the polarization driven by the religious right and the portion of the left that is down on religion altogether. The rise of fundamentalism and conservative evangelicalism of a particular stripe is daunting for our nation right now - and for our churches. Our people feel ill equipped to respond to the absolutism of those who believe theirs is the only way. We've got work to do in adult faith formation and courage-building, in helping people learn to express their faith and in helping leaders recognize when they need help dealing with an onslaught from within or without.
Well, Nat, I've gotten sidetracked. I noticed that it happened to you in these addresses also. That's always made me feel better. I was trying to tell you about our year together!
In May we held our one-day Spring Meeting at Silver Lake for the first time in its 50 years. Almost 500 people arrived on a glorious spring day, including many who had never been there before but had been hearing about it for years. We had a great time together under a big tent. Just like an old time camp meeting! And in August, 600 showed up at Silver Lake for the official 50th anniversary celebration. We got to show people what we had accomplished so far as a result of the Now for the Future campaign - new energy efficient windows, handicapped access, refurbished bathrooms and roofs. I saw people I hadn't seen in 45 years!
Then in June the General Synod came to Hartford for our UCC 50th Anniversary celebration. Can you imagine, almost10,000 people came, and Connecticut alone had over 1,500 there? The spirit was great and the Holy Spirit was clearly present. Great worship, moving speeches, moments of powerful inspiration, wonderful reunions! We had keynoters and presenters and workshops all over the city - and the United Church of Christ is now on the radar screen in Hartford in a new way.
You were Moderator of the General Synod once, Nat, while you were our Conference Minister. I thought of you often that week and wished you could be here. What do you think about 10,000 at a Synod?
"Well, Davida, I dreamed a lot over the years about having the Synod come to Connecticut. When I heard you had made it happen, I was pleased. I can't begin to imagine that many people! How many cookies did the Connecticut women have to bake?"
Fourteen thousand dozen. We had a few left over, but none went to waste - we even sent some to Silver Lake! And I'll bet a few dozen are still in freezers somewhere.
Nat, this was an amazing Synod. The quality of our time together was very high. And Bill Moyers outdid himself with his commentary on the state of our nation. Our Connecticut volunteers had signed on when we expected this to be perhaps 4,000 people, so we owe them a great thank you for their willingness to take on so much more!
We've come a long way, Nathanael, since those days in the 70's when you and I served on the national Executive Council together. When I was going through your papers, I found a brief statement you had made as part of some comments to a staff retreat. You had asked all the staff to write up their vocational direction and convictions. In one small part of yours, you had this to say: "I am glad God's providence has cast my lot in the UCC because of all Christian Churches, it has the widest doors and the lowest thresholds." That so resonates with John Thomas' description of us as a Church of extravagant hospitality and evangelical courage - you were really ahead of your time! Our wide doors and low threshold may be controversial from time to time but they are true to our conviction about Jesus and his gospel. Nathanael, we are also glad that God's providence cast your lot in the UCC!
Now, friends, I want to speak with you about the year ahead. We have some great opportunities coming up in the next twelve months - chances to make a real difference for our churches. We are collaborating with Massachusetts and Rhode Island on a new initiative for old churches with large facilities and declining membership, bringing laity and clergy together to think strategically about renewal. We are exploring a relationship with Partners for Sacred Places for churches with old buildings and financial challenges in keeping them up. We've been talking with Alban Institute about some potential programs we might co-sponsor. We've shifted some job responsibilities around to offer some new resources in stewardship and in endowment development and management.
We also have some great Conference-wide events planned:
Two weeks from now on Sunday, November 4th, as we close out this 50th Anniversary Year, we invite you and everyone else to come together at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford at 3 in the afternoon. We're going to have some great worship and hear from Rev. Bob Chase as we together think about the next 50 years. In essence, we're saying, "Okay, so we've been together for 50 years, so what? What next?" We'll celebrate our having hosted General Synod - and we'll be videotaping anyone who'd like to share their own recollection of Synod so we'll have a historical record. Jazz, a multiracial, multicultural dance troupe, new hymns inspired by Synod and Still Speaking - it's going to be great!
Then next spring when we gather at South Church in Middletown on May 10th, we'll be experiencing ways to use the arts and music more fully in our churches. The Oikos Ensemble that played at Synod several times will join Rev. Cliff Aerie and his Ministry of Imagination, Creativity and the Arts. The impact of the visual and musical experience at Synod has been tremendous and we want to build on that, encouraging all our churches to find new ways to utilize them throughout their lives and ministries.
Your staff has been working on defining our core values and will next begin to focus on ensuring that the way we do our work and what we choose to do will align with these values. Let me share them with you as they are currently phrased (we will continue to tweak them.)
As the Connecticut Conference staff, we value:
These will be guiding our work as we move into the future.
