It is now mid-day, Thursday, in beautiful San Diego, CA! Wish you were here!

We are now wrapping-up a plenary session about living with disabilities in the church. It has been a very moving and enlightening meeting about many of the  issues that the church still needs to work on. Sure we might be Open and Affirming of LGBTQ individuals, but have we done the same with disability in all of its forms?

Earlier we heard from three leaders for LGBT rights, national leaders from inside and outside the church. There was also a good panel discussion followed by questions about issues like "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" and marriage equality.

This afternoon, it is time for the due diligence, "must do" of any conference: the breakout sessions. We have a series of exciting breakout sessions about a range of important issues affecting both us as individuals and as the greater church body. Think of them as health issues for the body of Christ, which fits in with the title of National Gathering 2010, which is “Any Body, Everybody, Christ’s Body.”

Attendees have the choice of attending a session on disability perception, myths, and reality; another about how to improve our Open and Affirming storytelling; an informative session about marriage equality; a discussion of the strategic plan; or a group I will run discussing Youth and Young Adult LGBTQQIA faith journeys. These all look like constructive, informative, and respectful discussions about the health of the movement.

This afternoon we have more breakout sessions, then affinity group meetings in the afternoon, and two hours for dinner. Some people bought the hotel meal plan, while I opted to go “off campus” to find food. I am excited that I will be having dinner with a friend I met last year at General Synod. People are networking and making new friends. Many of us are also catching up with old friends and continuing discontinuous conversations.

My friend will also be giving the sermon tonight at the evening worship service. I really love the title, “Growing into Wholeness,” and I am eagerly looking forward to hearing it.

I forgot my cell phone in Minneapolis, and could not be happier for this God-given lesson about being present in time and place. Even for the majority of attendees who have cell phones still in hand, this is undoubtedly a transformative and God-given experience of diversity and in pursuit of enlightened understanding.

Report by Jake Joseph, July 15, 2010

I am sitting in the back of the room taking notes. It is time for questions and answers after an excellent standing-ovation-quality panel about adding transgender to your ONA statement. We also discussed the new, UCC GenderFold Action Alliance and working with transgender concerns within the larger church and the UCC Coalition. I was very interested to hear some of the questions people were asking about transgender vocabulary. It reminds me how much work we still have to do. If even members of the LGBT community need help understanding parts of our own community, imagine how much education we still need to do within the larger population!

We then had a business meeting that concluded with an acceptance of the candidate slate proposed by the nominating committee after some debate and attempted changes. I was actually nominated from the floor, which I found to be a huge honor, despite not being elected.

During the business meeting, Tim Brown also gave a great update about what is going on with the Youth and Young Adults (YYA) program of the UCC Coalition. In my opinion, the work that Tim Brown does with YYA is essential to our present and our future. The youth and young adults are not only the future; we are also the present vitality of the church. Tim talked about how, for the first time ever, we hope to send 40 LGBTQ youth and young adults to the next General Synod in Tampa, FL. I think that is a great start, and I am willing to support that effort in every way possible. I hope you will as well.

The General Minister and President of the UCC, the Revered Geoffrey Black, is here in fellowship with us now. We had some excellent breakout sessions this afternoon that mostly mirrored and added to those from yesterday. The most interesting one to me was about the future of youth in the church.

The cash bar is about to open for the banquet that is starting very soon. I hope the food is good! This Double Tree Hotel has been great for us. We have two pools, a gym, and these awesome all night fire pits next to the pool... they light up with the conversation that encircles them.

Report by Jake Joseph, July 16, 2010

In September, 2010, we have a great opportunity to take our National Gathering 2010 theme, Any Body, Everybody, Christ's Body, deeper.  We can join the UCC Mental Illness Network and UCC Disabilities Ministries for Widening the Welcome: Inclusion for All, in St. Louis, MO, September 23–26, 2010. At least one out of four families in your congregation is affected by a mental illness/brain disorder or disability. What a great time to continue the conversation begun in San Diego, CA!

Workshops will offer tools and resources you can put to use in your congregation, focusing on seven areas:

You can learn more about this opportunity at http://www.moredomainsforless.com/wideningthewelcome/index.htm.