THIS IS SUNDAY?

This is Sunday. In the ever-flowing stream of General Conference, it is necessary to frequently do a reality check and see that the “other” world is still there and the calendar is moving ahead. The morning began with worship and plenary. The worship was in several languages and leaned heavily on Hispanic tradition. Minerva Carcano stressed the welcoming of the stranger in her sermon.
There was a time in the plenary for celebrating the ministry of those bishops that are retiring in September. Our own Bishop Chamness was one of those so honored. In the same segment, there was the celebration of the new leadership team that will lead the Council of Bishops. In the leadership of the church’s ministry there can be no gaps.
The progress of the Strengthening of the Black Church in the 21st century was noted and celebrated. The prime word was Transformation. The effort is to see that the status quo does not overtake the vitality that has helped the Black Church move ahead in recent years. We also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction. Lest you forget (or didn’t know) the Central Jurisdiction was established to segregate the black church into its own jurisdiction. The Civil War was only over about 100 years before the church caught up and integrated.
About the time that the business portion started, there was a motion from the agenda committee to start the legislative committee work at 10:30AM instead of 2:30PM. There was a lot of work to get done before a 5PM deadline on Monday. This seemed like a good idea to the body, at the time. I had simply sat at the table all those other General Conferences and seen such as this happen many times. Now, with my view from the “backside”, it isn’t that simple. Suddenly, there is a mad dash to get translators, recorders, pages, and marshals in place to be ready 4 hours early. Checking meeting rooms and breakout rooms to see if the chairs and tables are in place. Making sure that the rooms are unlocked and cool or warm enough. People began to arrive with hair wet from the shower. There was a mad dash around the convention center by those of us responsible for the setup. In the midst of all this, it suddenly dawned on some of the delegates that this might not be a good idea because news of the hurried activity reached them. The process to reconsider the agenda began. I will cut to the chase (It’s about time, isn’t it?) Ultimately, the process of trying to save time burned about 45 minutes. Now, the agenda shift is not done; the time given for extra committee time isn’t there. A committee of 1000 is always more efficient and effective, isn’t it? (Remember from the Commission’s report on Sunday that GC costs about $500/minute?)
The Area Celebration was held tonight, but it deserves front and center attention. Let’s do that tomorrow.