Today was a crazy day, spent getting all the packets together for each of the 13 Legislative Committees. There were addresses at Conference by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, a conference Lay Leader, a group of young people and the heads of several agencies. The best part about these addresses was the videos and stories of what churches and United Methodists are doing around the world.
Tonight we finally met with our committees - I am recorder for the Discipleship Committee. It doesn't have as many petitions as most of the committees (only about 75) although it has more members than any other committee (98). And I don't think that anything this committee deals with is controversial, so the work should go pretty smoothly. I also have a terrific person to share the recorder duties with.
Not much excitement so far, just a lot of hard work. I think that's probably a good thing.
Blessings,
Martha
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Opening Worship - WOW!
This evening was the opening worship at Conference. It was wonderful!! Everything from an orchestra and choir from a big church in Southlake to an African Drummer ensemble from Fort Worth. In some ways, the worship was very simple and traditional, focusing on what brings together our diversity. The wonderful words of the communion service were the same we use once a month. However, the service opened with an African laywoman praying in French, had a Korean Methodist singing in Korean (at least I think it was Korean!), and a European Bishop praying in German. So cool.
We sang old favorites like "Let Us Break Bread Together" and "O For a Thousand Tongues" and "In the Garden" and new favorites like "O-so-so" and "Zimbabwe Halleluya." We had dancers and video and all the bishops in their robes and stoles.
It was an awesome experience to worship with 6500 other United Methodists and feel the Holy Spirit moving among us. The theme of the General Conference is "A Future With Hope" and worship always gives me hope. This is truly the best part of conference.
Next came the opening session where they set the bar of the conference, tested the electronic voting, set the rules of the conference, etc. Not terribly exciting, but very necessary for the smooth operation of the conference. There was some weirdness having to do with the standing rules and whether or not we should have Parlimentarians that I did not really understand. It is clear to me that a number of the things that came up tonight have a history behind them that I do not know. However, they still got through the initial business very smoothly and much quicker than I had thought they would. Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of the Arkansas Conference not only preached an inspiring message, but she is very good at running a meeting. I hope all the Bishops who take a turn at chairing the Conference are as good.
It has been a long day, but tonight was an amazing beginning. I felt blessed to be United Methodist. And one more thing - this opening day just happens to be exactly 40 years after the service that merged the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church into the United Methodist Church.
The conference has a lot of work to do and so do I! So for now it is time for bed and resting up for tomorrow, when I actually start my recorder job.
In Christ's Spirit,
Martha
We sang old favorites like "Let Us Break Bread Together" and "O For a Thousand Tongues" and "In the Garden" and new favorites like "O-so-so" and "Zimbabwe Halleluya." We had dancers and video and all the bishops in their robes and stoles.
It was an awesome experience to worship with 6500 other United Methodists and feel the Holy Spirit moving among us. The theme of the General Conference is "A Future With Hope" and worship always gives me hope. This is truly the best part of conference.
Next came the opening session where they set the bar of the conference, tested the electronic voting, set the rules of the conference, etc. Not terribly exciting, but very necessary for the smooth operation of the conference. There was some weirdness having to do with the standing rules and whether or not we should have Parlimentarians that I did not really understand. It is clear to me that a number of the things that came up tonight have a history behind them that I do not know. However, they still got through the initial business very smoothly and much quicker than I had thought they would. Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of the Arkansas Conference not only preached an inspiring message, but she is very good at running a meeting. I hope all the Bishops who take a turn at chairing the Conference are as good.
It has been a long day, but tonight was an amazing beginning. I felt blessed to be United Methodist. And one more thing - this opening day just happens to be exactly 40 years after the service that merged the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church into the United Methodist Church.
The conference has a lot of work to do and so do I! So for now it is time for bed and resting up for tomorrow, when I actually start my recorder job.
In Christ's Spirit,
Martha
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Getting started
Here I am in Fort Worth, Texas at General Conference. The hotel is about 15 minutes by shuttle from the convention center, but the room is great! :)
Today we did the training for recorders. I like working on the computer with this kind of program, so I think it will be fun. And I get to see how the legislative committees work up close and personal.
Some things I learned today about the process:
Anyone, whether an individual member of the church or a group in the church, can enter a petition.
There were over 18,000 petitions in 1988 and about 1560 this year, in part because the petitions that are duplicates are all put together.
The petitions propose changes to the discipline or the book of resolutions. The committees propose changes to the petitions.
ALL petitions have to be voted on at the plenary sessions, even if only on the consent agenda.
The committees cannot propose a change to anything in a particular paragraph of the discipline if there is not a petition that addresses that paragraph. The converse of that is that if there is one petition that addresses a particular paragraph, then the committee can propose any changes that they want under the guise of that petition.
Tomorrow is the opening worship of General Conference and I am really looking forward to that.
Signing out for now . . .
Martha
Today we did the training for recorders. I like working on the computer with this kind of program, so I think it will be fun. And I get to see how the legislative committees work up close and personal.
Some things I learned today about the process:
Anyone, whether an individual member of the church or a group in the church, can enter a petition.
There were over 18,000 petitions in 1988 and about 1560 this year, in part because the petitions that are duplicates are all put together.
The petitions propose changes to the discipline or the book of resolutions. The committees propose changes to the petitions.
ALL petitions have to be voted on at the plenary sessions, even if only on the consent agenda.
The committees cannot propose a change to anything in a particular paragraph of the discipline if there is not a petition that addresses that paragraph. The converse of that is that if there is one petition that addresses a particular paragraph, then the committee can propose any changes that they want under the guise of that petition.
Tomorrow is the opening worship of General Conference and I am really looking forward to that.
Signing out for now . . .
Martha
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