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Interim Minister and President’s Message
Annual Meetings are heart and soul of Conference
June, 2001
By Erwin R. Bode
June is the time of year for our Massachusetts Conference Annual Meeting. It is the high point of our life together as a Conference of 432 churches. This year it happened on June 8th and 9th at Mt. Holyoke College.
Annual meetings have an element of HOMECOMING to them. People return year after year to greet members from other United Churches of Christ throughout the Commonwealth. I can feel the high energy exhibited in the people in the lobbies between the sessions of the meetings. We are genuinely glad to see each other. Fellowship is the glue that holds our meetings together. We are invigorated by seeing and talking with the close to 1000 people who choose to be a part of this exciting two-day experience of the wider United Church of Christ.
Annual meetings are INSPIRATIONAL. In my 40-year trek in ministry I have been a member of four different United Church of Christ conferences. The best Annual Meetings for me personally have been during my 15 years in Massachusetts. I always come away inspired, especially by the worship services in Abbey Chapel. There is something about that magnificent Gothic worship space that undergirds outstanding services of Word and Sacrament. Listening to the music in these services is year after year a deeply spiritual experience for me.
This year we were especially blessed to ELECT A NEW CONFERENCE MINISTER. This was the highlight of our meeting in 2001. Rev. Nancy Taylor will be a marvelous leader among us. As Hooks Johnston, chair of the Board of Directors, and Christina Braudaway-Bauman, chair of the Minister and President search committee, have said, “ Among her many strengths are public and prophetic voice for human rights, her ability to energize and organize people to take action, and her commitment to enabling lay people to discover their own theological and spiritual voices. Her leadership style is collaborative. Her administrative skills are proven. Her creativity is visionary. Her preaching is consistently inspiring.” She will begin her ministry among us on Sept 1st.
Of course, BUSINESS SESSIONS are necessary to every Annual Meeting. This year we had, for example, a proposal to raise Conference staff salaries through a substantial increase in Fellowship Dues. I strongly favored this proposal for raising salaries. It is a direction that is long overdue.
We also considered RESOLUTIONS at our Annual Meetings. They are not binding on local congregations, but they provide provocative actions for each church in our conference to seriously consider. This year, for example, there was one very important resolution on “The Environment and the Church” and another “Calling for a More Just, Humane Direction for Economic Globalization.” The debate surrounding these resolutions was a chance for us to be informed and to consider appropriate justice directions. If you wish further information about these resolutions, please contact Paul Nickerson at (508) 875-5233 or nickersonp@macucc.org.
I THANK ALL OF YOU who worked behind the scenes to make this a successful meeting, especially the Annual Meeting planning committee and the Annual Meeting worship committee. Susannah Baker, Associate Conference Minister for Policy and Administration, has been a key ‘behind the scenes’ person at our Annual Meetings for the past 21 years. Since she is retiring on Nov. 1st, this was her last Annual Meeting in this capacity. She has been outstanding in this role. I especially thank her for her leadership during these years.
As I stated, Annual Meetings are the ‘heart and soul’ of our life together as a Conference. I rejoice at the faithful and outstanding accomplishments of these meetings including this year. If you were not able to attend this time, consider being present at next year’s meeting on June 7th and 8th, 2002.