Even though I am writing this Monday evening, I will start on Friday.
I went to a wedding today. Susan Laurie and Julie Bruno had a wedding in the park across the street from the convention center. It was a beautiful day in Ft. Worth and the ceremony was very nice. One of the things that we did not accomplish at General Conference was allowing this ceremony to be held in side our churches with our clergy officiating. Maybe next time.
One of the traditions of General Conference is cookies. Churches from all over Texas baked cookies and put 2 or 3 into a bag, sometimes with a note. The bags were put out on tables in the lobby for all to eat at breaks - sometimes they can turn into a lunch. I saved a note: "A gift from The China Spring United Methodist Church - Waco District." On the back is Matthew 19:26 - "With God all things are possible". I think I heard that there were over 100,000 cookies baked!
I just added up all of my expenses, and on a couple of the receipts, it says: "20 oz Draft - $10.00" The dinner at the convention center was $10.00 and the cash registers were set up for all kinds of events, and it was probably easiest to hit 1 button for a $10 charge - it just looks a little unusual.
Tie today was Dilbert (maybe that was Thursday - this is the problem with not writing it the same night).
Friday was jam packed with stuff, with the wedding just one of the highlights. The opening worship had special music sung by Barbara Johnson Tucker. There was also a special jazz dance by the worship director that was very good. Sermon by Bishop Hope Morgan Ward - quote from it: "We have so many writers because we have so much to explain," and our question as we leave GC should not be "What did you do?, but what did you learn?"
I learned that there are a whole lot of very nice people that can have very different ideas about things.
After passing the last of the consent calendars, as of 9:30 am we had 68 petitions to go.
Of the 1308 petitions done as of Thursday evening, the plenary only disagreed with the committee on 14.
There are 145 interpreters working/volunteering at GC. In case I did not mention it before, they are simultaneously translating into: French, German, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, and ASL (American Sign Language).
The budget was passed Friday morning on 11 separate votes. One of the ways that they arrive at the budget number to use is looking at the total giving of all local churches - $17,970,240,568 - almost $18 billion, and the amount for the General Church budget is 3.572% of that or $641,897,700 for the next 4 years. They had an economist explain the formula, and even my MBA from the University of Chicago didn't prevent me from being confused the way they use past performance and project future giving. I don't think it is voodoo economics, just more confusing than it needs to be.
As of 10:30 am the final bid for the basketball used in the nothing but nets promotion was $80,000 by West Ohio. With Bill Gates Sr. matching that, and bids from other annual conferences, the total is at about $428,040. Northern Illinois needs to raise $40,000 - about $100 per church to bring to Annual Conference in June.
During the discussion of the Episcopal Fund part of the budget someone from the SE Jurisdiction moved that if you cut a Bishop you get to keep the dollars saved in your Jurisdiction. At some point I asked if a bishop dies (since the Fund covers the cost of current and retired bishops) do we get the money? Somewhat tongue in cheek, but the point I made is that there is a significant cost to pay for expenses of the retirees.
There was a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Social Creed. It started in 1908 (duh) with a list of 11 Social Reforms, notably about child labor. Harry F. Ward from Chicago was one of the 3 that worked to get it in place, and it was passed at the General Conference that year in Baltimore.
4:05 p.m. - 55 petitions to go.
We passed another constitutional amendment, that may be the biggest one yet. If I am reading this one right, it will overturn JC decision 1032. It is Article 4 and removes "without regard to race, color, national origin, status or economic condition" and leaves behind, "All persons who seek relationship in Jesus shall be eligible to . . . become professing members in any local church. . ." It passed 558-276 - 67% (it needed 2/3 approval to pass). By my count that is 2 votes more than needed. Now it, and about 30 other constitutional amendments, need to be passed by 2/3 votes of all Annual Conference members voting next year. This - if it ultimately passes, plus the Judicial Council elections are probably the two biggest things to happen this year.
The Judicial Council came back with two rulings - it did not have time to finish them, and they will be on the October docket.
At 9:45 p.m. - 29 petitions to go.
The complete re-write of paragraph 2701 that my little 7 person sub-committee worked for 2 days on passed a few minutes later.
At 10:34 p.m. - 17 to go.
At 11:13 p.m. - we finished ! ! !
The closing worship was short - about 1/2 hour, but (we are United Methodist) still had a sermon. Greg Palmer (Iowa) - "Buoyed by Hope." (The theme of the whole conference was "A Future with Hope", so Hope was a common theme throughout. He spoke about the parable of the seeds from the perspective of the sower. We need to sow the seeds of life everywhere - they will not all work, but we must sow everywhere." Very good closing.
One final note about the worship and music. Marcia McFee (worship) and Mark Miller (music) led us through the whole conference, and it was amazing. Mark is one of the most talented musicians around. He is the director of Music at Drew Theological School in New Jersey and a lecturer at Yale. BA from Yale, and Masters from Julliard. An outstanding person and musician. Marcia has a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Liturgical Studies, and has worked with Dave Brubeck Quartet (among others).
There were plants on the stage, and throughout the convention area. The plants were from seeds collected from United Methodists across the global connection. They were planted by churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and people were invited to take them home to nurture.
As part of the worship, we used the Wesley Chalice, sent to Francis Asbury at St. George's in 1785 and The Asbury Bible, a pulpit bible belonging to Francis Asbury.
It's all about the people. As I was leaving, I stopped in one of the offices to talk to, and say good by to, Janet Stephenson from Iowa. We talked for a couple of minutes, and when I got outside, I had missed the bus. I waited with a volunteer from Fort Worth who was working as a proofreader of the verbatim transcription. She was driving to one of the hotels on my bus route, parking for free and riding the shuttle to the hall, thus saving $7/day parking. She recognized my name since I had spoken a few times. Worship was over at about 11:45, and I got back to the hotel at about 1:00 am - we were the only 2 on the bus. That is when I could not log on, and why I am writing this rather long missive on Monday night.
There is life after General Conference - I got back to work today, logged on, and found 212 emails waiting for me.
Thank you again to all of you that have been reading these sometimes rambling, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always heartfelt reactions to the daily events of a General Conference. Only two more conferences to go this year. Northern Illinois Annual Conference in June at St. Charles, IL, and the North Central Jurisdictional Conference in July at Grand Rapids, MI.
With your prayers, thoughts, and comments supporting me, I have Hope for the Future.
Peace to all, Jack
Monday, May 5, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Day 9
My choir director at First UMC LaGrange asked me to be on the lookout for any good music. Today there was a good one – from the musical, “Rent” – “Seasons of Love”. Very good, and the choir that did it, from 1st UMC of Plano was very good. The sermon was by our Bishop Jung with the title “Jesus, Remember Me”. Jesus said to the others on the cross – you will be with me in Paradise. He did not ask the others on the crosses, “Have you been good?”
There is a theme or “Vision Pathway” most days of the conference that is in the worship book. I will catch you up:
Wednesday – Opening Service of Word & Table
Thursday – “Transforming Existing Congregations”
Friday – “Developing New Congregations”
Saturday – “Strengthening Clergy and Lay Leadership”
Sunday – “Eliminating Poverty in Community with the Poor”
Monday – “Teaching the Wesleyan Model of Reaching and Forming Disciples”
Tuesday – “Reaching and Transforming the Lives of Children”
Wednesday – “Ending Racism as We Authentically Expand Racial/Ethnic Ministries”
Thursday – Memorial Service
Friday – Morning Worship and Closing Worship
Two good comments today about legislation: “Kicking a dead horse harder, don’t make it run any faster.” “I am so methodical and cautious, I might find myself on an escalator, waiting for it to start.” And then there was, "As long as Catholics keep marrying Baptists, there will always be a United Methodist Church."
At the morning break, there was a continuation of the witness from, and reaction to, yesterday’s hurtful votes that continue our institutional discrimination. Many of those that were hurt by the votes came into the hall and formed a cross in the aisles, facing the delegates, and silently stood as the pain was described. Bishop Talbert spoke about the 1939 racism (the creation of the Black Central Conferences), and the parallel today with our policy of exclusion. I later learned that he did that on his own, and was not part of the plan - but as it turned out - very welcome. We were invited to go to the communion table that was draped in black and place a piece of black cloth on it and pray for those harmed and in pain. We then sang a couple of hymns and it was over – very dignified, painful, respectful, prayerful, and the right thing to do. We will press on. At the end, a group of Bishops went out with them and said that they were going to meet and see what could be done.
We then had 17 constitutional amendments to consider – all that would change the name of conferences outside the US from “Central” to “Regional”. There was a motion to have only one set of debate on all 17, and the presiding Bishop asked the house, and we agreed. But, he also said that since they were constitutional amendments, and needed a 2/3 approval vote, that we would have to vote on them individually “because of the constitution.” I got up and appealed the ruling of the chair that we could not vote them all at once, and just record the same number vote for each one. He conferred, then asked me where in the constitution I was looking – I told him – and he conferred again with the 2 parliamentarian bishops that were helping him as well as the petitions secretary and the secretary of the General Conference for a while, and then came back and said I was right. He asked the house if they wanted to vote on them all at once –they agreed, and we eventually were able to take one vote instead of 17. Probably saved ½ hour - likely more.
Well, the fat lady has sung. The Book of Discipline will be codified in 2012. 12 years from when Rod and I first got it to a General Conference, and it will happen. Actually the 2012 Discipline will probably really look different and the real benefit won't be till 2016 when there are no real changes. It passed on consent calendar B05 by an 824-29 vote just before 10:00 am today. As of 8:13 am there were still 117 individual petitions to go.
Bill Gates Sr. spoke this afternoon about the Nothing But Nets (NBN) program that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping. He quoted John Wesley a couple of times, using the "All the world is my parish" line to emphasize that it is the world's will to end Malaria, not just in the US. "People are dying, we can save them." Last week when the NBN program was presented, the Bishop making the presentation used a basketball as part of his visual aids. The Kansas delegation offered $420 for the basketball because they won the NCAA basketball and they challenged N Carolina, Memphis and California (UCLA) to mach or beat it. Well, as of tonight the bidding for the ball is up to $75,000 (I forget from where), and during his speech Bill said that he had heard about this challenge, and that his foundation would match the winning bid. They have also said that any losing bids should pay too, and I think we are up to a total of about $400,000 and climbing. NIC is involved, but I will let others share how, and how much. (We are not the leading bidder) Suffice to say, First UMC LaGrange will be accepting donations for those of us going to Annual Conference in June to bring with us. Oh yea, he was a pretty good speaker too.
Somebody asked for a ruling from the Judicial Council about one of the petitions and something about Local Pastors being able to choose if they want to be part of the clergy pension system. It was read fast, and asked about a conflict between two parts of the Discipline. All I got was that it involved calendar item 866 - I think.
At 7:30 p.m. - the start of the evening session - went till about 10:25 p.m. - they announced that there were 99 petitions left to go. They told us by the petitions committee coming on stage and starting to sing: " 99 petitions on the floor to go, 99 petitions to go, you talk about one, amend it and then, 98 petitions on the floor to go. . ." Then one of them interrupted and said, "I move to reconsider", so they went back to "99 petitions . . . "
I lost count of how many times I got up tonight - 3 or 4. Each time with a question or parliamentary question. The one about the constitutional amendments that I described above was one. Then tonight we had a another CA that had legislation linked to it for the book of discipline. They were starting to amend the linked petitions, and I pointed out that the Constitution says (I KNOW what it says since Rod & I wrote it 4 years ago) that you pass the CA first then immediately consider the linked stuff. I did rub it in a little when I said that this is the rule, but it is not in your Discipline since we passed 4 years ago. Some were saying to divide the question, and I said, no, it already is divided by the Constitutional requirement. I miss not having Rod & Dan next to me to help tell the Bishops what to do.
Since I had been up a few times tonight, at the end, we were looking at another CA that I think is really bad law, and I wanted to move it to the Book of Discipline, and the Bishop was looking right at me, and would not call on me. We ended up passing about 25-30 CAs that will need to be approved by an aggregate vote of all of the annual conferences at their 2009 sessions. The bad one is: "a new paragraph, somewhere near p5 - "All official organizations, groups, committees, councils, boards, and agencies of The United Methodist Church shall adopt ethics and conflict of interest policies, applicable to both members and employees, which embody and live out our Christian values." My proposal would have been to move it to paragraph 807 and add, as one of the duties of CF&A (top finance group of the UMC) an additional duty to "establish and publish policies that may be used by All official . . .".
It passed 744-86, and I voted for it so that I have the option tomorrow - if I can find some that agree - of moving to reconsider to move the above action. I may not do it, I will have to see how things go. As I found out tonight I may need to save my times of speaking to times when it really matters.
This evening the Bishops (16 of them) that had gone to meet with the witnesses from this morning. I read a report that was very positive. It will be in the DCA tomorrow, and may be on the UMC website. A couple of things that I noted were that the UMC is broken, and that faithful people disagree about things.
We will see. Peace to all, Jack
There is a theme or “Vision Pathway” most days of the conference that is in the worship book. I will catch you up:
Wednesday – Opening Service of Word & Table
Thursday – “Transforming Existing Congregations”
Friday – “Developing New Congregations”
Saturday – “Strengthening Clergy and Lay Leadership”
Sunday – “Eliminating Poverty in Community with the Poor”
Monday – “Teaching the Wesleyan Model of Reaching and Forming Disciples”
Tuesday – “Reaching and Transforming the Lives of Children”
Wednesday – “Ending Racism as We Authentically Expand Racial/Ethnic Ministries”
Thursday – Memorial Service
Friday – Morning Worship and Closing Worship
Two good comments today about legislation: “Kicking a dead horse harder, don’t make it run any faster.” “I am so methodical and cautious, I might find myself on an escalator, waiting for it to start.” And then there was, "As long as Catholics keep marrying Baptists, there will always be a United Methodist Church."
