Day 10 Follow

For some time on Friday, I feared that this blog would be uneventful and boring. The morning began with the announcement that we would be discussing budget in the morning, followed by as many petitions as possible in the afternoon. The schedule even said that we would not be meeting in the evening unless necessary. The end of the day was to be the closing worship. We all expected to be sticking around late into the evening, but knew that we must be out of the Convention Center by midnight.

In the morning, the main discussion was surrounding the budget. For the first time, our budget has actually gone down from previous quadrennium. It some time before enough people were satisfied, but it eventually was passed. Some of the other legislation that passed was one requiring petitions to come from some group, not crazy individuals. This is because nearly a hundred petitions were from just two people, and it is a waste of time and money. The idea is that if you cannot at least get a charge conference to support the petition, then it probably does not need to be sent. Also in the morning, the elimination of guaranteed appointments was referred to the Judicial Council to evaluate its constitutionality.

I was rather tired on Friday, and I assumed that I would be put in during the evening to vote, since nobody would want to stay around for a few boring leftover petitions. To alleviate some of this exhaustion, several times during the morning and afternoon, I went for short walks. This was a very bad idea, since I missed two significant things.

In the morning, the young delegates claimed a point of personal privilege. In this, they (and I say “they” because I chose not to be a part of its drafting) speak about the good that the church has done but turn quickly toward the way that the church has wronged young people. To see the short video, go to http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=788940844630 As I said, I happened to chose exactly the wrong moment to run to the bank machine and get cash. I was gone for less than ten minutes and missed it. When I asked around me about how it went, the reaction was unfortunately not complimentary. I was told that people’s eyes glazed over, because it was just one more time that the older generation is being browbeaten regarding how bad and oppressive it is to young voices. In reality, during this General Conference, young people have spoken several times about how oppressed it is, and it is starting to backfire with some people. It worries me that this is the case, since it is a legitimate concern to want to be heard, but it is too easy to go too far.

During the final Communion service at lunch time of General Conference, I was reminded again of how wonderful the word Alleluia can be. We come speaking different languages from different cultures, but every person there can sing the word Alleluia. For that matter, we come with different musical abilities and abilities to sing. Yesterday’s Communion service was written by an ex-convict for prison ministry. Since illiteracy is high in prisons, having a bulletin is not a helpful way to have a participatory service. One way they help this is by having a person who can read do the reading of the congregation’s responses, which the congregation then repeats. Anther practice we learned was a way of singing Alleluia. The pianist played a few soft chords as background and we were all to sing the word Alleluia with our own tune, at our own pace, and in our own way. Eventually, the leader would lead us into the song Halle Halle Halle-lu-ujah. We started Halle Halle slowly and gently from the tuneless worship of our Alluias and it gradually moved to the point were we were clapping, singly loudly and quickly, enjoying the time of worship of our God. It was a powerful moment and a practice for worship that I hope to remember and use someday.

In the afternoon, I took another walk that had unfortunate timing. I answered the phone when my mom called, and around perhaps 4:35 or 4:40, I looked up to see that people were leaving the room. I assumed that for some reason they decided to end early, so I headed back inside to see what caused this early dinner break. Then, I was told. Plan UMC, which was the compromise for the restructuring, had been declared unconstitutional by the Judicial Council. Delegates were milling around in shock. A ten minute recess had been called to allow delegates to function after the shock of the news. This meant that all the work done based on the assumption that Plan UMC, rather than the 2008 structure, would be in place, was just gone. That is the budget, several petitions, and elections. There would now have to be new elections, a decision about possible future restructuring, and budget considerations. The agencies and boards still needed to reduce in size, so dead petitions were revitalized. By 4:50, nobody was ready to come back to work, so the dinner recess was called.

Not everybody in the room was devastated, though most were. Many spoke about how this was a waste of two weeks and 8 million dollars. Others reminded them that other work did get done, and perhaps this will lay the foundation for restructuring in 2016. Many spoke about the huge amount of work that would have to be done in the evening before midnight. It was a daunting thought. Some took a more optimistic approach, though they were still very disappointed. One pastor said, “Jesus is still Lord and the churches will still open on Sunday.” Others tweeted that they would still be serving Communion this Sunday. In some ways, these acted as a reality check for people. A final group, those against aspects of the restructuring, celebrated. Some were dancing when the announcement was made. Another came to the microphone during the evening session and asked if people did not feel the Holy Spirit arriving in the room when the announcement was made.

The restructuring was declared unconstitutional and unsalvageable by the Judicial Council. It delegated some of the authority of the General Conference to a small group. What upset people the most about this ruling was that the parts declared unconstitutional were from the Call to Action proposals. Many wondered how it ever got this far. In the end, though, all the necessary work for the denomination to function over the next 4 years was completed. It might not be ideal, but it will work. In the end, no church is closing its doors tomorrow because of this decision. Over all, Jesus is Lord and we will survive or not as a denomination…but we will worship our risen savior either way.

We ended the day with a short worship service, a sermon by Bishop Wenner, and a walk back to the hotel at 11 PM. By midnight I was asleep, at 2:45 I was up again, and by 3:30 I was checked in to the airport. I returned to Columbus by 9 and was back asleep by 10. Yay nap! I will write at least one more blog post reflecting on some of the things that did not make it into the blog because of space. Just stick with me for one more day!