Tales from General Conference

I apologize for the blogging silence. I had surgery in February and spent time recovering from that, then making up for time that I was out from work, and simply re-adjusting to normal life again. That has taken up the bulk of my time. Have no fear, faithful blog readers, all is well; I am healthier than ever and hopefully back in the swing of blogging.

This week finds me at General Conference in Ft. Worth, TX. Every four years the United Methodist Church meets as a global church, to redefine who we are and how we are to live out our faith together. I am serving as a page, which means "one who walks all over the place handing out notes"--and other duties as assigned. I am averaging about 6 miles a day on the pedometer. So I get to exercise and be a Methodist nerd. What more could a person want?

It has been an adventure to be at Conference. I am seeing things in action that I've only read about. My UM Polity class (i.e. boring class all about the United Methodist Book of Discipline) did not do this process justice. It is fascinating to watch our process in action (very similiar to the American governmenal system) and to literally witness history in the making. I love seeing all the delegates from all over the world: all of us, together, one Lord, one Church. It is a beautiful thing.

General Conference is also incredibly frustrating. We have this concept in Methodism of everyone having the right to an opinion...everyone is represented. That is a wonderful thing when it works well, and irritating when fallen human nature (rather than grace) prevails. As always, there seem to be people who just like to hear themselves speak into microphones (which is my biggest pet peeve about Annual Confernce, our yearly regional meeting every summer).

The biggest frustration of General Conference, for me, has to do with the issue of homosexuality--and our ENDLESS discussion of it. Certainly, there are theological issues that need to be discussed. I believe and understand that. However, we as Methodists are completely fixated on one thing: homosexuality. That's not totally fair; we do discuss other things, but somehow it always seems to come back to homosexuality. I will lay down my cards on this issue. I am a conservative in regard to homosexuality. I feel like I have heard every possible argument against my position and nothing has really seemed compelling enough to change my mind yet. I think a person on the other side of the argument would probably say the same thing. We keep saying the same things to each other, over and again, only making everyone upset with each other, and distracting us from more important things, like, um...making disciples for Jesus Christ.

The reason I became a pastor is because I wanted to change the world for Christ. I wanted to see people transformed, until they became just like Jesus...living out His mission and His love in this world. I still think that is what Christianity (and the Church) is all about...at least what it SHOULD be all about. Yet, we focus on peripheral things as if they were the main things, and miss the point of the Church entirely.

The goal of my life is to love Jesus more, to love His people better, to make a difference in the world...somehow doing my part to bring His Kindgom right here to this little sphere of world that I inhabit. I wish that were our focus as a Church...both globally and individually. Too often, we are focused on everything but Jesus. It happens to me as an individual. I get my eyes focused on the wrong things, the lesser things. It happens in the local church, as we fight and bicker and gossip and focus on things that really don't matter a whole lot, at least not when it comes to furthering the Kingdom of God. It certainly happens at a global meeting like this; we are distracted from the central purpose of life: loving and glorifying God.

Does that mean nothing good has happened at General Conference? Lots of good has occurred: holy conferencing, redirection of focus, important legislation, relationships formed and strengthened, etc. Many good things. I have hope for the Church of Jesus Christ. God has not abandoned us yet, nor do I expect that He will abandon us in the future. It is just that when you gather a bunch of people together they act like, well, people...flawed and beautiful, profound and profaine, dull and inspired...we are a strange mixture of dirt and grace. Thank God for His continued patience and love.

I would also like to take this moment to thank God for Taco Bueno, a reason that I will be sad to leave Texas tomorrow. They have the best refried beans in the world...the world, I say!!!!