At the morning break, there was a continuation of the witness from, and reaction to, yesterday’s hurtful votes that continue our institutional discrimination. Many of those that were hurt by the votes came into the hall and formed a cross in the aisles, facing the delegates, and silently stood as the pain was described. Bishop Talbert spoke about the 1939 racism (the creation of the Black Central Conferences), and the parallel today with our policy of exclusion. I later learned that he did that on his own, and was not part of the plan - but as it turned out - very welcome. We were invited to go to the communion table that was draped in black and place a piece of black cloth on it and pray for those harmed and in pain. We then sang a couple of hymns and it was over – very dignified, painful, respectful, prayerful, and the right thing to do. We will press on. At the end, a group of Bishops went out with them and said that they were going to meet and see what could be done.
We then had 17 constitutional amendments to consider – all that would change the name of conferences outside the US from “Central” to “Regional”. There was a motion to have only one set of debate on all 17, and the presiding Bishop asked the house, and we agreed. But, he also said that since they were constitutional amendments, and needed a 2/3 approval vote, that we would have to vote on them individually “because of the constitution.” I got up and appealed the ruling of the chair that we could not vote them all at once, and just record the same number vote for each one. He conferred, then asked me where in the constitution I was looking – I told him – and he conferred again with the 2 parliamentarian bishops that were helping him as well as the petitions secretary and the secretary of the General Conference for a while, and then came back and said I was right. He asked the house if they wanted to vote on them all at once –they agreed, and we eventually were able to take one vote instead of 17. Probably saved ½ hour - likely more.
Well, the fat lady has sung. The Book of Discipline will be codified in 2012. 12 years from when Rod and I first got it to a General Conference, and it will happen. Actually the 2012 Discipline will probably really look different and the real benefit won't be till 2016 when there are no real changes. It passed on consent calendar B05 by an 824-29 vote just before 10:00 am today. As of 8:13 am there were still 117 individual petitions to go.
Bill Gates Sr. spoke this afternoon about the Nothing But Nets (NBN) program that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is helping. He quoted John Wesley a couple of times, using the "All the world is my parish" line to emphasize that it is the world's will to end Malaria, not just in the US. "People are dying, we can save them." Last week when the NBN program was presented, the Bishop making the presentation used a basketball as part of his visual aids. The Kansas delegation offered $420 for the basketball because they won the NCAA basketball and they challenged N Carolina, Memphis and California (UCLA) to mach or beat it. Well, as of tonight the bidding for the ball is up to $75,000 (I forget from where), and during his speech Bill said that he had heard about this challenge, and that his foundation would match the winning bid. They have also said that any losing bids should pay too, and I think we are up to a total of about $400,000 and climbing. NIC is involved, but I will let others share how, and how much. (We are not the leading bidder) Suffice to say, First UMC LaGrange will be accepting donations for those of us going to Annual Conference in June to bring with us. Oh yea, he was a pretty good speaker too.
Somebody asked for a ruling from the Judicial Council about one of the petitions and something about Local Pastors being able to choose if they want to be part of the clergy pension system. It was read fast, and asked about a conflict between two parts of the Discipline. All I got was that it involved calendar item 866 - I think.
At 7:30 p.m. - the start of the evening session - went till about 10:25 p.m. - they announced that there were 99 petitions left to go. They told us by the petitions committee coming on stage and starting to sing: " 99 petitions on the floor to go, 99 petitions to go, you talk about one, amend it and then, 98 petitions on the floor to go. . ." Then one of them interrupted and said, "I move to reconsider", so they went back to "99 petitions . . . "
I lost count of how many times I got up tonight - 3 or 4. Each time with a question or parliamentary question. The one about the constitutional amendments that I described above was one. Then tonight we had a another CA that had legislation linked to it for the book of discipline. They were starting to amend the linked petitions, and I pointed out that the Constitution says (I KNOW what it says since Rod & I wrote it 4 years ago) that you pass the CA first then immediately consider the linked stuff. I did rub it in a little when I said that this is the rule, but it is not in your Discipline since we passed 4 years ago. Some were saying to divide the question, and I said, no, it already is divided by the Constitutional requirement. I miss not having Rod & Dan next to me to help tell the Bishops what to do.
Since I had been up a few times tonight, at the end, we were looking at another CA that I think is really bad law, and I wanted to move it to the Book of Discipline, and the Bishop was looking right at me, and would not call on me. We ended up passing about 25-30 CAs that will need to be approved by an aggregate vote of all of the annual conferences at their 2009 sessions. The bad one is: "a new paragraph, somewhere near p5 - "All official organizations, groups, committees, councils, boards, and agencies of The United Methodist Church shall adopt ethics and conflict of interest policies, applicable to both members and employees, which embody and live out our Christian values." My proposal would have been to move it to paragraph 807 and add, as one of the duties of CF&A (top finance group of the UMC) an additional duty to "establish and publish policies that may be used by All official . . .".
It passed 744-86, and I voted for it so that I have the option tomorrow - if I can find some that agree - of moving to reconsider to move the above action. I may not do it, I will have to see how things go. As I found out tonight I may need to save my times of speaking to times when it really matters.
This evening the Bishops (16 of them) that had gone to meet with the witnesses from this morning. I read a report that was very positive. It will be in the DCA tomorrow, and may be on the UMC website. A couple of things that I noted were that the UMC is broken, and that faithful people disagree about things.
We will see. Peace to all, Jack
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Day 8
Well, we did it again. We, as a denomination, continue to discriminate against people. The 3 guiding principles that we are supposed to be operating under come from Wesley – “Do no Harm, Do all the good you can, and grow in love with God.” We say that, and then we vote to 501-417 to pass a change to paragraph 161G – Social Principles – to say talk about “sexual relations are affirmed only within the covenant of monogamous heterosexual marriage.” It was a very trying time to be involved in this process, where we intentionally hurt people.
I have met a man here from Omaha who wears a placard around his neck with the picture of his son on it that says, “My child is of sacred worth.” His son Scott is gay, and cannot be a part of this church. The picture is of his son when he was 8. On the back is a picture of his son (now 40) with his partner. When Scott came out to his parents during college, he said that when he was about 8 was when he realized that he was different. I said to Dave – your son is no different than you or I.
After the vote, there was a silent witness as many of us stood on the floor and in the visitor’s gallery silently. While we were doing this, there was a Judicial Council Ruling about the ability of the General Conference to dictate to the JC some rules. It is about 8 pages, and while it was being read, we just stood. Then someone started singing quietly, “Jesus Loves me (us)” It was somewhat surreal as we all just kept quietly singing and the Secretary of the General Conference just kept reading. The cameras that record and are showing the proceedings on the big screens just kept focused on the Secretary, never showing those of us standing. It was a very powerful statement, but reserved, dignified, and not at all disruptive.
One thing that was confusing was that it appeared that votes were heading in the right direction. On votes on amendments, I was voting with the side that prevailed in several of the votes.
I have signed a document to lift a change to the constitution from a consent calendar so that we might address the ruling from the JC. If we are successful, I think that we can also take the 3 petitions that they ruled unconstitutional, and link them to the constitutional change (cc) (with a cc change that Rod and I wrote and got passed 4 years ago to allow just that). We will see.
As I am writing this at 7:00 p.m. we still have 115 individual petitions to go. That may grow. I don’t know what is happening tonight.
We have a new Social Creed, but apparently we didn’t get rid of the old one, and this is just being called a liturgical addition or something like that. Very strange. I wasn’t on the floor when that was happening this morning because I was trying to get in touch with Deb – and I did – she got back from Lagos, Nigeria successfully this morning. Long flight, and she is tired, but Barrett’s 3rd birthday party was a true highlight of the trip. Under the most trying circumstances – not enough eggs, power going out 3 or 4 times – she got a cake made and put a fire truck and firemen on top. He could have cared less about the cake, but took the truck & firemen to bed that night.
Tie today - golfer on a par 3.
Midnight now. I think the codification petition will come up for a vote tomorrow. It is on Consent Calendar B05, and is calendar item 1241, on page 2357 of the DCA. Petition # is 80795. It is recommended to adopt and was amended to read, "The 2008 General Conference directs that the 2012 Book of Discipline . . ." be codified.
We only worked on about 6 or 8 petitions all day today.
After dinner, we had more of the same discriminatory kind of debate and results. We had a petition about membership that came as a result of Judicial Council 1032. This was the one where a Virginia pastor denied a gay man membership in the church. It was a very poorly written decision and had no real Disciplinary language behind it. So this petition 80088 would have fixed that. There was a minority report that was defeated 384-515, so things looked good. Then the main report which would have fixed things lost 436-448. 12 votes out of 884
But we weren't done yet. The next, and last for today was about paragraph 304.3, qualifications for ordination. Currently it says, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in the UMC." The minority report was to replace that with, "The standard for candidates is to do good, to do no harm, and to continue to grow in love with God." (sound familiar?) The minority report lost 298-599, and then the main motion which was to reject a change to delete the offensive language lost 335-579.
The sermon this morning was, again, excellent. Bishop Violet Fisher on "The Necessity of the Call". She was at my table Monday evening at the higher education dinner - very nice lady, and a good preacher. At one point she really got into it, and said, "I'm not angry, I'm just passionate." She talked about Samaria, and then said that Jesus didn't need a meeting, and didn't need a 3-6 month new member class. It was good, but some obviously were not listening, or did not remember later in the day. She shared that we need radical hospitality - "Come into my Father's House."A couple of more people came up to me today and said that they voted for me on that first ballot. I think there are now almost 30 that voted for me to get 18 votes. Obviously there were some defective machines. Maybe I should push for a re-vote (like the Dems need to do in Florida and Michigan).
We are up to page 2372 in the DCA and adding more every day.Tomorrow Bishop Jung is preaching at the morning worship which is a Memorial Service for Bishops that have died since the last General Conference - there have been 14. Then in the afternoon we are hearing from Bill Gates. No, not that one, but close - his father.
Another long, tiring day. Only two to go. When I logged on to the PC tonight I had 33 emails, and about 1/2 of them were from some of you reading these. Thanks for all the supportive comments. There has been at least one comment on the blog site too.
Peace to all, Jack
I have met a man here from Omaha who wears a placard around his neck with the picture of his son on it that says, “My child is of sacred worth.” His son Scott is gay, and cannot be a part of this church. The picture is of his son when he was 8. On the back is a picture of his son (now 40) with his partner. When Scott came out to his parents during college, he said that when he was about 8 was when he realized that he was different. I said to Dave – your son is no different than you or I.
After the vote, there was a silent witness as many of us stood on the floor and in the visitor’s gallery silently. While we were doing this, there was a Judicial Council Ruling about the ability of the General Conference to dictate to the JC some rules. It is about 8 pages, and while it was being read, we just stood. Then someone started singing quietly, “Jesus Loves me (us)” It was somewhat surreal as we all just kept quietly singing and the Secretary of the General Conference just kept reading. The cameras that record and are showing the proceedings on the big screens just kept focused on the Secretary, never showing those of us standing. It was a very powerful statement, but reserved, dignified, and not at all disruptive.
One thing that was confusing was that it appeared that votes were heading in the right direction. On votes on amendments, I was voting with the side that prevailed in several of the votes.
I have signed a document to lift a change to the constitution from a consent calendar so that we might address the ruling from the JC. If we are successful, I think that we can also take the 3 petitions that they ruled unconstitutional, and link them to the constitutional change (cc) (with a cc change that Rod and I wrote and got passed 4 years ago to allow just that). We will see.
As I am writing this at 7:00 p.m. we still have 115 individual petitions to go. That may grow. I don’t know what is happening tonight.
We have a new Social Creed, but apparently we didn’t get rid of the old one, and this is just being called a liturgical addition or something like that. Very strange. I wasn’t on the floor when that was happening this morning because I was trying to get in touch with Deb – and I did – she got back from Lagos, Nigeria successfully this morning. Long flight, and she is tired, but Barrett’s 3rd birthday party was a true highlight of the trip. Under the most trying circumstances – not enough eggs, power going out 3 or 4 times – she got a cake made and put a fire truck and firemen on top. He could have cared less about the cake, but took the truck & firemen to bed that night.
Tie today - golfer on a par 3.
Midnight now. I think the codification petition will come up for a vote tomorrow. It is on Consent Calendar B05, and is calendar item 1241, on page 2357 of the DCA. Petition # is 80795. It is recommended to adopt and was amended to read, "The 2008 General Conference directs that the 2012 Book of Discipline . . ." be codified.
We only worked on about 6 or 8 petitions all day today.
After dinner, we had more of the same discriminatory kind of debate and results. We had a petition about membership that came as a result of Judicial Council 1032. This was the one where a Virginia pastor denied a gay man membership in the church. It was a very poorly written decision and had no real Disciplinary language behind it. So this petition 80088 would have fixed that. There was a minority report that was defeated 384-515, so things looked good. Then the main report which would have fixed things lost 436-448. 12 votes out of 884
But we weren't done yet. The next, and last for today was about paragraph 304.3, qualifications for ordination. Currently it says, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in the UMC." The minority report was to replace that with, "The standard for candidates is to do good, to do no harm, and to continue to grow in love with God." (sound familiar?) The minority report lost 298-599, and then the main motion which was to reject a change to delete the offensive language lost 335-579.
The sermon this morning was, again, excellent. Bishop Violet Fisher on "The Necessity of the Call". She was at my table Monday evening at the higher education dinner - very nice lady, and a good preacher. At one point she really got into it, and said, "I'm not angry, I'm just passionate." She talked about Samaria, and then said that Jesus didn't need a meeting, and didn't need a 3-6 month new member class. It was good, but some obviously were not listening, or did not remember later in the day. She shared that we need radical hospitality - "Come into my Father's House."A couple of more people came up to me today and said that they voted for me on that first ballot. I think there are now almost 30 that voted for me to get 18 votes. Obviously there were some defective machines. Maybe I should push for a re-vote (like the Dems need to do in Florida and Michigan).
We are up to page 2372 in the DCA and adding more every day.Tomorrow Bishop Jung is preaching at the morning worship which is a Memorial Service for Bishops that have died since the last General Conference - there have been 14. Then in the afternoon we are hearing from Bill Gates. No, not that one, but close - his father.
Another long, tiring day. Only two to go. When I logged on to the PC tonight I had 33 emails, and about 1/2 of them were from some of you reading these. Thanks for all the supportive comments. There has been at least one comment on the blog site too.
Peace to all, Jack
NIC Delegation Making a Powerful Witness
(Photo to feft) Members of the NIC Delegation standing for an more inclusive church (in third row) are Dr. Irma Clark (cut in half at left edge of photo), Rev. Tracy Smith-Malone, Jack Ryder (light blue shirt) and behind man in dark jacket, Rev. Margaret Ann Crain.
(Photos below) Protestors make a common witness against the General Conference's continued failure to provide inclusion for LGBT persons. NIC alternative delegate David Braden is on the left of the photo.
Rev. Debbie Fisher speaks to a petition that discourages homophobia. The petition passsed by a 60% vote.
Jack Ryder observes, "We, from Northern Illinois are a small delegation - only 10 delegates, but we are making a powerful witness and they (the rest of the conference) knows that we are here."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Day 7
My committee finally finished our work this afternoon. We all got lunch and brought it to the meeting room and worked from about 1 till 3 and finished all of the petitions. The plenary session started at 2:30, but we were close to finishing, so we just kept going. A real good group of people, and we got a lot done. Now we will see how our petitions do with the whole group.
Today was Ecumenical day and started with a sermon by Bishop Mark Hanson, ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). The title was "Rooted" and he asked, "Are you rooted or rootless?" Jesus didn't say I am the vine, you may be the branches. He noted that the Root Command in a computer is the one that enables all other programs to run. Our root command should be "Love one another." He did note that the ELCA is 97% white.
Tie today - University of Chicago.
After we passed this morning's consent calendars we have dealt with 707 petitions.
By a vote of 776-102 we created a new mission statement for the UMC. It is now, "The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs."
We voted tonight to reduce the number of Bishops in the US in 2012 by 4 - one each in the North East, North Central, West, and South Central Jurisdictions. Vote was 457-401. This was very disappointing, but not unexpected. Actually the closeness of the vote was the surprising part. With declining enrolement, it was kind of inevitable, and was talked about 4 years ago. The only real question was when, now or in 4 years. All of the speakers for this are from the Southeast.
We were debating a petition about the General Board of Church & Society and the building that it is in in Washington DC. Apparently the building was donated many years ago and has some restrictions about the proceeds of the building being used (A building endowment trust fund) for temperance and other things. I don't know how specific it is, but some object to the proceeds being used for other than temperance. The Board went to DC Court a while ago to find out if it had been operating within the rules of the trust, and I believe there is a trial in a couple of weeks. The petition would have required a new committee to look into their finances - and all other General Boards. It was not well written and looked like a whitch hunt. Lots of debate for a while, then someone moved to table it indefinitely so the court case could play out. That passed overwhelmingly, and we were done for the night - and it was only about 10:30 pm. That was the right thing to do.
The highlight of the day was an address by Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Republic of Liberia. She is a United Methodist who went to the College of West Africa - a United Methodist College founded in 1839 by Methodists. She also went to the JFK School of Government at Harvard. She noted the widening gap betwen the rich and poor - as the search for energy continues. She noted that the GDP of 41 nations with 567,000 people is less than the combined wealth of the world's 7 richest people. One billion people entered the 21st century without being able to sign their name or read a book. But all is not bleak - the bad news of Africa is beginning to change. The focus is on, and must be on, the young people of our land. We had to vacate the arena during lunch while they searched the room, and then sealed off certain areas. A few minutes before she started her speech the doors were closed and no one was allowed in till after she was out of the building.
The codifying petition was not on the consent calendar this morning - should be tomorrow, we will see. I am not worried though. It will be on a consent calendar, and the people that understand it will not remove it, and no one else knows enough to lift it.
Peace to all, Jack
Today was Ecumenical day and started with a sermon by Bishop Mark Hanson, ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). The title was "Rooted" and he asked, "Are you rooted or rootless?" Jesus didn't say I am the vine, you may be the branches. He noted that the Root Command in a computer is the one that enables all other programs to run. Our root command should be "Love one another." He did note that the ELCA is 97% white.
Tie today - University of Chicago.
After we passed this morning's consent calendars we have dealt with 707 petitions.
By a vote of 776-102 we created a new mission statement for the UMC. It is now, "The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs."
We voted tonight to reduce the number of Bishops in the US in 2012 by 4 - one each in the North East, North Central, West, and South Central Jurisdictions. Vote was 457-401. This was very disappointing, but not unexpected. Actually the closeness of the vote was the surprising part. With declining enrolement, it was kind of inevitable, and was talked about 4 years ago. The only real question was when, now or in 4 years. All of the speakers for this are from the Southeast.
We were debating a petition about the General Board of Church & Society and the building that it is in in Washington DC. Apparently the building was donated many years ago and has some restrictions about the proceeds of the building being used (A building endowment trust fund) for temperance and other things. I don't know how specific it is, but some object to the proceeds being used for other than temperance. The Board went to DC Court a while ago to find out if it had been operating within the rules of the trust, and I believe there is a trial in a couple of weeks. The petition would have required a new committee to look into their finances - and all other General Boards. It was not well written and looked like a whitch hunt. Lots of debate for a while, then someone moved to table it indefinitely so the court case could play out. That passed overwhelmingly, and we were done for the night - and it was only about 10:30 pm. That was the right thing to do.
The highlight of the day was an address by Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Republic of Liberia. She is a United Methodist who went to the College of West Africa - a United Methodist College founded in 1839 by Methodists. She also went to the JFK School of Government at Harvard. She noted the widening gap betwen the rich and poor - as the search for energy continues. She noted that the GDP of 41 nations with 567,000 people is less than the combined wealth of the world's 7 richest people. One billion people entered the 21st century without being able to sign their name or read a book. But all is not bleak - the bad news of Africa is beginning to change. The focus is on, and must be on, the young people of our land. We had to vacate the arena during lunch while they searched the room, and then sealed off certain areas. A few minutes before she started her speech the doors were closed and no one was allowed in till after she was out of the building.
The codifying petition was not on the consent calendar this morning - should be tomorrow, we will see. I am not worried though. It will be on a consent calendar, and the people that understand it will not remove it, and no one else knows enough to lift it.
Peace to all, Jack
NIC Delegation Thanks Jack Ryder for Judicial Council candidacy
The delegation of the Northern Illinois Conference gathers every morning at 7:45 am for a brief prayer meeting in a quiet hallway outside the floor of the convocation center before official proceedings of the General Conference get underway for the day. At this morning's meeting, chair of the delegation Roger Curless took a moment to express appreciation to Jack Ryder for being part of the nominated slate for for the UM Judicial Council. "We need to celebrate and thank Jack for his efforts to become part of the Judicial Council," said Curless. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there. And even though Jack was not voted onto the council, his candidacy sent a strong message that there are good progressive candidates who can serve. This was an important statement." The delegation unanimously applauded and affirmed Jack for his Judicial Council candidacy. -- Susan Dal Porto
Monday, April 28, 2008
Day 6
WOW - What a day. I don't know where to start, but I better start since it is 12:30 and I am just starting. We recessed tonight at 11:20 after working from 2:30 on with legislation that added money to what had been previously agreed to by the budget and program groups of the church. (GCFA & Connectional Table) Well, I am not a judge.
The Judicial Council elections went better than I could have hoped - except by getting elected. I had been in discussions with the Common Witness folks since last week about the nominees by the Council of Bishops and that I was probably not on it. I told them that if we could elect progressive candidates I would step aside either before voting or early on so as to not be in the way and steal votes. I was not on the list from the Bishops, the endorsed list came out and I supported it. They had suggested that if I did not get 60 votes on the first ballot, should I withdraw. I said I would. Well, I got 18 votes. So I got the Bishop's attention and went to a mike and asked if I could withdraw from the election for JC, but be back on the ballot for alternate (there would be 6 of them). The Bishop consulted the staff up there and said that I could not, but that from my speech I had informed those voting me of my intent. I said something about thanking my 17 friends (big laugh from the conference) and sat down. On the second ballot, I still got 6 votes - I was not one of them. We then elected 2 lay and then 3 clergy that were all on the Bishop's list and on the CW list. We were stunned. A huge win, and we got rid of several of the people that voted for decision 1032 (I can explain that one sometime later), and elected some really good people.We then voted for the 6 alternates and I did not win that either, but I got 279 votes!
A BIGGER WIN TODAY ! ! ! The petition for codifying the Discipline was passed unanimously in committee, which means it will be on a consent calendar for final voting Wednesday morning. They amended it in committee, from being a study to "WE SHALL CODIFY THE 2012 BOOK OF DISCIPLINE". The people form the publishing house came to the committee and said, that it could be done so that helped too. I will try to call Rod once the vote is taken Wednesday morning. It is possible for someone to lift it off the consent calendar, but I have not heard anyone against it.The sermon this morning was excellent. Bishop Ernest Lyght - "Someone's knocking at the Door." He talked about a neighbor that knocked on his door years ago looking for help since his house was burning. He had knocked on another door and no one answered. He talked about the prodigal son and Moses - providing enough bread for each day's meals. The Bread of Faith, the Bread of Hope and the Bread of Love. He said, "Wake up Church - people are knocking at the door." "The church can't afford to offer stale bread to feed the soul. I want to go to an alive church where they are serving fresh bread. Evangelism is just one beggar telling another where the fresh bread is."My tie today - golfer.
At one point today a speaker said: "God loved the world so much that he didn't send a committee.
"We passed the new hymnal committee that will bring a new hymnal to us in 2012 by a 450 - 336 vote. Closer than we thought it would be.It is now 1:00 am and I have a 6:00 am wake up call at the front desk.
Tuesday is Barrett's birthday - he will be 3 and is having a party in his school in Lagos, Nigeria. He is VERY excited. Then later Tuesday Deb starts to fly home to LaGrange Park - keep her in your prayers for a safe journey.
We only have 4 more days and probably about 1300 petitions to go. Our committee is not done yet. We got lunches and took them to our committee room and worked through lunch. We finished 3 petitions in 2 hours. Remember me telling you how impressive and smart the whole group of (mostly) lawyers was. Well, they are, but crossing T s and dotting I s is their business and we are moving along, but slowly.
Peace to all, Jack
The Judicial Council elections went better than I could have hoped - except by getting elected. I had been in discussions with the Common Witness folks since last week about the nominees by the Council of Bishops and that I was probably not on it. I told them that if we could elect progressive candidates I would step aside either before voting or early on so as to not be in the way and steal votes. I was not on the list from the Bishops, the endorsed list came out and I supported it. They had suggested that if I did not get 60 votes on the first ballot, should I withdraw. I said I would. Well, I got 18 votes. So I got the Bishop's attention and went to a mike and asked if I could withdraw from the election for JC, but be back on the ballot for alternate (there would be 6 of them). The Bishop consulted the staff up there and said that I could not, but that from my speech I had informed those voting me of my intent. I said something about thanking my 17 friends (big laugh from the conference) and sat down. On the second ballot, I still got 6 votes - I was not one of them. We then elected 2 lay and then 3 clergy that were all on the Bishop's list and on the CW list. We were stunned. A huge win, and we got rid of several of the people that voted for decision 1032 (I can explain that one sometime later), and elected some really good people.We then voted for the 6 alternates and I did not win that either, but I got 279 votes!
A BIGGER WIN TODAY ! ! ! The petition for codifying the Discipline was passed unanimously in committee, which means it will be on a consent calendar for final voting Wednesday morning. They amended it in committee, from being a study to "WE SHALL CODIFY THE 2012 BOOK OF DISCIPLINE". The people form the publishing house came to the committee and said, that it could be done so that helped too. I will try to call Rod once the vote is taken Wednesday morning. It is possible for someone to lift it off the consent calendar, but I have not heard anyone against it.The sermon this morning was excellent. Bishop Ernest Lyght - "Someone's knocking at the Door." He talked about a neighbor that knocked on his door years ago looking for help since his house was burning. He had knocked on another door and no one answered. He talked about the prodigal son and Moses - providing enough bread for each day's meals. The Bread of Faith, the Bread of Hope and the Bread of Love. He said, "Wake up Church - people are knocking at the door." "The church can't afford to offer stale bread to feed the soul. I want to go to an alive church where they are serving fresh bread. Evangelism is just one beggar telling another where the fresh bread is."My tie today - golfer.
At one point today a speaker said: "God loved the world so much that he didn't send a committee.
"We passed the new hymnal committee that will bring a new hymnal to us in 2012 by a 450 - 336 vote. Closer than we thought it would be.It is now 1:00 am and I have a 6:00 am wake up call at the front desk.
Tuesday is Barrett's birthday - he will be 3 and is having a party in his school in Lagos, Nigeria. He is VERY excited. Then later Tuesday Deb starts to fly home to LaGrange Park - keep her in your prayers for a safe journey.
We only have 4 more days and probably about 1300 petitions to go. Our committee is not done yet. We got lunches and took them to our committee room and worked through lunch. We finished 3 petitions in 2 hours. Remember me telling you how impressive and smart the whole group of (mostly) lawyers was. Well, they are, but crossing T s and dotting I s is their business and we are moving along, but slowly.
Peace to all, Jack
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Day 5
It is only 9:00 p.m. and I am writing this, so you are probably wondering what is wrong. Nothing. In the past, the General Conference started a day earlier and Sunday was a day off. As I have told you there have been a lot of special events at the beginning. We started Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm, which was unusual since starting just after lunch was more customary. But by starting that late, and then not having our first meeting of the legislative committees till late Thursday afternoon, and not really looking at petitions till Thursday night, it didn't feel like we had done anything yet. So, now it is Sunday, and we are still looking at petitions in committees. The whole 1000 person plenary passed a few petitions today. We passed consent calendar A01 with 10 petitions on it; B01 with 6; C01 with 14; and D01 with 5. Consent calendars are: A - Discipline change for adoption; B - non-disciplinary change for adoption; C - any item for rejection; D - any item for referral. We had to pass some individual petitions that committees had approved because they included adding money and the budget will need to be either increased or something cut.