There is one new initiative slated to begin later this year which I hope will be instrumental in transforming our life together in creative and exciting ways. As a result of the churches' increased generosity to Our Church's Wider Mission, the gift of two bequests, and some careful work by your staff and board, we will finally have a fulltime Associate Conference Minister for Youth and Young Adult Ministries!
It has been 29 years since we have had a full time staff person in youth ministries apart from Silver Lake. That is an entire generation! And we are feeling its effects across our churches. Throughout that time, churches have lamented the disappearance of youth after confirmation and into young adulthood. We have relied on the adage that they will return as soon as they start families. Yet recent major studies by both Robert Wuthnow and The Barna Group raise serious questions about that assumption.
The newer generations are marrying much later and waiting even longer to have children. They are tinkering with their spirituality, forging new amalgams from varieties of sources, Christian and non-Christian. They are taking time for what Wuthnow calls a time of odyssey between youth and establishment of family and career. This "new" generation between the ages of 21 and 45 now make up more than half of our nation's population. They, along with those who are 13 to 20, have tremendous needs for the ministry of the church, but we are failing them by and large.
In his book After the Baby Boomers, Wuthnow challenges the church to pay attention. He notes that through high school and college, there are many social systems in place to support young people, including church youth programs. But just at the point at which young adults are having to make life-determining decisions about marriage, career, core values, and financial obligations, society's support systems disappear. Our churches have focused on married young adults with children because we know how to support them - with good Sunday Schools and family programs. The absence of the unmarried young adults - which is the majority of people in their 20's and now into their 30's - goes unnoticed. Yet their need for community, for belonging, for a faith that speaks to their life decisions and dilemmas is very strong. We have much to learn.
Let me tell you a story. Just this week I received the following email message from a young woman raised in our churches: "I have tried to find a church in the past few years that suits me but have had some trouble... Although [my husband and I] both believe strongly in the ideals and beliefs of the UCC and would not go anywhere else, we would like to find a UCC church that is diverse ... and has a lively worship service. Can you make any recommendations for a church in the area that may match at least some of what we're looking for?"
Or another story: I was shopping at a small store at Evergreen Walk one day and they needed to call their other store. I gave the young clerk my business card so they could hold the item I needed. After she got off the phone, she said, "Could I ask you something?" Sure, I said. "What kind of church is this you represent?" I responded with my elevator speech about the UCC, and then asked her why she was asking. She and her husband had moved here recently from the south. They can't find a church with lively worship and others their age without children. Naturally I recommended two of our churches nearby, but it got me thinking about just how ready we are to meet their needs. Do we even know what they are? I think the answer is no.
When it comes to youth ministries, we have been privileged to have Silver Lake as a major resource and we have been creative in its use both in the summer and through the retreat season by individual local churches and by our Confirmation Retreats. But, honestly, youth ministries in local churches are struggling mightily. You know those challenges; I don't need to enumerate them here.
As one study a few years ago indicated, young people are "hard-wired to connect". In other words, a basic need in the teen and young adult years is to be in relationship, to build one's circle of friends and be able to rely on them. It is a time of searching and discovering meaning, of questioning and doubting, of forming one's future. It is urgent for their sake as well as the future's that we strengthen the ability of our churches to meet their needs and offer them opportunities for full participation and service.
We hope that over the next several years, we can build a strong core program that will discover the greatest strengths among our churches and the greatest needs when it comes to youth ministry. We want to build a Conference-wide youth movement that is multiracial and multicultural, and focused on Christian spirituality and leadership development. We want to build the capacity of our churches to respond to the needs and gifts of young adults. This is a crucial strategic move to support our local churches, to express our invitation and hospitality to youth and young adults, and to deepen the covenants among us. Our vision is of a Conference comprised of churches that discover all kinds of new and creative ways to welcome youth and young adults into the full range of their life and ministry.
I know from personal experience that if it hadn't been for the old State Pilgrim Fellowship and Silver Lake, I would never have grown into leadership because my tiny home church would not have challenged me enough to draw me out of my comfortable cocoon. That model won't work today, so let's create a new one - one that will encompass all the youth of our churches and lead them into our shared future with joy and a strong sense of hope and possibility!
Well, Nathanael, the last time we had a Youth Minister was during your leadership. I wish I'd had a chance to tell you that we are restoring that commitment! I just know you'd be pleased, even as you'd tell me you just don't understand kids these days. That's part of why we need to do this - because all of us need to commit to understanding more about the challenges and opportunities the newer generations are facing. We need to talk with them, listen to them, and think deeply about the future we are bequeathing them. I hope the result of that will be that our churches and our members will commit to supporting this new work and sustaining it for the future by their gifts, their participation and their prayers. It's the leading edge of our positioning ourselves for the next 50 years as we Let it Shine - Into the Future!
Davida Foy Crabtree
October 19, 2007
