Thursday, May 01, 2008

A Quick Reflection

Yesterday was a tough day. I wrote an extensive blog post about it and then it got lost. I'll try and write a little later and reflect on the day. For now, I need to reflect on the day that lies in front of us. Worship is happening in the main hall, but I can't really be there right now...I just need a moment.

Today we await a visit from the protestors. Yesterday there was much pain and we will be reminded of that today. As I think about this, my stomach gets tied up in knots and I get a lump in my throat. I dread today because it shows so clearly the brokenness of God's Church.

I experienced my first General Conference when I was 18. That year the Conference was held in Cleveland, and has been remembered as one of the most difficult Conferences because of the particularly divisive protest. The protest scene is Cleveland is seared into my mind with amazing clarity. I don't remember my high school graduation as well as I remember the 2nd Thursday of General Conference in Cleveland. While I appreciate the opportunity that I had to go to General Conference that year, I was too young to experience that kind of pain that comes through protest. What is difficult is that this year reminds me of Cleveland.

That experience changed the way I look at church and as I reflect, has shaped part of my call in the Church. Cleveland showed me clearly the broken and divided parts of the church and called me to somehow speak to that. Ever since that day I have struggled to know how to hold orthodoxy as I know it with abundant grace. I have struggled to hold beliefs and build bridges. I do the best I can, but I know that I don't have it all figured out. Protests bring up anger inside of me, but also extreme hurt. It reminds me that when "one part of the body hurts so does the rest." Today, our United Methodist body is hurt, and I struggle to know how to hold that hurt in tension with the idea that we made the correct choice.

Today reminds me of part of my call...to preach, to teach, to lead and to build up the body of Christ. Today the body of Christ is hurt, and I pray that while a witness is shown to the hurt of the body, that the witness will not be too dividing. As a witness happens today, I will probably pray and weep for the Church and I will ask that God continue to grow gifts in me that will allow me to know how to speak and work within pain. Please pray for me as well.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Difficult times

The conversations are just beginning. I hate this day, as it shows the deep woundedness in the church. There are no winners and losers today, only very broken people. Delegates from across Africa have heard the buzzword "homosexuality" and although we are just discussing a resolution on homophobia. The day is going to become more difficult before it gets better. Please be in prayer.

prayers needed

Issues of human sexuality will come to the floor this morning. This is probably my least favorite day, as it creates pain, hurt and division and just isn't fun. Please pray for the church we love today. It is of utmost importance.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Today I had several incredible visits from Starflower, the magic wallet fairy. I received a "magic wallet" from the Asbury Lunch. So far, every time I come back to the table something new has appeared with Starflower's mark. This is a mysterious fairy and the only person who has possibly seen it is Eric Park. Ask him about it!

Wow it's late.

For the transformation if the world

Well, the presiding Bishop matters...
Today, after debating meaningless petitions for hours on end we finally got to something meaningful. Now realize, we spent 20 minutes last night deciding whether we should reduce speech times to save time. Today a petition came before the body to add the words "for the transformation of the world" to the mission statement of the church. Today we debated the mission of the church for less than 10 minutes. Two amendments were proposed and the entirety of our time was spent debating these two motions. We didn't even debate the proposed change because Bishop Swenson, one of our more liberal bishops who was presiding decided that she wanted to vote before an order of the day...our break.
This was very frustrating to me because I really wanted to speak against the idea. See, I'm not against the transformation of the world. In fact, I'm very for it but I'm not for it in our mission statement. Why? Because Jesus said "Go and make disciples." that was it! Our call is to make disciples for the sake of disciple making. Disciple making is the end, not the means to an end. See, here's the thing...God is the One who transforms AND the world cannot help but ne transformed when disciples are made. This is a small but important detail. And it matters, but we only took 10 minutes to talk about it. Very frustrating.

Am I making too big a deal of this? Let me know what you think

Hey! That's me!!

www.gc2008.umc.org
Things didn't pick, at least substantially but we were able to get our work for the day fully accomplished so that was nice. All legislation that had financial implications have been cared for so thats a step in the right direction. I found out today that more of my legislation has been pulled from the Consent Calendar so I have more to present. I'm not going to complain...I like doing stuff like this.

Judicial Council elections did not go as planned yesterday. No one that I had supported was elected so that was disheartening. It makes me nervous about the legislation that probably will come to the floor today concerning human sexuality. There was a substantial change to the wording of the homosexuality stuff that doesn't say we affirm but it changes the language in a way that makes me uncomfortable. My hunch is that the pro homosexual lobby will stage a protest on the floor today and that's never fun. We'll see if it happens. Please pray for us today as we make decisions and strive together to be united.

I'm excited that we get to hear from the President of Liberia who is a UM. Security tightens substantially, but it should be interesting.

Pray for continued guidance and strength. Sleep has been limited and my body is tired. This conference us a marathon ran at a sprinters pace.

Matt

Monday, April 28, 2008

Today has been a good day. We've been in main plenary all day, slowly slogging through the mountain of legislation. We're currently dealing with an amended petition as well as a minority report on the global relationship of the church. It's slow going and I'm not sure that we'll ever get through this at this rate. Slow times but good time.

A guy just stood up and introduced himself as Chapel Temple from the Texas Conference and then said "Yes that is my real name." Funny stuff.

The highlight of the day has to be hearing from the East Africa Childrens Choir. This was a group of "orphaned and vulnerable children" and I think that describes them pretty well. Seeing these children who had no hope sing triumphant praise to Jesus. These children truly understood the power of hope. The kids sang and danced and found hope in Christ because of the UMC. That's why we do what we do...offer to all people new hope through Jesus Christ.

I need to pay attention because I'm sure things will pick up. At least I hope so.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Saturday was Day 4. Saturday morning we heard from Bishop Hutchinson who called us to move beyond a baptism of water alone to a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Powerful stuff as he called us to pray down the power of the Holy Spirit. May it be so in the UMC.

We spent the remainder of the day in legislative committees and my committee worked really hard to get all of our stuff done last night and we did. We had very little controversial pieces, but we did authorize the hymnal study committee, although I've since learned that piece will come before the body as a whole. I've heard that the legislation in Church and Society is being passed that will strengthen our anti-abortion stance but we'll see. Tomorrow starts full plenary so that should be exciting.

Today was a day to relax for me and I was able to hitch a ride to The Ballpark in Arlington to see a Rangers/Twins game. After a tiring and stressful week it was a good break. Please pray for me as I've had a couple difficult situations to handle in my role as chair and I covet your prayers as we move forward.

The pro-homosexual protestors moved in today in full force. They can be a difficult group to know how to respond to as I strive to embody the life of Christ. I've asked myself how I can strike up a life-giving conversation with some who share a radically different perspective than I do. I know that I don't want to embody hate but I truly want my actions to be infused with grace.

Tomorrow I will be presenting legislation from the podium to the General Conference on behalf of my committee. Pretty awesome. You can stream it live if you want to!

Keep praying friends
Matt

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Town and Country Ministries

Today we are celebrating the ministries of millions of people and thousands of churches that are located in small and rural areas. We have heard a call to continued support of small churches ministries, as they bring hope and healing to places that often are deeply affected by poverty. As I think about small churches I can't help but think about the small churches that have mentored and grown me. I think about places like Red Bird Mission that has a vibrant minstry among some of the nation's poorest people. I think about my parents who have grown vibrant ministries in small places. They have remained in small places and have left behind the kind of prestige that many seek in order to stay faithful to God's call. This morning we celebrate ministry that happens all over the in places like Hyndman, Palo Alto, Buffalo Mills and Townville. Thanks be to God.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Day 3, I think

It's day 3 I think but I'm not really sure. Its been a long couple days, but things are going well. Last night I was elected to chair the legislative sub-committee dealing with youth and young adult issues. Last night and all day today I led a group of approximately 40 people through 30 pieces of legislation. I really enjoy doing stuff like that so I had a lot of fun and we were able to get through all 30 pieces today so we have a night off! Yes!

This morning Bishop Salome spoke which marked the first time that a Bishop preached who preached in a language other than English with an interpreter. He preached with power and asked the question "why have we stopped making disciples?" He surmised that we have stopped loving God. He reminded us of the three rules that Wesley gave when he said do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. May these rules meet and speak to us today.
Amen.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

just to brag

there is a cool story about me at www.gbhem.org in the news section. Just FYI.
well its been a busy few days. Please forgive my lack of punctuation and capitalization as I'm writing on a tiny cramped keyboard. A couple highlights from the first 24 hours.
Last night was Opening Worship and it is always the highlight of the Conference. We sang God of Grace and God of Glory which was very appropriate for our work together. At one point I was moved almost to the point of tears as we sang that great hymn of the church. It turned into a long night as we had to establish the Rules, and that turned into a long process. After about five hours of sleep we were back at it this morning. Today turned into a great day! We spent most of the day hearing from the Bishops, which turned out to be great. The Bishops have beenmore vocal than ever before and seem to be providing excellent leadership. They are proposing four major areas of focus which could have a tremendous impact on the way we work as a church. The four areas are congregational starts and re-development, a focus on raising up young leadership, a focus on eliminating poverty and a focus on global health. These areas where proposed with measurable ideas of success and accountability. Really exciting to think what we could do!

Probably the most disappointing thing so far was the Young People's address. The five individuals chosen to speak did not represent well young people well, as they advocated for things that are much more liberal than most. I was disappointed that they did not lay out a vision and dream for the Church. A missed opportunity.

Committee meetings about to start! Keep praying!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

And it begins...

And it begins...
I arrived in Ft. Worth yesterday night and after working out some hotel kinks, I settled in. This morning we had a Delegation Heads meeting, and now I'm set for the rest of the day.

The hustle and bustle of the Convention Center is pretty astounding, considering that things don't really kick off for another 8 hours. Caucus Groups are already handing out their propaganda and conversations are already happening concerning Legislative Committee chairs. This time around, I feel more aware of people who present themselves in one way without really demonstrating their full ideas until later. I keep reminding myself that God moves in messy places, and although the Conference hasn't even kicked off yet, I think that it could be a messy place, full of politics.

I'm off to take a nap...Last night was a short night, and it promises to be one of the longer nights of the week.

Keep praying, friends.
MGJ