The agenda had time from 10:30 - noon for passing legislation. Since many committees are still working a motion was made to have that time be in committees. It passed. The the conference staff came back and said there was a problem - the pages, marshals and interpreters were not scheduled to be in the committees till this afternoon. So, I guess it is definition time:
Marshals - they are volunteers that are kind of like doormen, gatekeepers, etc. Everybody has a badge with a color on it. Delegates are Red and can go anywhere. Bishops are Purple and they can go anywhere, and more. Alternates are Brown and they can only go onto the floor of the convention only if a delegate is absent, and they have a permission slip. The marshals are at all of the entrances to the plenary floor - wrong color badge, and you don't get in.Pages - they are volunteers that will get messages to people, make copies, find somebody. Basically runners and gofers.
Interpreters - the plenary sessions are simultaneously translated into several languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Mandarin Chinese, German, and I think Russian. When we break into committees an interpreter either is in a booth in the back and the delegate wears a headset, or they sit right next to them and interpret as we go.So keeping to the agenda is important so that all of the support staff is in the right places at the right time.We ultimately re-voted and left the agenda alone.
Tie today - Autographed baseballs.
The sermon at worship was by Bishop Minerva Carcano and she was very good. There was another good anthem - "God's got the Whole World" by Mark Miller.
There were presentations about Strengthening the Black Church Initiative and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Central Jurisdictions. (More about that at lunch below).
One of the guys from my committee asked for a ruling from the Judicial Council about several petitions in our committee. The constitution says that the JC makes their own rules about procedures. But there are petitions telling them how to do things about their organization, I think about paragraphs 2607 and 2608. We should get a ruling in the next day or two.
Near the end of the morning there was a motion to not use the word "defeat" - like in a motion was defeated, etc. I guess the implication is that defeat is a military term and we are not trying to defeat each other. Obviously a new delegate. Anyway, it passed 517 - 262.
Two terms that came up in our committee that we are trying to get into the Discipline are schlepping and cobble together. One of the attorneys from the general church Irene Howard was with us for a while last night when we were working on paragraph 2701. She likes what we have done, and said that was a confusing paragraph and appreciated our re-organizing of it.
Harriet McCabe is the chair of the Presiding Officers committee. Every plenary session has a bishop presiding with two others sitting behind for parliamentary and other support. Every morning she is on stage announcing who will preside at each of the sessions the next day. Starting tomorrow there should be 3 sessions each day with a different presiding bishop at each. They try to get the ones that are good are running meetings when they know controversial stuff is coming up.Before GC I had 1560 pages of pre-conference stuff to read. We get an update every morning that includes petitions passed by committees and consent calendars. Consent calendars are printed 24 hours before being acted on. They pick up the page numbering from the pre-conference stuff. We are up to page 2052.
At lunch I went to the park across the street from the Convention Center to a lunch and discussion about "Racism and Heterosexism in the Church". Rev. James Lawson (former president of the SCLS) and Rev. Gil Caldwell (co founder of BMCR) were the speakers. The lunch was sponsored by Soulforce - their logo is the faces of Ghandi and Martin Luther King.
Caldwell talked about his father being at the unifying conference of 1939 when the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Church South and Methodist Protestant Church merged. At this time the Central Conferences were formed. These were conferences for black churches. He said that they "exchanged slavery for segregation"; talked about "serial isms - Race-ism, Sex-ism, heterosex-ism." He closed by saying "When they came for the blacks, I did not speak up. When they came for the women, I did not speak up. When they came for the gay people, I did not speak up. When they came for me - there was no one left to speak for me."
Lawson said that after 1968 when the central conferences were abolished, people needed some else to marginalize, and some turned from black to gay. Some people think that religion is ABOUT Jesus, not OF Jesus. He noted that you "can't be anti sexist if you aren't anti racist." All isms teach that there is not one creator or all. The creator only created those like me. Others are outside of the grace of God. A slightly shorter day - but very busy.
Peace to all, Jack
The agenda had time from 10:30 - noon for passing legislation. Since many committees are still working a motion was made to have that time be in committees. It passed. The the conference staff came back and said there was a problem - the pages, marshals and interpreters were not scheduled to be in the committees till this afternoon. So, I guess it is definition time:
Marshals - they are volunteers that are kind of like doormen, gatekeepers, etc. Everybody has a badge with a color on it. Delegates are Red and can go anywhere. Bishops are Purple and they can go anywhere, and more. Alternates are Brown and they can only go onto the floor of the convention only if a delegate is absent, and they have a permission slip. The marshals are at all of the entrances to the plenary floor - wrong color badge, and you don't get in.Pages - they are volunteers that will get messages to people, make copies, find somebody. Basically runners and gofers.
Interpreters - the plenary sessions are simultaneously translated into several languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Mandarin Chinese, German, and I think Russian. When we break into committees an interpreter either is in a booth in the back and the delegate wears a headset, or they sit right next to them and interpret as we go.So keeping to the agenda is important so that all of the support staff is in the right places at the right time.We ultimately re-voted and left the agenda alone.
Tie today - Autographed baseballs.
The sermon at worship was by Bishop Minerva Carcano and she was very good. There was another good anthem - "God's got the Whole World" by Mark Miller.
There were presentations about Strengthening the Black Church Initiative and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the end of the Central Jurisdictions. (More about that at lunch below).
One of the guys from my committee asked for a ruling from the Judicial Council about several petitions in our committee. The constitution says that the JC makes their own rules about procedures. But there are petitions telling them how to do things about their organization, I think about paragraphs 2607 and 2608. We should get a ruling in the next day or two.
Near the end of the morning there was a motion to not use the word "defeat" - like in a motion was defeated, etc. I guess the implication is that defeat is a military term and we are not trying to defeat each other. Obviously a new delegate. Anyway, it passed 517 - 262.
Two terms that came up in our committee that we are trying to get into the Discipline are schlepping and cobble together. One of the attorneys from the general church Irene Howard was with us for a while last night when we were working on paragraph 2701. She likes what we have done, and said that was a confusing paragraph and appreciated our re-organizing of it.
Harriet McCabe is the chair of the Presiding Officers committee. Every plenary session has a bishop presiding with two others sitting behind for parliamentary and other support. Every morning she is on stage announcing who will preside at each of the sessions the next day. Starting tomorrow there should be 3 sessions each day with a different presiding bishop at each. They try to get the ones that are good are running meetings when they know controversial stuff is coming up.Before GC I had 1560 pages of pre-conference stuff to read. We get an update every morning that includes petitions passed by committees and consent calendars. Consent calendars are printed 24 hours before being acted on. They pick up the page numbering from the pre-conference stuff. We are up to page 2052.
At lunch I went to the park across the street from the Convention Center to a lunch and discussion about "Racism and Heterosexism in the Church". Rev. James Lawson (former president of the SCLS) and Rev. Gil Caldwell (co founder of BMCR) were the speakers. The lunch was sponsored by Soulforce - their logo is the faces of Ghandi and Martin Luther King.
Caldwell talked about his father being at the unifying conference of 1939 when the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Church South and Methodist Protestant Church merged. At this time the Central Conferences were formed. These were conferences for black churches. He said that they "exchanged slavery for segregation"; talked about "serial isms - Race-ism, Sex-ism, heterosex-ism." He closed by saying "When they came for the blacks, I did not speak up. When they came for the women, I did not speak up. When they came for the gay people, I did not speak up. When they came for me - there was no one left to speak for me."
Lawson said that after 1968 when the central conferences were abolished, people needed some else to marginalize, and some turned from black to gay. Some people think that religion is ABOUT Jesus, not OF Jesus. He noted that you "can't be anti sexist if you aren't anti racist." All isms teach that there is not one creator or all. The creator only created those like me. Others are outside of the grace of God. A slightly shorter day - but very busy.
Peace to all, Jack
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Day 4
An Interesting Take on the United Methodist Church from the Strangely Warmed Players
Today during worship, and then again at lunch there was a high school group from 1st UMC Ann Arbor, MI called The Strangely Warmed Players. The significance of the title of the group is that John Wesley, felt “strangely warmed in his heart”, and that is generally considered the start of Methodism. He did not call it that, others did, and it was never his intent to form a new religion – the was a priest in the Church of England. The group is a theater troupe and they performed a skit called “Crossing to the Other Side”. “Captain Safety” was the leader of his group on a boat that had never left the dock – but it was very safe. Whenever his “crew” wanted to go to sea he said, “but it is very safe here.” They have other skits called, “MacJesus To Go” and “I heard it Through the Grapevine”, and some others. Overall, it was very creative, and very good.
Seeds of Hope
The opening worship sermon was good, by William Hutchinson – Louisiana titled “Of Water AND the Spirit” with the point being that getting baptized is does not end your journey, and you need to move on to do good things. After that was a Rural Life Celebration. It included messages that were read from Richard Petty, and Joycelyn Elders (former US Surgeon General), and several church leaders in person, all saying that they got their start in a small, rural Methodist Church. The message in that was from Bishop Ken Carder who talked about clearing space for a garden, carefully tilling the area for planting. When he had to go inside for a minute, his 3 year old daughter – wanting to help – grabbed handfuls of the Zinnia seeds and spread them all over the place. After some son, rain, and a little time, Zinnias started coming up everywhere – under trees, next to the house, even from cracks in the driveway. Some obviously did not grow, but a lot did. From a small start, lots of things can happen.
Funding Pensions in the Central Conferences
There was a presentation about the Central Conference Pension initiative. There currently is no pension system for pastors outside the US. They want to raise $20 million over 5 years. The history of the pension system in the Methodist Church in America is long. A couple of days ago I mentioned the Christmas Conference of December 1784 where Methodism in America started and Coke & Asbury were consecrated as Bishops. At that same session, the “Preacher’s Fund” was created, and in 1796 the Chartered Fund was created. This fund still exists today. The problem is that this is only in the US. They tell the stories like: Rev. Francis Marovia – served 58 years as a UM pastor in Sierra Leone. His pension is $12/month; Erna Kunstimees – widow of a retired pastor in Estonia. Church paid pensions in Estonia end with the death of the clergyperson, with no further benefits available for the surviving spouse; and Rev. Daniel Islam – served rural parishes in Liberia for 31 years, often unpaid, and occasionally receiving his salary in rice or other food leaving him unable to save for retirement. More info is available at www.ccpi-umc.org .
My tie today – Lighthouse.
Two more task forces reported – one about studying the Episcopacy and one about the UMC and relations with churches in Latin America & the Caribbean.
I may have mentioned that the alter, podium, and large round Communion table in the center of the large delegation assembly room are made from trees felled by the hurricanes that hit Gulfside Campgrounds.
A couple of items from yesterday:
I think that they might be getting home Saturday, but a group from LaGrange was going to the Midwest Distribution Center in Chatham, IL for a couple days at the end of this week. I picked up a free DVD about the Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, LA which I think is like the big brother to Chatham. I will bring it home and give it to somebody that went and you can share as you want.
An Inside Look at the Work of Legislative Committees
Our committee quit at about 11:30 tonight. We met for a while this afternoon, and a little bit tonight as a group (50 people) and voted a bunch of petitions out of committee (37 by my very rough count). One that we approved 31-14 would create a home base for the Judicial Council - possibly in Nashville or in Washington DC. It would allow for a clerk at about 20 hours/week. Right now the JC meets twice a year in April and October, and never in the same place. If you have a case before them, and you want to appear for oral arguments, it could be anywhere - even in the Philippines (did that a couple of years ago). It can make it very cost prohibitive to pursue a case. This would also provide a central place for their records. It is easy to get copies of decisions right now, but if you want to see all of the briefs that were filed in an old case, it is difficult to track down the records.
Most of the documents that we dealt with were rejected.
Then we spent more time in our sub-committees. My group of 7 is still working on our 1 paragraph in the Discipline - 2701 - Fair Process in Judicial Proceedings. I should say that the paragraph is 2 1/2 pages long. What we are going to send to the whole committee, and hopefully to the plenary, a motion to delete the entire existing 2701 and replace it with a new one.What we need to explain to our committee is that it is probably 85% the exact same language, but all re-organized into a more logical order. This will now explain the rights of the complainant (new) and the rights of the respondent (existing) and the rights of the Church. We also moved a couple of sentences to the very beginning of the paragraph that say that these rights kick in when a complaint from counsel for the Church is sent to the committee on investigation.I thin we have about 70 more petitions to finish in our committee, but many will go very quickly. For example, from our sub-committee, we will be recommending one for passage with the total re-write noted above, and 5 for rejection. There are apparently a couple of others like that where 9 or 10 will go away as one is approved.
It is never over till it is over, and it is never passed until it is passed. The FA committee voted down the petition with the $150-250,000 cost in it, but it looks like they are dong that to approve the other petition.
I'm going to bed! It is 1:30 am and I will be up at 6:00 am.
Peace to all, Jack
Today during worship, and then again at lunch there was a high school group from 1st UMC Ann Arbor, MI called The Strangely Warmed Players. The significance of the title of the group is that John Wesley, felt “strangely warmed in his heart”, and that is generally considered the start of Methodism. He did not call it that, others did, and it was never his intent to form a new religion – the was a priest in the Church of England. The group is a theater troupe and they performed a skit called “Crossing to the Other Side”. “Captain Safety” was the leader of his group on a boat that had never left the dock – but it was very safe. Whenever his “crew” wanted to go to sea he said, “but it is very safe here.” They have other skits called, “MacJesus To Go” and “I heard it Through the Grapevine”, and some others. Overall, it was very creative, and very good.
Seeds of Hope
The opening worship sermon was good, by William Hutchinson – Louisiana titled “Of Water AND the Spirit” with the point being that getting baptized is does not end your journey, and you need to move on to do good things. After that was a Rural Life Celebration. It included messages that were read from Richard Petty, and Joycelyn Elders (former US Surgeon General), and several church leaders in person, all saying that they got their start in a small, rural Methodist Church. The message in that was from Bishop Ken Carder who talked about clearing space for a garden, carefully tilling the area for planting. When he had to go inside for a minute, his 3 year old daughter – wanting to help – grabbed handfuls of the Zinnia seeds and spread them all over the place. After some son, rain, and a little time, Zinnias started coming up everywhere – under trees, next to the house, even from cracks in the driveway. Some obviously did not grow, but a lot did. From a small start, lots of things can happen.
