June 13 & 14, 2014

Recently Pastor Hannah, Ruth and Maureen attended the 215th Annual Meeting of the Mass. Conference of the UCC, which was held in Sturbridge, Mass. Over 500 attendees at the meeting were inspired by worship presented by Conference Minister Rev. Dr. Jim Antal and keynote speaker Rev. Yvette Flunder from California.

Rev. Antal spoke of “envisioning possibilities as if they were inevitable.” Rev. Flunder spoke about the church as a village where everyone belongs to each other. She predicted that, “we will see unity coming from the people we least expect it from.” Hannah, Ruth and Maureen all returned from the Annual Meeting motivated by these nationally recognized speakers.

Meeting voters unanimously passed the motion to replace Conference Fellowship Dues and Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) Basic Support with a new mechanism for giving by the local churches called United Church Mission. Attendees celebrated the life of Andy Gustafson, a much loved member of the Mass Conference staff who passed away in May. Attendees also celebrated the anniversary of Open and Affirming (ONA) being sponsored by the United Church of Christ.  It all started in Massachusetts thirty years ago at a meeting like this!

~Maureen

See the keynote address below: