Living the Life @ NYE!
The NYE Theme Song is now downloadable for youth group and worship! Many thanks to NYE House Band members Jennifer Alston and Rodney Milton for composing the song.
Check out NYE Photos!
Read and share the NYE Newsletter Crossroads, created youth in Maren Tirabassi's NYE workshop, Living the Life, Writing the New-zletter. Many thanks to the youth who contributed to this endeavor and to Maren for her guidance and support!
Over 2900 at the 2008 National Youth Event
The 2008 National Youth Event kicked off on Thursday, July 24 with a welcome party of inflatable jumping and water games, swimming and recreational sports, movies, bowling, pool and board games, campus tours, a DJ on Presidential Courtyard along with free hot dogs and “not dogs”. After Canadian band Starfield rocked Thompson-Boling Arena with a pre-event concert in the early evening, the NYE House Band guided us into worship with the rousing NYE theme song “Living the Life” as hundreds of youth processed across the stage with banners from their respective church, Association and Conference groups. Youth and young adults lead worship as liturgists.
Global Missions Intern Krista Johnson offered a compelling sermon that included faith reflections on her internship and life in Jerusalem as well as encouragement for the youth of our denomination. “I hope for peace with justice and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” said Johnson. “I hope for an end to the violence, an end to the occupation and a future that will be better for Israeli and Palestinian children. I hope. And I may be in Indianapolis or I may be in Jerusalem. I may be in Bethlehem or I may be in Knoxville but I will continue to work toward that goal. In the mean time, I am honored to be in community with you all, as young people of the United Church of Christ, as you discover what it is that you hope for, what God is calling you to do and be, and to learn to live inside that hope…We stand up proudly together as young people with a passionate, creative commitment to making this world a better place despite the drone of the world that this cannot be done. We can be people of hope. With God’s help we can change this world… and start living the Life that God calls us to.”
The Rev. Stephen Sterner, acting Executive Minister of Local Church Minisries, called on UCC members to keep NYE Youth in their prayers during the event.
Living Love -
Friday Plenary Speaker, Eboo Patel
Eboo Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based international nonprofit building the interfaith youth movement. He is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Eboo holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship. He writes "The Faith Divide", a featured blog on religion for The Washington Post and has also written for The Chicago Tribune, The Clinton Journal, The Harvard Divinity School Bulletin and National Public Radio.
Eboo serves on the Religious Advisory Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Committee of the Aga Khan Foundation USA, the Advisory Board of Duke University's Islamic Studies Center, and the Board of the Chicago History Museum. He has spoken at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and at universities around the world. Eboo is an Ashoka Fellow, was named by Islamica Magazine as one of ten young Muslim visionaries shaping Islam in America, and has been profiled by PBS and several other media outlets.
Living Green - Saturday Plenary Speaker, Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia Butterfly Hill brought international attention to the plight of the world's last remaining ancient forests when she climbed 180 feet into the branches of a threatened 1000 year-old redwood tree and refused to come down. Her historic protest to the environmental destruction caused by the clear-cutting of ancient redwoods culminated after 738 days with an agreement that provided permanent protection for the tree known as Luna and a 3 acre buffer-zone around it.Julia Butterfly Hill is an activist, a writer and a poet. She is the author of the national best seller The Legacy of Luna and the co-author of One Makes The Difference, both published by HarperSanFrancisco. The audio release, Spiritual Activation, captures Julia's vital message as it is given at standing-room-only appearances across the country. All of Julia's books (and the packaging for the CD) have been published with 100% post-consumer recycled paper with soy-based inks and chlorine-free processing, pushing the publishing industry to a standard of ecological sustainability. Julia founded the non-profit organization, Circle of Life (www.circleoflife.org) to promote the sustainability, restoration and preservation of life.
Living Peace - Sunday Plenary Speaker, John Thomas