Funding Pensions in the Central Conferences
There was a presentation about the Central Conference Pension initiative. There currently is no pension system for pastors outside the US. They want to raise $20 million over 5 years. The history of the pension system in the Methodist Church in America is long. A couple of days ago I mentioned the Christmas Conference of December 1784 where Methodism in America started and Coke & Asbury were consecrated as Bishops. At that same session, the “Preacher’s Fund” was created, and in 1796 the Chartered Fund was created. This fund still exists today. The problem is that this is only in the US. They tell the stories like: Rev. Francis Marovia – served 58 years as a UM pastor in Sierra Leone. His pension is $12/month; Erna Kunstimees – widow of a retired pastor in Estonia. Church paid pensions in Estonia end with the death of the clergyperson, with no further benefits available for the surviving spouse; and Rev. Daniel Islam – served rural parishes in Liberia for 31 years, often unpaid, and occasionally receiving his salary in rice or other food leaving him unable to save for retirement. More info is available at www.ccpi-umc.org .
My tie today – Lighthouse.
Two more task forces reported – one about studying the Episcopacy and one about the UMC and relations with churches in Latin America & the Caribbean.
I may have mentioned that the alter, podium, and large round Communion table in the center of the large delegation assembly room are made from trees felled by the hurricanes that hit Gulfside Campgrounds.
A couple of items from yesterday:
- The DCA that was passed out this morning with judicial council nominees profiles had no pictures in it.
- The offering of money placed on the worship table for Nothing But Nets raised $13,530. If anyone wants to give to this, you can contribute to an "Advance Special" (Advanced Special #982015) which means you can give it to your church (1st UMC LaGrange for many of you), and it will be sent in to the Conference and will ultimately find its way to the right place - without any administrative costs being taken out. That is part of what the United Methodist connection is all about. When each church pays its apportionment, that covers the administrative costs for many things, so that when you give money to this special, or to UMCOR, all (100%) of what you give for that special goes to help where you intended. There was an opening night offering that raised money for a Fort Worth ministry to children and the impoverished - it raised $19,194.10.
I think that they might be getting home Saturday, but a group from LaGrange was going to the Midwest Distribution Center in Chatham, IL for a couple days at the end of this week. I picked up a free DVD about the Sager Brown Depot in Baldwin, LA which I think is like the big brother to Chatham. I will bring it home and give it to somebody that went and you can share as you want.
An Inside Look at the Work of Legislative Committees
Our committee quit at about 11:30 tonight. We met for a while this afternoon, and a little bit tonight as a group (50 people) and voted a bunch of petitions out of committee (37 by my very rough count). One that we approved 31-14 would create a home base for the Judicial Council - possibly in Nashville or in Washington DC. It would allow for a clerk at about 20 hours/week. Right now the JC meets twice a year in April and October, and never in the same place. If you have a case before them, and you want to appear for oral arguments, it could be anywhere - even in the Philippines (did that a couple of years ago). It can make it very cost prohibitive to pursue a case. This would also provide a central place for their records. It is easy to get copies of decisions right now, but if you want to see all of the briefs that were filed in an old case, it is difficult to track down the records.
Most of the documents that we dealt with were rejected.
Then we spent more time in our sub-committees. My group of 7 is still working on our 1 paragraph in the Discipline - 2701 - Fair Process in Judicial Proceedings. I should say that the paragraph is 2 1/2 pages long. What we are going to send to the whole committee, and hopefully to the plenary, a motion to delete the entire existing 2701 and replace it with a new one.What we need to explain to our committee is that it is probably 85% the exact same language, but all re-organized into a more logical order. This will now explain the rights of the complainant (new) and the rights of the respondent (existing) and the rights of the Church. We also moved a couple of sentences to the very beginning of the paragraph that say that these rights kick in when a complaint from counsel for the Church is sent to the committee on investigation.I thin we have about 70 more petitions to finish in our committee, but many will go very quickly. For example, from our sub-committee, we will be recommending one for passage with the total re-write noted above, and 5 for rejection. There are apparently a couple of others like that where 9 or 10 will go away as one is approved.
It is never over till it is over, and it is never passed until it is passed. The FA committee voted down the petition with the $150-250,000 cost in it, but it looks like they are dong that to approve the other petition.
I'm going to bed! It is 1:30 am and I will be up at 6:00 am.
Peace to all, Jack
Friday, April 25, 2008
Day 3
Our delegation has been meeting each morning in the hallway outside the main floor of the convention center since only delegates are allowed on the floor of the center. We have been meeting near a garbage can – it is just a simple place to tell people where to meet. I’m sure there is something theological about that, but it escapes me right now.
Morning Worship
In the plenary, as always, we started with worship. So far the worship experiences and music have been outstanding. I believe that you can access these, either live streaming, or on a delay through the web site: www.umc.org . They start at 8:15 am each day, so if you want to try the live – good luck. We do not have wireless access inside the convention center, so I can’t check to see if/how it works. This morning’s sermon was bishop Joao Somane Machado of Mozambique, and he spoke in Portuguese (with an interpreter). I guess that made the sermon twice as long, but it was worth it. He mentioned how good he thought the sermons had been so far, and didn’t know if he could add anything to it.
Bishop Machado told about the preacher that, upon starting at a new church, preached his first sermon, then spent the week visiting with the members of the church and seeing them in their homes and around town. The next Sunday he preached the exact same sermon as the first week, and again spent the week visiting his flock. The third week, he again gave the exact same sermon as the first two, and started visiting. All of the committees of the church got together on Wednesday and summoned him to the meeting. The Chair of the group asked him, “Do you remember your first sermon?” He answered that he did, and thought it was one of his best. The Chair asked him if he remembered the second sermon. He replied that he did, and thought he did very well. The Chair asked him if he remembered the third sermon, and that it was the same as the first two. He replied that he did, and then said, “I will continue preaching that sermon until you listen to what I am saying and start doing the right things.” My guess is that the clergy listening were very interested and there are going to be a lot of churches hearing the same sermon for the next few weeks. (Hmm . . . I could probably do that with these nightly notes – just copy from the day before – and see who notices.)
Ryder Nominated to Judicial Council
After worship, we began a business session, and they announced the Bishop’s list of nominees for Judicial Council, and I was not on the list – which I knew was happening. They then opened it up to the floor for nominations and at 9:46, Dr. Irma Clark nominated me for Judicial Council. The Discipline spells out the process for nominations and that each candidate has to turn in a 100 word biography that needs to be printed in the Daily Christian Advocate (DCA) 48 hours before the election – which is an order of the day for Monday Morning. I had written my 100 words (actually 99) and went to turn it in and was asked if I had a picture. A couple of people in line in front of me did, but I did not have one with me. This is wrong. The Discipline says you have to turn in “100 words”, not “100 words and a picture”. At least one of the nominees is not even here, and if they print pictures of some candidates, and not others, that would be incredibly unfair. Since this will be printed, and on our desks tomorrow morning and we are in committees the rest of the day, there is no more plenary session to raise an objection. So I found the Secretary of the General Conference and mentioned this to him. He agreed that it was unfair and basically said – they can’t do that. I did mention to him that I was in the Judicial Administration committee and that we had a lot of lawyers in there, and at least a couple of Judges, so I needed legal help, I knew where to go. So we will see if there are pictures tomorrow morning.
Another Judicial Council ruling came down – about the petitions that would mandate a specific number or percentage of a type of person (young people for example) on a board or committee. In decision #1090 they ruled that if we (the GC) do that, it will be unconstitutional.
Nothing but Nets - $18 million raised by United Methodists
The final event in plenary was a short presentation about today (4/25/08) being World Malaria Day. We saw a video about the Nothing But Nets program and that it had raised $18 million so far. The Bishop of Pittsburgh gave the presentation and mentioned that a couple of months ago the daughter of one of our bishops died of Malaria. Malaria nets cost $10 each, and he went to the round table that is in the center of the convention hall and put $10 on it and invited us to pass the table on the way out. When I got there the pile of cash was big and growing.
The United Methodist Church is partnering with Sport’s Illustrated, the NBA, WNBA, MSL (soccer). Two days ago, as we were opening, the UN and the Gates Foundation donated $5 million that will be used as seed money to organize a campaign to raise $100 million to eradicate Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and TB throughout the world. I had originally written “try to” in front of eradicate above, but took it out. We can do this!
I am cheating a little bit. I am writing some of this at lunch so I am not up all night and can get some sleep. There is a lounge area with food, and I am writing this and listening to the musical groups that were in worship this morning. They are: Council Oak Bells from Round Rock, TX, Lake Harriett UMC Shout Band from Minneapolis, MN, and the Cancel Choir of First UMC from Lawrence, KS who just sang “He is my Refuge & Strength”. They were good, but we have done it better. Yesterday there were Tonga dancers here with.
Legislative Committees at Work
When we got to our committee, I thought my sub-committee would have it easy. We only have one paragraph of the Discipline to deal with (2701) and only 6 petitions. It deals with fair process and just resolution in the Judicial Process. We spent the hour before lunch trying to determine what “Church” meant, and if the resident Bishop is an “agent” or “party”. The first petition that we have (80499-JA-2701) tries to clarify that, but needs some work. It apparently came about because there was a case where all of the parties to an incident had used the just resolution process and came to an agreement, but the Bishop rejected it. The effort to clarify is to say that once something enters the judicial process, the Bishop is no longer a part of it. We have a good sub-committee, and we will figure it out.
Tie today: Streets of Chicago.
Now I am back at the hotel. Our little group of 7 worked all day till 10:39 p.m. on the same paragraph, and I think we have a handle on what we are going to do. Basically re-organize the whole paragraph so that it flows better and incorporate some of what the petitions have offered. One in my group is an attorney from Cleveland, TN, another is from Illinois - and used to be a District Superintendent in western Illinois, another is leaving early next week to graduate from Michigan State, another is (I think) a lawyer from Liberia. Good group of people, and we area working well together. There is a monitor watching the group and she will report how well we played together.Our whole committee did get rid of 5 documents - voting them out of committee, either up or down.The more people that I talk to about the petition to codify the Discipline, the more that I find that think it is a good idea. We will keep an eye on it and when it comes out of committee we will be ready to act on the floor to get it passed.An new friend and a old friend are coming this weekend.
The new Communications Director for the NIC (the one that is putting thin on the Conference web site) Susan is arriving tomorrow, and my old District Superintendent, that is now in San Francisco, Don Guest will be here Sunday. Looking forward to seeing both of them. I am looking forward to A Sunday because we have the evening off. We will be busy all day tomorrow, so I think I am done for tonight.
Peace to all, Jack
Morning Worship
In the plenary, as always, we started with worship. So far the worship experiences and music have been outstanding. I believe that you can access these, either live streaming, or on a delay through the web site: www.umc.org . They start at 8:15 am each day, so if you want to try the live – good luck. We do not have wireless access inside the convention center, so I can’t check to see if/how it works. This morning’s sermon was bishop Joao Somane Machado of Mozambique, and he spoke in Portuguese (with an interpreter). I guess that made the sermon twice as long, but it was worth it. He mentioned how good he thought the sermons had been so far, and didn’t know if he could add anything to it.
Bishop Machado told about the preacher that, upon starting at a new church, preached his first sermon, then spent the week visiting with the members of the church and seeing them in their homes and around town. The next Sunday he preached the exact same sermon as the first week, and again spent the week visiting his flock. The third week, he again gave the exact same sermon as the first two, and started visiting. All of the committees of the church got together on Wednesday and summoned him to the meeting. The Chair of the group asked him, “Do you remember your first sermon?” He answered that he did, and thought it was one of his best. The Chair asked him if he remembered the second sermon. He replied that he did, and thought he did very well. The Chair asked him if he remembered the third sermon, and that it was the same as the first two. He replied that he did, and then said, “I will continue preaching that sermon until you listen to what I am saying and start doing the right things.” My guess is that the clergy listening were very interested and there are going to be a lot of churches hearing the same sermon for the next few weeks. (Hmm . . . I could probably do that with these nightly notes – just copy from the day before – and see who notices.)
Ryder Nominated to Judicial Council
After worship, we began a business session, and they announced the Bishop’s list of nominees for Judicial Council, and I was not on the list – which I knew was happening. They then opened it up to the floor for nominations and at 9:46, Dr. Irma Clark nominated me for Judicial Council. The Discipline spells out the process for nominations and that each candidate has to turn in a 100 word biography that needs to be printed in the Daily Christian Advocate (DCA) 48 hours before the election – which is an order of the day for Monday Morning. I had written my 100 words (actually 99) and went to turn it in and was asked if I had a picture. A couple of people in line in front of me did, but I did not have one with me. This is wrong. The Discipline says you have to turn in “100 words”, not “100 words and a picture”. At least one of the nominees is not even here, and if they print pictures of some candidates, and not others, that would be incredibly unfair. Since this will be printed, and on our desks tomorrow morning and we are in committees the rest of the day, there is no more plenary session to raise an objection. So I found the Secretary of the General Conference and mentioned this to him. He agreed that it was unfair and basically said – they can’t do that. I did mention to him that I was in the Judicial Administration committee and that we had a lot of lawyers in there, and at least a couple of Judges, so I needed legal help, I knew where to go. So we will see if there are pictures tomorrow morning.
Another Judicial Council ruling came down – about the petitions that would mandate a specific number or percentage of a type of person (young people for example) on a board or committee. In decision #1090 they ruled that if we (the GC) do that, it will be unconstitutional.
Nothing but Nets - $18 million raised by United Methodists
The final event in plenary was a short presentation about today (4/25/08) being World Malaria Day. We saw a video about the Nothing But Nets program and that it had raised $18 million so far. The Bishop of Pittsburgh gave the presentation and mentioned that a couple of months ago the daughter of one of our bishops died of Malaria. Malaria nets cost $10 each, and he went to the round table that is in the center of the convention hall and put $10 on it and invited us to pass the table on the way out. When I got there the pile of cash was big and growing.
