Last night’s third annual public meeting of the Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice (Why did we ever give ourselves such an unwieldy name? GHICEJ or even simpler ICEJ is our normal shorthand) was a powerful meeting to advance the cause of justice in the state of Connecticut. There were hundreds of people, perhaps as many as a thousand people, from thirty faith communities including Muslim, Unitarian-Universalist, Friends (Quakers), Jewish, Protestant and Roman Catholic, plus representatives from 20 allied organizations who cosponsored the meeting.

The most powerful thing about the meeting was that we were speaking directly to state legislators who were not only present, but who stood up one after another to pledge their support for the specific issue based goals that the coalition has set for this legislative session. State Senators Eric Coleman and Jonathan Harris pledged their support and leadership in the senate to pass a state Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor in the state. Representative Andy Fleischmann who is co chair of the State Education Committee pledged to support the increases in the availability of free preschool education programs and the increased state funding for local education that the coalition is supporting. Maryann Handley, co chair of the Public Health Committee supported the goal of universal, high quality, affordable, healthcare for everyone in the state. The Immigration Task Force is seeking to grant young people who are state residents but undocumented immigrants with the same rate of tuition as other state residents pay at state Colleges and Universities. Currently the undocumented pay out of state tuition, a rate three times as high as instate tuition. Representative Filipe Reinoso from Bridgeport had a last minute conflict, but a staff member from the state commissioner on Latino affairs spoke on his behalf, pledging to introduce this bill in this session as he has in a previous legislative session.

Senator Don Williams, Jr. President Pro Tempore, Connecticut General Assembly spoke in support of all of the ICEJ initiatives and gave a rousing speech encouraging our emerging powerful justice movement.

We heard powerful and challenging words from ICEJ president, the Rev Jesse White, as well as pastors Ed Horstmann, Josh Pawelek, Damaris Whittaker and Edwin Ayala, and finally from Imam Abdul-Rahmann Muhammad. The evening ended on a high note with the introduction of a new justice song “It’s Time to Wake Up.”

The most disappointing thing about the evening was the total lack of coverage in the local press. The State of the Union address by our pitiful excuse for a president began as the ICEJ meeting was ending, and commandeered a huge number of column inches in the Hartford Courant.

It was particularly gratifying to have a block of 14 people from First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, the largest number ever to attend a single ICEJ event. I am particularly thankful to the following people who attended along with myself (and to any others from our community who attended whom I did not see): Edwin Carty, Carl & Shirley Dudley, Bob & Alice Evans, Sherwood and Kate Anderson, Sherry & Anita Marchant, Lois Maxwell, Dianne Ney, Ray & Flora Perleoni.

The meeting was held in the beautiful and new sanctuary of the House of Restoration on North Main Street. This is the largest Church sanctuary in the city of Hartford in terms of seating capacity (2000) and according to their pastor, Bishop Jeremiah Tores, the oldest Latino Church in the city.

Has it been so long since I have written in this blog? Christmas and time with our family and friends, and then a catch up time, and of course sermons, meetings, a pastor’s column for the newsletter and much more have all seemed more important than writing for an imaginary audience, or does some one read my ramblings? Love to hear from readers if there are any!

The greatest thrill of vacation time (Christmas Day until January 6, the 12 days of Christmas) was being with our 10 month old granddaughter on Christmas Day.

Hannah is an absolute darling, was just beginning to walk a step or two when we were there. Her mother called the day after we left to tell us that she walked all the way down their hall without holding on to anything. If you would like to see more pictures and see for yourself how beautiful she is you can follow the link below.http://new.photos.yahoo.com/album?c=revtdavis@sbcglobal.net&aid=576460762384052456&pid=&wtok=uF71z1StFNPlSvQa.44mNA--&ts=1168530260&.src=ph

We also traveled to North Carolina to spend time with our friends Dennis and Cheryl and were glad to see some of their children and their grandchild who was born the same week as Hannah was along with Kentucky and North Carolina friends and neighbors. We again walked our home site where we will be living in just a little more than two years and walked on the sands of Holden Beach.

I reluctantly went with Kathleen to an outlets mall in Myrtle Beach, but when we got there I ended up buying more clothes for myself than she did.

Arriving back in time to preach and catch up with what is happening at the Church I discovered that in addition to celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day on the 14th we also were having a multicultural dinner. Kathleen contributed 28 barbecued chicken legs and a huge pan of Macaroni and cheese, which all of us enjoyed along with Jamaican meat patties, Scottish Shepherds pie and much more.

The Church is really looking forward to the mission trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to work on Hurricane recovery from Katrina. The youth shared their pictures and stories of how much more was still needed when they returned from their summer mission trip. We have 25 members and friends who will be traveling on Valentine’s day to Long Beach, Mississippi. We will spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans and then return to Hartford on Ash Wednesday.

I am going on the trip and the Bishop John Selders will be providing both the music and the message on Sunday, February 18. The Bishop has been with us as a musician before, but this is his first time in the pulpit. I am certain it will be a blessing for everyone; I wish I could be two places at once and be a part of this service to bring to an end the Epiphany season, and to be part of our celebration of Black History Month. Check out Bishop Selders’ biography at www.amistaducc.org/jsbio.htm .