The Year Ahead Will Be Filled With New Experiences
by Stephen Sterner, Interim Minister and President
An excerpt from his speech given at the 2005 Annual Meeting
August/September 2005
The setting of the Conference office and the beauty of the Massachusetts countryside have provided daily blessing and delight. My experience with pastors and churches in the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ has been one rich in spirit, faith, and promise. I am both honored and humbled to be with you for this brief interim time.
For my report to you,
I want to spend more energy looking ahead than in reviewing the past. That is not to ignore the remarkable past year in the life of the Conference. It was a year in which the Conference leadership rose to the challenges before it. I am grateful for the leadership I have found in the Board of Directors, the Commissions, the Task Forces, and the Staff of the Massachusetts Conference. It was also a year in which the considerable gifts and graces, and the clear vision of Nancy Taylor continued to energize and strengthen the Conference. It was a year in which new congregations flourished and grew, while a few others voted to withdraw or distance themselves from the identity of a Still Speaking Church. It was a year when more than half of the Massachusetts Conference churches opted in to the Still Speaking Initiative and engaged themselves in the work of invitation, welcome, and identity. It was a year in which Edwards House was renewed and Scudder house was being readied for transformation into mission. It was a year in which the decisions supporting equality in marriage began to be discerned and discussed in the life and rites of our churches. It was a year in which the churches were challenged to discuss what it means to be centered on the sovereignty of Jesus Christ. And in truth we will know and continue to experience more of this as we move into the coming days.
We move into the coming year with strength, vitality and hope, even as we continue to care for and seek reconciliation in the divisions and differences that seem ever with us. I do not want to set aside the importance of the differences there are among us. In truth we must find ways to welcome the difference, but not divisions over them. By the same token I believe we have too frequently found that our voice in support of the Gospel, our ability to reiterate what we hear God still speaking to us, is often marginalized or muted by our focus on where we do not agree.
The Conference is in a position no different than most local congregations. We are operating under old patterns and assumptions that do not fit the reality of our current culture and challenges for ministry. Although it is highly unlikely that substantive changes will be addressed before the settled Conference Minister and President is in place, we will try a few experiments and raise more than a few questions as the next year unfolds.
We do this because God is still speaking and we are still listening. We do this not because we know what our future holds, but trusting that God holds our future.
The speech in its entirety can be found online at:
www.macucc.org/president.
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