The United Methodist Church is partnering with Sport’s Illustrated, the NBA, WNBA, MSL (soccer). Two days ago, as we were opening, the UN and the Gates Foundation donated $5 million that will be used as seed money to organize a campaign to raise $100 million to eradicate Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and TB throughout the world. I had originally written “try to” in front of eradicate above, but took it out. We can do this!
I am cheating a little bit. I am writing some of this at lunch so I am not up all night and can get some sleep. There is a lounge area with food, and I am writing this and listening to the musical groups that were in worship this morning. They are: Council Oak Bells from Round Rock, TX, Lake Harriett UMC Shout Band from Minneapolis, MN, and the Cancel Choir of First UMC from Lawrence, KS who just sang “He is my Refuge & Strength”. They were good, but we have done it better. Yesterday there were Tonga dancers here with.
Legislative Committees at Work
When we got to our committee, I thought my sub-committee would have it easy. We only have one paragraph of the Discipline to deal with (2701) and only 6 petitions. It deals with fair process and just resolution in the Judicial Process. We spent the hour before lunch trying to determine what “Church” meant, and if the resident Bishop is an “agent” or “party”. The first petition that we have (80499-JA-2701) tries to clarify that, but needs some work. It apparently came about because there was a case where all of the parties to an incident had used the just resolution process and came to an agreement, but the Bishop rejected it. The effort to clarify is to say that once something enters the judicial process, the Bishop is no longer a part of it. We have a good sub-committee, and we will figure it out.
Tie today: Streets of Chicago.
Now I am back at the hotel. Our little group of 7 worked all day till 10:39 p.m. on the same paragraph, and I think we have a handle on what we are going to do. Basically re-organize the whole paragraph so that it flows better and incorporate some of what the petitions have offered. One in my group is an attorney from Cleveland, TN, another is from Illinois - and used to be a District Superintendent in western Illinois, another is leaving early next week to graduate from Michigan State, another is (I think) a lawyer from Liberia. Good group of people, and we area working well together. There is a monitor watching the group and she will report how well we played together.Our whole committee did get rid of 5 documents - voting them out of committee, either up or down.The more people that I talk to about the petition to codify the Discipline, the more that I find that think it is a good idea. We will keep an eye on it and when it comes out of committee we will be ready to act on the floor to get it passed.An new friend and a old friend are coming this weekend.
The new Communications Director for the NIC (the one that is putting thin on the Conference web site) Susan is arriving tomorrow, and my old District Superintendent, that is now in San Francisco, Don Guest will be here Sunday. Looking forward to seeing both of them. I am looking forward to A Sunday because we have the evening off. We will be busy all day tomorrow, so I think I am done for tonight.
Peace to all, Jack
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Day 2
News from the home front (half way around the world)
Deb arrived safely in Lagos this morning (our time). When I talked to her at about 12:45 p.m. (our time) she had unpacked and was probably quite exhausted. Barrett talked to me briefly on the phone, but I had trouble understanding him – he was talking into the ear-hole. He will be 3 next week, and in addition to presents, Deb was able to get the 40 Fire Chief hats in her luggage, so Barrett can take them to school for his classmates on his big day. Ainsley was trying to eat one of the luggage locks that Deb had, so she was a little distracted during the call.
Opening Worship
Today started early with getting on the bus at about 6:50 a.m. After finishing last night’s email at 1:15, it was a rather short night. The first thing today was the Episcopal address, given by the retiring Bishop from the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, Sharon Brown Christopher. It was very good and started a theme that lasted all morning around 4 areas of focus that are to be our focus for the future. She mixed in the communion liturgy with the sermon. All of the other Bishops joined her in reciting the liturgy and they were seated around the outside of the main floor of the conference.
Big Theme for the Future of the Church - Four Areas of Focus
The 4 above are "four areas of focus" are related to the budget of the church:
1. Developing Leadership - $96,396,111.
2. New places for new people & renewing existing congregations - $66,732,527.
3. Engaging in ministry with the poor - $54,457,252.
4. Stamping out killer diseases of poverty by improving health globally - $39,425,768.
My tie today – White Sox tie with the Sears Tower in the background and a baseball substituting for the moon. I keep running into people I know, and that know me - Rev. Slim Coleman from the Adalberto UMC in Chicago is here for an immigration rally later today.
Young People's Address
The first ever Young Peoples Address at a General Conference was given by 6 young (under 30) from Russia, West Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska, and a couple of other places that I don’t remember. It was excellent. They spoke from several places around the hall, and it was effective and kept our attention.
Laity Address
This afternoon we heard the laity address, and it didn’t start out very good from my view – kind of boring. But it got better and turned out to be quite good. The speaker was from North Georgia and told about the man in his car that came to a Kool-Aid stand – 10¢ (it must have been a few years ago). He decided to stop and gave the two kids a quarter, and after some effort at making change they came to the car with his cup of Kool-Aid and his change. While he started drinking and was enjoying it, one of the kids stayed by the car window, and kept staying there. Finally the man asked the kid why he was standing there, and the reply was – “You have our only cup.” She then went on to say that an empty cup only has one purpose – to be filled, and a full cup only has one purpose – to be emptied. We as laity need to keep filling the cup by inviting people into the church and then sending our membership out into the world.
Status of Legislation
As to my effort to codify the Discipline: Retired Bishop Ott greeted me today with – “what a great idea!” When I mentioned that I had been trying to get this passed for 8 years, he seemed surprised because it is such a good idea. The Rules committee reported back that since there was legislation in the Financial Administration Committee that they recommended rejecting my motion. Then somebody moved to refer it, and that was defeated. So then my motion was voted on, and it lost. We will see what happens in the committee, but the good news is that I got the issue before the entire General Conference and people are talking about it. When it comes up in committee, it should click in their heads that this is what we have talked about and it sounds like a good idea. If you are trying to follow along at all with the progress of General Conference at www.umc.org (that is where my blog with these emails is located, as well as a petition tracking system) the petition #s are 80162-FA-NonDis-!, and 80795-FA-NonDis. The first one has an estimated cost of $150,000 - $250,000 which is what the (!) at the end of the petition number means. If it has the (!) then there are financial implications and GCFA must be involved in the approval process. We will see what happens.
After the Rules were finally adopted, without my amendment, we went to our legislative committees. I had been approached a few weeks ago by the Common Cause Group about being slated for Vice Chair of the Judicial Administration committee, and I said OK. I had the name of a person for Chair, and Secretary as well. When we went into the room there were people outside asking us to vote for that slate, so I thought there was a chance. When they opened the nominations for Chair, nobody nominated the name that I had, and I did not know who she was, and nobody told me to nominate her. Three others were quickly nominated, so I was a little surprised. Then after one was elected we moved to Vice Chair. Nobody nominated me, and I wasn’t going to nominate myself, so that did not happen. Then we got to Secretary and finally the name that I had was nominated (I was going to if nobody else did), and he declined saying that he did not think he would be a good secretary.
I met the two delegates from Nigeria that are in my committee - Hananiya Hamma and Ayuba Abdallah Ndule. I told them that my wife had arrived in their country a few hours ago for a 1 week visit. They said that they hope she has a good time as it is a nice place.After dinner we met again, introduced ourselves (lots of lawyers, and a few judges) and broke into 7 sub-committees. My group will be focusing only on paragraph 2701 of the Book of Discipline and all of the petitions that are for that one paragraph. Lots of nice people - we will see how effective and productive we are.It's early - only 12:45. Later today I will be nominated for the Judicial Council, and we will see what happens.
Peace to all, Jack
Deb arrived safely in Lagos this morning (our time). When I talked to her at about 12:45 p.m. (our time) she had unpacked and was probably quite exhausted. Barrett talked to me briefly on the phone, but I had trouble understanding him – he was talking into the ear-hole. He will be 3 next week, and in addition to presents, Deb was able to get the 40 Fire Chief hats in her luggage, so Barrett can take them to school for his classmates on his big day. Ainsley was trying to eat one of the luggage locks that Deb had, so she was a little distracted during the call.
Opening Worship
Today started early with getting on the bus at about 6:50 a.m. After finishing last night’s email at 1:15, it was a rather short night. The first thing today was the Episcopal address, given by the retiring Bishop from the Illinois Great Rivers Conference, Sharon Brown Christopher. It was very good and started a theme that lasted all morning around 4 areas of focus that are to be our focus for the future. She mixed in the communion liturgy with the sermon. All of the other Bishops joined her in reciting the liturgy and they were seated around the outside of the main floor of the conference.
Big Theme for the Future of the Church - Four Areas of Focus
The 4 above are "four areas of focus" are related to the budget of the church:
1. Developing Leadership - $96,396,111.
2. New places for new people & renewing existing congregations - $66,732,527.
3. Engaging in ministry with the poor - $54,457,252.
4. Stamping out killer diseases of poverty by improving health globally - $39,425,768.
My tie today – White Sox tie with the Sears Tower in the background and a baseball substituting for the moon. I keep running into people I know, and that know me - Rev. Slim Coleman from the Adalberto UMC in Chicago is here for an immigration rally later today.
Young People's Address
The first ever Young Peoples Address at a General Conference was given by 6 young (under 30) from Russia, West Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska, and a couple of other places that I don’t remember. It was excellent. They spoke from several places around the hall, and it was effective and kept our attention.
Laity Address
This afternoon we heard the laity address, and it didn’t start out very good from my view – kind of boring. But it got better and turned out to be quite good. The speaker was from North Georgia and told about the man in his car that came to a Kool-Aid stand – 10¢ (it must have been a few years ago). He decided to stop and gave the two kids a quarter, and after some effort at making change they came to the car with his cup of Kool-Aid and his change. While he started drinking and was enjoying it, one of the kids stayed by the car window, and kept staying there. Finally the man asked the kid why he was standing there, and the reply was – “You have our only cup.” She then went on to say that an empty cup only has one purpose – to be filled, and a full cup only has one purpose – to be emptied. We as laity need to keep filling the cup by inviting people into the church and then sending our membership out into the world.
Status of Legislation
As to my effort to codify the Discipline: Retired Bishop Ott greeted me today with – “what a great idea!” When I mentioned that I had been trying to get this passed for 8 years, he seemed surprised because it is such a good idea. The Rules committee reported back that since there was legislation in the Financial Administration Committee that they recommended rejecting my motion. Then somebody moved to refer it, and that was defeated. So then my motion was voted on, and it lost. We will see what happens in the committee, but the good news is that I got the issue before the entire General Conference and people are talking about it. When it comes up in committee, it should click in their heads that this is what we have talked about and it sounds like a good idea. If you are trying to follow along at all with the progress of General Conference at www.umc.org (that is where my blog with these emails is located, as well as a petition tracking system) the petition #s are 80162-FA-NonDis-!, and 80795-FA-NonDis. The first one has an estimated cost of $150,000 - $250,000 which is what the (!) at the end of the petition number means. If it has the (!) then there are financial implications and GCFA must be involved in the approval process. We will see what happens.
After the Rules were finally adopted, without my amendment, we went to our legislative committees. I had been approached a few weeks ago by the Common Cause Group about being slated for Vice Chair of the Judicial Administration committee, and I said OK. I had the name of a person for Chair, and Secretary as well. When we went into the room there were people outside asking us to vote for that slate, so I thought there was a chance. When they opened the nominations for Chair, nobody nominated the name that I had, and I did not know who she was, and nobody told me to nominate her. Three others were quickly nominated, so I was a little surprised. Then after one was elected we moved to Vice Chair. Nobody nominated me, and I wasn’t going to nominate myself, so that did not happen. Then we got to Secretary and finally the name that I had was nominated (I was going to if nobody else did), and he declined saying that he did not think he would be a good secretary.
I met the two delegates from Nigeria that are in my committee - Hananiya Hamma and Ayuba Abdallah Ndule. I told them that my wife had arrived in their country a few hours ago for a 1 week visit. They said that they hope she has a good time as it is a nice place.After dinner we met again, introduced ourselves (lots of lawyers, and a few judges) and broke into 7 sub-committees. My group will be focusing only on paragraph 2701 of the Book of Discipline and all of the petitions that are for that one paragraph. Lots of nice people - we will see how effective and productive we are.It's early - only 12:45. Later today I will be nominated for the Judicial Council, and we will see what happens.
Peace to all, Jack
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Opening Day!
It is about 12:15 am, and I got back to the hotel about 1/2 hour ago, and I need to be back to the convention center by 8:00 am, so I will be quick, but there was a lot to cover today.WOW, where do I start?
United Methodists everywhere
Riding back on the bus alone a few minutes ago with the bus driver telling me that he has been a United Methodist for all his life and he did not know that such a gathering happened. He was dating his wife 40 years ago, she was an EUB and he was a Methodist, then the two groups merged and they have been United Methodist ever since.
My tie today - Save the Children rainbow tie.
The First Amendment offered at GC 2008
The first person to offer an amendment during the 2008 General Conference was . . . you guessed it - ME. We were adopting the Plan of Organization and Rules of Order and I thought I saw a way to get in the plan that Rod and I have been trying for 8 years to get passed by amending the Rules to have the General Conference Correlation and Editorial Revision committee get some prices and report back in 2012 - no cost involved. So I offered the amendment. By the current rules, any proposed amendments are referred to the Rules committee for them to study and report back the next day. So after the session ended, I asked when they were going to meet - right away! So I went to the meeting and briefly explained what I was proposing, heard some general approving sounds, and some caution that it really would cost some money - but not the way I proposed it. Then someone said that I was trying to tell them "how" to do it . . . duh. As I left they were beginning to discuss it. We will find out tomorrow. After mine, there were several other proposed amendments, so that committee could be meeting for a while.
Notes on Legislative Procedure - How Delegates Speak
When we registered we were given a packet that included three 8 1/2 x 11 cards. A Yellow one that says, "Parliamentary Inquiry or Question", a Green one that says, " Speech For", and a Red one that says "Speech Against." The idea is that you hold up whichever card applies and the presiding bishop calls on you to speak. I used the yellow one for my amendment. I had alerted one of the members of the committee about what I was going to do so when they got to that section they said something that I believe was referring to what I was about to do. The green and red are because if we are debating something the rules allow 3 speeches for and 3 against any motion. This way the bishop can alternate the speeches.
