Thinking about Working for God Retreat

TAWFG Retreat Participants Preparing for Candlelight Prayer Walk

I spent this past weekend at the Silver Lake Conference Center with eleven young people who are part of the Connecticut Conference's "Thinking About Working For God" program.  Some time ago, Rev. Da Vita "Day" McCallister, the Associate Conference Minister for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, had asked me to be one of the mentors for the young people who are members of the TAWFG program and this was the first opportunity to have a retreat together.  Day led the program, along with John Selders, pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ in Hartford, and my good friend Eric Anderson , who is variously known as the "Alpha Geek" or the "Minister of Magic" for the Connecticut Conference, though he has a much more mundane title on his business card.

Over the course of the weekend, the young people discussed the reasons that they had "said yes" to thinking about working for God and heard the pastors tell stories of how they had discerned their calls to ministry.  We played together.  We ate together.  We had dance breaks.  Really.  We engaged in several spiritual disciplines, including prayer walking, with confession, petition and listening for God's response, and a reflection called "examen," during which we examined the day, taking stock of the high points, the low points, and giving thanks for both.  Working with these eleven teenagers (and there are many more TAWFG members who weren't able to attend the retreat, too) gives me a lot of hope for the future of the church, as I see their passion, intelligence, energy and faith.  I look forward to working with them as they continue to grow into their callings.

For Eric Anderson's coverage of this event, see his article at ctucc.org here.

 

Whizzing through Connecticut

Sigh!

After a whirlwind four-day trip to Connecticut, my family and I are home and (sort of) recovered. We went up on Thursday morning, stopping in New Haven for lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Guadalupe La Poblanita (Yum!!!). After eating ourselves silly, we went to the Atticus Bookstore Cafe, where we did some shopping and got some coffee for an afternoon pick-me-up. Then it was on to the Yale Center for British Art, where we spent a pleasant hour, with Kimberly looking at portraits and me immersing myself in the maritime art on the fourth floor. Ian, on the other hand, was ready to move along on our journey.

Next, it was on to Portland, CT, where we were staying with our friend, Eric Anderson, the other Boy in Hat. The main purpose of our visit, ostensibly, was for a Boys in Hats concert at the Oxford United Church of Christ, where Eric was interim pastor several years ago, so Eric and I managed to work a bit of rehearsal time in on Friday, then it was off to a 20th Anniversary of Ordination party for Peter Allen. I've known Peter, at least a little bit, since I was his parent's pastor at the The Congregational Church of Green's Farms in Westport, CT, back in 1999-2000.

Saturday was the big day for the concert and Eric and I spent the afternoon finalizing our set list, then we convoyed out to Oxford and set up for the concert. We were still setting up the sound system when the crowd started to arrive and the first folks in were a half-dozen folks from the Congregational Church of Naugatuck, where I had served from 1997-1999. This group of folks (pictured at right) have been fans for years, but this time things were a bit different, as they were all wearing ID badges with a Boys In Hats photo on them and reading "Official Groupie, Naugatuck Chapter." The concert went well. Eric has been very busy writing songs in the past year and we had four of his songs as part of our program.

On Sunday morning, I was back at Oxford to preach, followed by a giving a presentation on Amistad's Atlantic Freedom Tour. After having lunch with the confirmation class, Kimberly drove us home, while I dozed in the passenger seat. Fortunately, I don't have to go out of town again until... well... Friday.