Reflections From Sunday Evening

This week The United Methodist Church's General Conference begins. This is a quadrennial meeting with delegates from around the world coming together to worship, debate and establish our discipline. This is a very interesting process. There are just under 1000 delegates and practicaly every possible viewpoint is represented. By the time the conference concludes on May 4 everyone will come home and get back to the task of ministry. There are a number of issues this year. As usual a series of social issues will be debated and voted on. There will be no clear concensus on the issues but eventually the majority will decide our official position for the next four years. Another area of interest comes under the heading of "call to action." A series of legislative issues will be worked through with the idea of re-structuring which is hoped to position the denomination to be more fruitful in our ministry. I plan to do a daily blog for GC and will try to keep everyone informed of the happenings. I urge you to be in prayer for our gathering. There is the potential for coming together with a shared vision. There is also the possibility of behaving in a manner that was referred to this morning in our mesage - as an "argumentative, disputatious group." In this setting as well as all our daily experiences of life, I seek the risen Lord Jesus to come and extend hands of grace. May the church unite to say "My Lord and My God." It's been a great day. I hope you've had a good day too. steve