Interesting legislation ...
We had one motion to send a question to the Judicial Council. It was about 6 petitions that would in some way specify a minimum number of some class of people that would have to be on some church body. Such as one that would require 30% of the members of general agencies be from Central Conferences (those from outside the US). The Judicial Council has consistently ruled these to be wrong because by specifying a minimum of one group, you are - by definition - denying other groups membership in that group. The hope is to get a ruling before committees get too far into the legislative process and pass something that has no chance of being enacted. It only needed 20% to be referred, and it passed 544-334. That only totals 878, and there are supposed to be 992 voting delegates - don't know where the rest of them are, or if they just chose not to vote, or invalidated their vote in some way.
40 Years Since the Merger
Since today was the 40th anniversary of the merger of the EUB and Methodist to form The United Methodist Church, they showed a short film/video of the proceedings from April 1968 in Dallas. I will try to find out where that resides and see if our local church could borrow/rent it. Rod Osborne's father was one of the big shots during those proceedings and he might be in some of the scenes.
Reconciling Parents' Network
I had lunch with the Parents Reconciling Network today at the First Christian Church a few blocks from the Convention Center. The historical plaque on the building says that Rev. Drew (I think that is his name) came to Ft. Worth in 1855 with a Hymn book and a pistol and founded the church. Retired Bishop Ray Chamberlain spoke, and at one point mentioned that he had invented a new Beatitude: "Blessed are they who break a leg - for they shall receive a casserole." He mentioned that people ask him about a lesbian being his daughter, and he corrects them to say that he has a daughter that is a lesbian, and his other children are different. He also noted that his 38 year old daughter has 2 children, and is still a virgin - "Take that Pope Benedict." The other speaker was Rev. William Taylor who is the former pastor of the First UMC of Conroe, TX who was forced to leave his growing church after his son announced that he was gay. The church leaders demanded that he denounce his son, and when he would not many members left the church.
Opening Worship
The opening worship was excellent - from 6-8 p.m. and full of great music of all kinds. One very neat anthem was "The Day is Coming" by Words - Laurie Zelman, and Music - Mark Miller. It was excellent, and we should get it for LaGrange. The musical groups that were part of the service were from: Hurst, TX, Mansfield, TX, Southlake, TX, Ft. Worth, Korean Contral United Methodist Fellowship, Timbuktu African Drummers, Ft. Worth, and the Revelation Praise Dancers, Arlington, TX, and other dancers from Tennessee, New York, and South Carolina.It is now about 1:15, I have used this time to unwind, and I will spend a couple minutes going through all of the new paper/documents that were passed out to us to see what I do NOT have to carry back with me tomorrow.
Keep my wife, Deb in your prayers - she should be on her 2nd plane by now, leaving Frankfort, Germany on the way to Lagos.
Peace to all of you, Jack
United Methodists everywhere
Riding back on the bus alone a few minutes ago with the bus driver telling me that he has been a United Methodist for all his life and he did not know that such a gathering happened. He was dating his wife 40 years ago, she was an EUB and he was a Methodist, then the two groups merged and they have been United Methodist ever since.
My tie today - Save the Children rainbow tie.
The First Amendment offered at GC 2008
The first person to offer an amendment during the 2008 General Conference was . . . you guessed it - ME. We were adopting the Plan of Organization and Rules of Order and I thought I saw a way to get in the plan that Rod and I have been trying for 8 years to get passed by amending the Rules to have the General Conference Correlation and Editorial Revision committee get some prices and report back in 2012 - no cost involved. So I offered the amendment. By the current rules, any proposed amendments are referred to the Rules committee for them to study and report back the next day. So after the session ended, I asked when they were going to meet - right away! So I went to the meeting and briefly explained what I was proposing, heard some general approving sounds, and some caution that it really would cost some money - but not the way I proposed it. Then someone said that I was trying to tell them "how" to do it . . . duh. As I left they were beginning to discuss it. We will find out tomorrow. After mine, there were several other proposed amendments, so that committee could be meeting for a while.
Notes on Legislative Procedure - How Delegates Speak
When we registered we were given a packet that included three 8 1/2 x 11 cards. A Yellow one that says, "Parliamentary Inquiry or Question", a Green one that says, " Speech For", and a Red one that says "Speech Against." The idea is that you hold up whichever card applies and the presiding bishop calls on you to speak. I used the yellow one for my amendment. I had alerted one of the members of the committee about what I was going to do so when they got to that section they said something that I believe was referring to what I was about to do. The green and red are because if we are debating something the rules allow 3 speeches for and 3 against any motion. This way the bishop can alternate the speeches.
Interesting legislation ...
We had one motion to send a question to the Judicial Council. It was about 6 petitions that would in some way specify a minimum number of some class of people that would have to be on some church body. Such as one that would require 30% of the members of general agencies be from Central Conferences (those from outside the US). The Judicial Council has consistently ruled these to be wrong because by specifying a minimum of one group, you are - by definition - denying other groups membership in that group. The hope is to get a ruling before committees get too far into the legislative process and pass something that has no chance of being enacted. It only needed 20% to be referred, and it passed 544-334. That only totals 878, and there are supposed to be 992 voting delegates - don't know where the rest of them are, or if they just chose not to vote, or invalidated their vote in some way.
40 Years Since the Merger
Since today was the 40th anniversary of the merger of the EUB and Methodist to form The United Methodist Church, they showed a short film/video of the proceedings from April 1968 in Dallas. I will try to find out where that resides and see if our local church could borrow/rent it. Rod Osborne's father was one of the big shots during those proceedings and he might be in some of the scenes.
Reconciling Parents' Network
I had lunch with the Parents Reconciling Network today at the First Christian Church a few blocks from the Convention Center. The historical plaque on the building says that Rev. Drew (I think that is his name) came to Ft. Worth in 1855 with a Hymn book and a pistol and founded the church. Retired Bishop Ray Chamberlain spoke, and at one point mentioned that he had invented a new Beatitude: "Blessed are they who break a leg - for they shall receive a casserole." He mentioned that people ask him about a lesbian being his daughter, and he corrects them to say that he has a daughter that is a lesbian, and his other children are different. He also noted that his 38 year old daughter has 2 children, and is still a virgin - "Take that Pope Benedict." The other speaker was Rev. William Taylor who is the former pastor of the First UMC of Conroe, TX who was forced to leave his growing church after his son announced that he was gay. The church leaders demanded that he denounce his son, and when he would not many members left the church.
Opening Worship
The opening worship was excellent - from 6-8 p.m. and full of great music of all kinds. One very neat anthem was "The Day is Coming" by Words - Laurie Zelman, and Music - Mark Miller. It was excellent, and we should get it for LaGrange. The musical groups that were part of the service were from: Hurst, TX, Mansfield, TX, Southlake, TX, Ft. Worth, Korean Contral United Methodist Fellowship, Timbuktu African Drummers, Ft. Worth, and the Revelation Praise Dancers, Arlington, TX, and other dancers from Tennessee, New York, and South Carolina.It is now about 1:15, I have used this time to unwind, and I will spend a couple minutes going through all of the new paper/documents that were passed out to us to see what I do NOT have to carry back with me tomorrow.
Keep my wife, Deb in your prayers - she should be on her 2nd plane by now, leaving Frankfort, Germany on the way to Lagos.
Peace to all of you, Jack
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tomorrow is OPENING DAY!!!
I don't know exactly how many there have been, but the first "General Conference" was what is called the Christmas Conference that started on December 24, 1784, and we have been meeting pretty much every four years ever since. Thomas Coke, sent by John Wesley to America, and Francis Asbury, elected by 60 of his peers, were the first two Bishops - called co-superintendents at the time. This is part of the legacy that we have when we begin tomorrow. Philip Otterbein (founded the Church of the United Brethren in Christ) was one of those in attendance and participated in the laying on of hands for Asbury. It wasn't until April 23, 1968 (in Dallas) that Otterbein's United Brethren (merged in the 1940's with the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren - EUB) and Coke & Asbury's Methodists came together and became the United Methodist Church. So, technically, this is only a 40 year old denomination, but our roots are much deeper and we have a long and rich heritage.
So tomorrow is our 40th anniversary and the opening of this General Conference - WOW! My schedule tomorrow is kind of easy until we officially start with worship at 6:00 p.m. There is a Parent's Reconciling Network's Luncheon at 11:30 that I think I will go to, and then our NIC delegation is getting together at 5:15 for a short gathering. Until the start, this might better be called Orientation Day. There are "orientations" for: 1 - Heads of Delegations, 2 - Marshals and Pages, 3 - Delegates from outside the US, 4 - Women Delegates, 5 - Delegates under the age of 30, and 6 - Racial & Ethnic Minority Delegates, I don't fit into any of those groups, and if I tried to sneak into 4, 5, or 6, I think I would be noticed. Today was, as I had hoped, generally a restful day. As I mentioned yesterday, I have a printer, and naturally the first time I printed something I get a message that I was low on ink. So I went next door to Staples and got ink. That was easy. Then I went to Target to get a new hanging bar for my car since the other one sort of bent on the way down here. I took the Purple Bus Route Shuttle to the Convention Center, and it worked very well. I plan to keep using it until it proves to not work. At 2:00 I registered, and that was it. I went to dinner with Sally Chipman & Alka Lyall (from NIC who are staying at this hotel), and that was the day. Very uneventful.
When we checked in we were given an envelope, and inside was a card telling about the prayer ministry here. There is a Space for Prayer, open from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm, and there are small tents spaced around the Convention Center where you can sit and pray. On the back of the card was this hand written note: "Dear Friend in Christ, Welcome to Fort Worth. I will be praying for you during General Conference. May you surrender to the care and guidance of the Holy Spirit during this time of holy listening, holy conversation and holy conferencing. Your sister in Christ, Judy Tutt"
Each of us from Northern Illinois also has one of the Jurisdictional Delegates as a silent prayer partner. We don't know who - but we know that there is one that, in addition to prayer for the whole group, has singled out each one of us. When you figure that there are over 8 million United Methodists, and only 1000 of us delegates, there are a whole lot of people watching and praying for each one of us.In addition to the 100+ that I send this email to, it is now being posted as a blog at www.umcnic.org and the link is "Dispatches from General Conference" I have a camera, and have been trying to send pictures to be posted there. The first time I tried it was 16 mb - a rather large file. We will keep working to get the pictures there - or somewhere where you can see them.
Special prayers tomorrow for my wife, Deb as she travels to Lagos, Nigeria to visit with special friends and help Barrett celebrate his 3rd birthday.
It's only 11:00 p.m. and I will send the first official GC email tomorrow night - probably later than this.
Peace to all, Jack
So tomorrow is our 40th anniversary and the opening of this General Conference - WOW! My schedule tomorrow is kind of easy until we officially start with worship at 6:00 p.m. There is a Parent's Reconciling Network's Luncheon at 11:30 that I think I will go to, and then our NIC delegation is getting together at 5:15 for a short gathering. Until the start, this might better be called Orientation Day. There are "orientations" for: 1 - Heads of Delegations, 2 - Marshals and Pages, 3 - Delegates from outside the US, 4 - Women Delegates, 5 - Delegates under the age of 30, and 6 - Racial & Ethnic Minority Delegates, I don't fit into any of those groups, and if I tried to sneak into 4, 5, or 6, I think I would be noticed. Today was, as I had hoped, generally a restful day. As I mentioned yesterday, I have a printer, and naturally the first time I printed something I get a message that I was low on ink. So I went next door to Staples and got ink. That was easy. Then I went to Target to get a new hanging bar for my car since the other one sort of bent on the way down here. I took the Purple Bus Route Shuttle to the Convention Center, and it worked very well. I plan to keep using it until it proves to not work. At 2:00 I registered, and that was it. I went to dinner with Sally Chipman & Alka Lyall (from NIC who are staying at this hotel), and that was the day. Very uneventful.
When we checked in we were given an envelope, and inside was a card telling about the prayer ministry here. There is a Space for Prayer, open from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm, and there are small tents spaced around the Convention Center where you can sit and pray. On the back of the card was this hand written note: "Dear Friend in Christ, Welcome to Fort Worth. I will be praying for you during General Conference. May you surrender to the care and guidance of the Holy Spirit during this time of holy listening, holy conversation and holy conferencing. Your sister in Christ, Judy Tutt"
Each of us from Northern Illinois also has one of the Jurisdictional Delegates as a silent prayer partner. We don't know who - but we know that there is one that, in addition to prayer for the whole group, has singled out each one of us. When you figure that there are over 8 million United Methodists, and only 1000 of us delegates, there are a whole lot of people watching and praying for each one of us.In addition to the 100+ that I send this email to, it is now being posted as a blog at www.umcnic.org and the link is "Dispatches from General Conference" I have a camera, and have been trying to send pictures to be posted there. The first time I tried it was 16 mb - a rather large file. We will keep working to get the pictures there - or somewhere where you can see them.
Special prayers tomorrow for my wife, Deb as she travels to Lagos, Nigeria to visit with special friends and help Barrett celebrate his 3rd birthday.
It's only 11:00 p.m. and I will send the first official GC email tomorrow night - probably later than this.
Peace to all, Jack
Monday, April 21, 2008
The End of the Trip to Ft. Worth
I have arrived safely in Fort Worth. I only got lost once, on the way out of Tulsa where I knew the I was to get on a toll road, saw a sign for a Turnpike, paid $ .30, and knew right away that this was not the road I was supposed to be on. It is a brand new road with no signs to tell where you are. After getting off at the first exit, and making about a 8 mile circle, I was back where I started, and took the other road - the one more traveled - and was back on track on I-44.
The sights and sounds of today's trip are: Gordon McRea and Shirly Jones singing "Oklahoma" as I crossed the state line; realizing that if you start Porgy & Bess (The Houston Grand Opera full version) just past Tulsa, by the time the third disc finishes, you are in Texas; the Arkansas River is Red! I had never seen it - wow did it look different; seeing the first oil well at 12:51 this afternoon - much rust and not working; seeing a working oil well at about 5:00 p.m.
