{"id":10281,"date":"2015-07-16T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=10281"},"modified":"2018-11-07T19:09:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T19:09:23","slug":"my-favorite-annual-conference-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2015\/my-favorite-annual-conference-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"My Favorite Annual Conference Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_10282\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10282\" style=\"width: 467px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/children-play-on-the-floor-at.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"467\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/children-play-on-the-floor-at.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/10\/children-play-on-the-floor-at-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 467px) 100vw, 467px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-10282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><small>Photo by Glenn Riegel<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/p>\n<p>Toddlers playing on the floor at the back of the hall during worship services, and the way surrounding adults watch with indulgent smiles.<\/p>\n<p>Old friends meeting unexpectedly, with hugs and cries of \u201cI didn\u2019t know you were coming to Conference this year!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New friends being made during the interminable elevator rides in high rise downtown hotels.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing a fancy hotel lobby fill up with Brethren dressed in NYC and BVS t-shirts, some with small children in tow, some with grey hair, most with coolers full of inexpensive groceries.<\/p>\n<p>When ecumenical guests become confused about who is in charge, because there are no titles on the name tags and leaders are known by first name.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing donated goods pile up in front of the stage as Brethren bring offerings for the Witness to the Host City.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing a delegate go to the microphone with earnest concern that the body do the work of the church diligently and well.<\/p>\n<p>Hearing the ritual greeting spoken between head table and those at the microphones&#8211;the delegate addressing the leader as \u201cbrother moderator\u201d or \u201csister moderator,\u201d and the moderator\u2019s gravely spoken response of \u201csister\u201d or \u201cbrother\u201d&#8211;recognizing each other as equals in God\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p>Waiting for someone to speak a confession or voice a challenge to the church&#8211;something that inevitably happens when enough Brethren get together&#8211;uncomfortable words provoking Brethren to begin to speak truthfully with each other.<\/p>\n<p>Witnessing how uncomfortable, truthful conversations across divides of geography and ethnicity and biblical interpretation and knowledge and theology, may lead to revelation.<\/p>\n<p>Being surrounded by thousands of people who are praying together, all at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>The sense of the Spirit that brings tears when a new moderator is consecrated with prayer and laying on of hands.<\/p>\n<p>Feeling bereft and alone after Conference ends and we all go back home, having been reminded of my true home at the table of love in the community of Christ.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8212; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford is an ordained minister and director of News Services for the Church of the Brethren.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toddlers playing on the floor at the back of the hall during worship services, and the way surrounding adults watch with indulgent smiles&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1258],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-10281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annual-conference"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12728,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10281\/revisions\/12728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10281"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}