Day 2

So Synod started today. It began with a series of hearings. I went to the hearing on the constitutional changes that are being recommended around the Ministry Issues Pronouncement. There were some good suggestions offered at the hearing. It will be interesting to see if they make it into the actual document when it goes to the committee. The second hearing was on the single governance proposal. This will most likely be the "hot topic" at Synod - for those who care the most about it. There are 9 (count them) resolutions that have come to the Synod about the notion of single governance (moving from five separate boards into one centralized board) so that the committee that receives that work will have a LOT to do.

At the first plenary there was the usual boring business items in the beginning. One bright light was the speech given by Steve Sterner who is nominated as the Executive Minister for Local Church Ministries. Steve brings a great deal of experience to this position and he does not mince his words about the realities that we face as a denomination.

I then went to the Justice Witness Dinner. There are different meal options at a General Synod to hear about various ministries. I am only going to two dinners while here and this one gave out awards to congregations and individuals working for justice. Marie Fortune who has done a lot of work on violence against women and children received an award as did Jeremiah Wright (he was not present, but Yvonne Delk accepted the award on his behalf).

During the evening plenary Geoffrey Black, the candidate for General Minister and President gave his speech. His focus was on unity and the challenges that we face as a church. There was also a tribute paid to the late Joseph Evans.

The evening worship was capped by a sermon by Otis Moss of Trinity UCC in Chicago. His text was Revelation 1:-8 and he focused in on the "punctuation" of God. He did a nice job on the notion of the comma - and pointed out that only God has the ability to make a period. It was a moving sermon.

Tomorrow is "River Walk Saturday" with a whole host of offerings by a variety of people (some big names - Jim Wallis, Eugene Robinson, Paul Winter Consort, Ray Suarez) with the evening closing with a tribute to John Thomas, the outgoing General Minister and President.

That's all folks.