Church sign today: At a Church of The Nazarene - Clean Restrooms. Now, I understand that this sign, as well as the one yesterday about Truckers Welcome were probably signs for a neighboring business, but maybe this is something that the UMC is missing - particularly in LaGrange. We have lots of bathrooms, and they are usually very clean. Truckers would be welcome - just not their trucks. Maybe a big sign at LaGrange Road and Cossitt with an arrow pointing in our direction would work.
My sister Sue also sent me an email this morning with a very long history of St. Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine - a jesuit theologian who died in 1621. Apparently, among other things, he was a runner-up for Pope twice in 1605 when Leo XI (only ruled 26 days) and Paul V were the winners. I don't know if that is the Saint that the town in Missouri is named after, but anything is possible.I called Deb a few times today from the road to let her know that I was OK. I received two calls - one from Deb, and one from my sister Sue, and as the phone rang each time, I was in a bathroom - good timing.
I am staying at a two-story Courtyard Marriott, and as I was checking in the desk clerk was saying to other people, "we don't have an elevator, but we can help you get your things upstairs." When I checked in I said, "I hope I am on the first floor." I am. One of the reasons that I drove is that I did not pack light. I have with me the laptop (obviously) and a mobile printer, 1500 copies of a flyer about my Judicial Council candidacy, plus all of the materials for General Conference (1560 pages of reading and a Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions.) It was also easier to have all my hanging clothes hanging in the car instead of in suitcases.
After I unpacked, I drove to the Convention Center. What a mess. There are one way streets and several streets around the Center are closed for repairs. I will go over there tomorrow to register. I think I will try the shuttle that they are offering. There are several different routes covering the many outlying hotels. We are on the Purple Route, and tomorrow it will be running on the hour all day. Starting Wednesday it will be every 1/2 hour early in the morning and later at night and hourly during the day.Most of our delegation membes from Northern Illinois are flying in tomorrow. My prayers are for safe travel, good weather, and non-recalled airplanes.
Good luck.
Peace to all, Jack
The sights and sounds of today's trip are: Gordon McRea and Shirly Jones singing "Oklahoma" as I crossed the state line; realizing that if you start Porgy & Bess (The Houston Grand Opera full version) just past Tulsa, by the time the third disc finishes, you are in Texas; the Arkansas River is Red! I had never seen it - wow did it look different; seeing the first oil well at 12:51 this afternoon - much rust and not working; seeing a working oil well at about 5:00 p.m.
Church sign today: At a Church of The Nazarene - Clean Restrooms. Now, I understand that this sign, as well as the one yesterday about Truckers Welcome were probably signs for a neighboring business, but maybe this is something that the UMC is missing - particularly in LaGrange. We have lots of bathrooms, and they are usually very clean. Truckers would be welcome - just not their trucks. Maybe a big sign at LaGrange Road and Cossitt with an arrow pointing in our direction would work.
My sister Sue also sent me an email this morning with a very long history of St. Robert Francis Romulus Bellarmine - a jesuit theologian who died in 1621. Apparently, among other things, he was a runner-up for Pope twice in 1605 when Leo XI (only ruled 26 days) and Paul V were the winners. I don't know if that is the Saint that the town in Missouri is named after, but anything is possible.I called Deb a few times today from the road to let her know that I was OK. I received two calls - one from Deb, and one from my sister Sue, and as the phone rang each time, I was in a bathroom - good timing.
I am staying at a two-story Courtyard Marriott, and as I was checking in the desk clerk was saying to other people, "we don't have an elevator, but we can help you get your things upstairs." When I checked in I said, "I hope I am on the first floor." I am. One of the reasons that I drove is that I did not pack light. I have with me the laptop (obviously) and a mobile printer, 1500 copies of a flyer about my Judicial Council candidacy, plus all of the materials for General Conference (1560 pages of reading and a Book of Discipline and Book of Resolutions.) It was also easier to have all my hanging clothes hanging in the car instead of in suitcases.
After I unpacked, I drove to the Convention Center. What a mess. There are one way streets and several streets around the Center are closed for repairs. I will go over there tomorrow to register. I think I will try the shuttle that they are offering. There are several different routes covering the many outlying hotels. We are on the Purple Route, and tomorrow it will be running on the hour all day. Starting Wednesday it will be every 1/2 hour early in the morning and later at night and hourly during the day.Most of our delegation membes from Northern Illinois are flying in tomorrow. My prayers are for safe travel, good weather, and non-recalled airplanes.
Good luck.
Peace to all, Jack
T-minus 3 Days
Well, I am on the road to General Conference. I am writing from St. Robert, MO. Some of my more theologically gifted friends will have to bring me up to date on this particular saint. It is also the home of Ft. Leonard Wood. I told Deb that I really wasn't going to General Conference - that was just a cover story - I had really joined the Army and Boot Camp starts tomorrow. She asked if the paramedics would be on call. Ha. Ha.
So, on the trip today I listened to the White Sox win 6-0 over the Tampa Rays (no more Devil in their name); listened to Arlo Guthrie sing "Riding on the City of New Orleans" as a train passed me on I-55 - I think the C of NO actually more parallels I-57, but what's a few miles; and of course had Show Boat in the CD player as I crossed the Mississippi and sang along with Paul Warfield to "Old Man River" - kind of channeling Clark Griswald too.
I stopped in Springfield, IL for a few minutes and saw my Mom and sister Barb. Barb's granddaughters - 8 month old twins Grace and Isabelle (I probably spelled that wrong) were in church this morning at FUMC LaGrange to check out the surroundings since they will be baptized there on May 18th.
Interesting church that I passed along the road, just past St. Louis. 1st Assembly of God - Truckers Welcome; and they had a big parking lot.
I guess the lectionary for today was from John 14 1-14 with the headline being the part about "In my Father's house are many rooms." Tom Harmon preached about it to our newest members (confirmation class joined the church today) and my Mom reported that, in addition to her Presbyterian minister using it, the Pope also did this afternoon. I don't think Mom is converting to Catholicism, but she does like this new Pope.
I thought about that verse today as I am heading to General Conference. My thoughts are kind of jumbled - I was driving at 70+ and listening to the White Sox and I don't claim to be a theologian, but here goes. I have a hope that all of the delegates will realize that the UMC is like a house with many rooms - kind of like a hotel. There are rooms for conservative, progressive, gay, straight, White, Black, Filipino, African, Korean, and every other group that any one is part of, either by birth, or by choice. Some of our congregations have only one of those groups in their room, and they are the poorer for it. In many of those rooms the people are happy and productive, some of the rooms have connecting doors and one room might really be a whole group of rooms. When all of the groups come together in the grand ballroom of the hotel, we do great things together - like Africa University - like Katrina Relief - like Florida hurricane relief - like being disciples for Jesus Christ - and hopefully we can do Holy Conferencing at this General Conference. What we do need to do is allow everyone into any room that they choose to enter. When we are at the Table for Communion, we are open to all - we claim to have open hearts, open minds, and open doors, but we are not truly open. Some of us seem to want a denomination that is like an old time private country club, where we only let in new members that are like us. I am not saying that we should have separate-but-equal, or that we should all stay in our rooms except for a few things that we can agree on, but we seem do good things when we are together, so let's be truly all together.
Well, it is 11:00 p.m., and this is about the time we will be adjourning each night at General Conference, and since I will be driving all day tomorrow, I think I will sleep.I'll keep reporting my thoughts each day.
Peace to all, Jack
So, on the trip today I listened to the White Sox win 6-0 over the Tampa Rays (no more Devil in their name); listened to Arlo Guthrie sing "Riding on the City of New Orleans" as a train passed me on I-55 - I think the C of NO actually more parallels I-57, but what's a few miles; and of course had Show Boat in the CD player as I crossed the Mississippi and sang along with Paul Warfield to "Old Man River" - kind of channeling Clark Griswald too.
I stopped in Springfield, IL for a few minutes and saw my Mom and sister Barb. Barb's granddaughters - 8 month old twins Grace and Isabelle (I probably spelled that wrong) were in church this morning at FUMC LaGrange to check out the surroundings since they will be baptized there on May 18th.
Interesting church that I passed along the road, just past St. Louis. 1st Assembly of God - Truckers Welcome; and they had a big parking lot.
I guess the lectionary for today was from John 14 1-14 with the headline being the part about "In my Father's house are many rooms." Tom Harmon preached about it to our newest members (confirmation class joined the church today) and my Mom reported that, in addition to her Presbyterian minister using it, the Pope also did this afternoon. I don't think Mom is converting to Catholicism, but she does like this new Pope.
I thought about that verse today as I am heading to General Conference. My thoughts are kind of jumbled - I was driving at 70+ and listening to the White Sox and I don't claim to be a theologian, but here goes. I have a hope that all of the delegates will realize that the UMC is like a house with many rooms - kind of like a hotel. There are rooms for conservative, progressive, gay, straight, White, Black, Filipino, African, Korean, and every other group that any one is part of, either by birth, or by choice. Some of our congregations have only one of those groups in their room, and they are the poorer for it. In many of those rooms the people are happy and productive, some of the rooms have connecting doors and one room might really be a whole group of rooms. When all of the groups come together in the grand ballroom of the hotel, we do great things together - like Africa University - like Katrina Relief - like Florida hurricane relief - like being disciples for Jesus Christ - and hopefully we can do Holy Conferencing at this General Conference. What we do need to do is allow everyone into any room that they choose to enter. When we are at the Table for Communion, we are open to all - we claim to have open hearts, open minds, and open doors, but we are not truly open. Some of us seem to want a denomination that is like an old time private country club, where we only let in new members that are like us. I am not saying that we should have separate-but-equal, or that we should all stay in our rooms except for a few things that we can agree on, but we seem do good things when we are together, so let's be truly all together.
Well, it is 11:00 p.m., and this is about the time we will be adjourning each night at General Conference, and since I will be driving all day tomorrow, I think I will sleep.I'll keep reporting my thoughts each day.
Peace to all, Jack
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
16 Days to Opening Day
The General Conference of The United Methodist Church starts on Wednesday April 23rd in Ft. Worth, TX with Opening Worship at 6:00 p.m. followed by the opening Plenary session at 8:00 p.m. It then continues every day, 8 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. until Friday, May 2.
I will write an email each night when I get back to the hotel that is a summary of sorts of what happened that day. Of course, I am not seeing and hearing everything that happens, but you will be getting one delegate's perspective of the events of the day. Susan Dal Porto from conference staff will edit and post my e-mails to a newly created blog that will be linked from the conference website.
The pre-conference reading for this is in 3 volumes and is 1560 pages of reports, Petitions, and proposed Resolutions. 13 Legislative Committees will consider each of the 1500 or so Petitions, and report back to the Plenary sessions, usually in consent calendar blocks that are voted up or down. In addition to the official readings, I have been getting mail from various groups trying to lobby me to support one side of an issue or the other.
I am also running as a candidate for the Judicial Council - the UMC version of the Supreme Court. That election will take place on Monday the 28th.
Since I am going all the way to Texas for 2 weeks, and there is virtually no time off during the GC, Deb decided to visit our friends in Lagos, Nigeria for a week. She will be there for our friend Barrett's 3rd Birthday party, an event that she is looking forward to even while she is trying to figure out how to carry 40 fire chief hats to Africa.
I plan to leave for Texas after church on the 20th, and will probably send an on-the-road update that night from somewhere in western Missouri.
Peace to all of you,
Jack
I will write an email each night when I get back to the hotel that is a summary of sorts of what happened that day. Of course, I am not seeing and hearing everything that happens, but you will be getting one delegate's perspective of the events of the day. Susan Dal Porto from conference staff will edit and post my e-mails to a newly created blog that will be linked from the conference website.
The pre-conference reading for this is in 3 volumes and is 1560 pages of reports, Petitions, and proposed Resolutions. 13 Legislative Committees will consider each of the 1500 or so Petitions, and report back to the Plenary sessions, usually in consent calendar blocks that are voted up or down. In addition to the official readings, I have been getting mail from various groups trying to lobby me to support one side of an issue or the other.
I am also running as a candidate for the Judicial Council - the UMC version of the Supreme Court. That election will take place on Monday the 28th.
Since I am going all the way to Texas for 2 weeks, and there is virtually no time off during the GC, Deb decided to visit our friends in Lagos, Nigeria for a week. She will be there for our friend Barrett's 3rd Birthday party, an event that she is looking forward to even while she is trying to figure out how to carry 40 fire chief hats to Africa.
I plan to leave for Texas after church on the 20th, and will probably send an on-the-road update that night from somewhere in western Missouri.
Peace to all of you,
Jack
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Welcome to Jack Ryder's General Conference Blog
Jack Ryder is an elected delegate from the Northern Illinois Conference to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 2008. Last General Conference in 2004 when Jack served as an alternate delegate, he wrote wrote nightly e-mails providing insider's view of Conference.
Jack will write daily dispatches from GC again this year, except that I am going to assist him by editing his e-mails and blogging them for him. So, Jack and I will be bringing you his GC blog. We believe this will give you a good view of what goes on at this quadrennial gathering.
If you have any comments or questions, they should be directed to Jack. This is his blog. But he may not have time to read what you wrote until sometime after he has read through 1,581 resolutions to General Conference, weathered the demands of nearly two weeks of days that begin at dawn and stretch to almost midnight, and joined with his fellow delegates in prayerfully discerning the best future course for this church.
Susan Dal Porto, NIC Director of Communications
Jack will write daily dispatches from GC again this year, except that I am going to assist him by editing his e-mails and blogging them for him. So, Jack and I will be bringing you his GC blog. We believe this will give you a good view of what goes on at this quadrennial gathering.
If you have any comments or questions, they should be directed to Jack. This is his blog. But he may not have time to read what you wrote until sometime after he has read through 1,581 resolutions to General Conference, weathered the demands of nearly two weeks of days that begin at dawn and stretch to almost midnight, and joined with his fellow delegates in prayerfully discerning the best future course for this church.
Please keep Jack, the other NIC delegates and everyone else connected to General Conference in your prayers.
Susan Dal Porto, NIC Director of Communications
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