We have pictures!
Okay, I can find only one at this point.
The bishop and I made it onto the front page of the ELCA web site! (Photo from Tuesday.) We had been asked to talk about how we saw God moving in our places of ministry & Bishop Steve and I were having a heart to heart about prayer. Of course, before I saw this photo, I had heard about it from half a dozen people! Pretty funny! The bishop said he was relieved that they didn't catch us clowning around...us? Naw...
Today was a marathon. I personally broke my long-standing streak of having someone call the question every time I reached the microphone.
In fact, I submitted my very first amendment (a friendly one) and it passed. Cool. (It was to add other means of technology to a motion calling for worship resources for folks with visual impairment. I shared with the assembly a bit of what we learned from Jessie - so she gets the credit!)
After working on several talking points for various situations, I finally got up the nerve to approach the microphone to offer one. It was after that that I could see where people were coming from based on their body language as I passed by. Smile? We agree. Snear? We disagree. Step out to say a word of thanks...or step out of the way so as not to come too close...Human beings are very interesting characters.
The Social Statement on Human Sexuality
The ELCA's consitution requires a 2/3 vote in order to pass a social statement. The process seemed to go far more quickly than the Presiding Bishop had anticipated but he did say that folks were trying out every parliamentary possibility they could conjure up...really testing his mettle as Chair...but he said they were doing that as early as Monday night.
Tornado!
Oh - you should know that while we were in session addressing the social statement, a tornado went by - we had been told to stay in the assembly hall. We heard the warning siren and the announcements from the security officials as well as the presiding bishop. We didn't know until after the fact (!) that the tornado had touched the far end of the convention center and done some damage to Central Lutheran Church (thankfully, no one was hurt (& there were 75 people in the building at the time!); the spire was hit - a little crunched in the top 1/4 to my eye) and the tent and tables - aka "pub central" - were blown all over the place (much to everyone's chagrin, it will be closed for a time). (Sorry to have to break that news, Mert.)
Back to the vote
Once we cast our votes, Bishop Hanson got the most stunned look on his face. It was a rather unnerving moment as the PB has among the best poker faces I've ever seen. After a rather pregnant pause he said, "I'm going to show you the results but then I'm going to step away for a moment." The results? 66.67% YES and 33.33% NO. Oh, and then the sun came out. Go figure.
The Social Statement passed with EXACTLY the 2/3 vote needed. Tomorrow, we will consider the implementing statement and then on Friday the ministry policies.
Worship at Central Lutheran
It was full tilt boogie GoodSoil worship tonight. I need to remember to tell Tim that we sang a Kenyan song that needs to be worked into the October liturgy - great stuff! And we have the license for it.
There were so many Yale Divinity School Alumni that we decided the ELCA Churchwide Assembly deserves to have a YDS gathering much like the UCC does. I think there were three of us in rapid succession in the procession, at least one serving as a Eucharistic Minister, one or two in the congregation and, of course, the best preacher in the church, Barbara Lundblad, who did NOT disappoint! (One line in her sermon that stood out was, "We've been studying sexuality...since we were ordained"! It reminded me of a friend who recently said, "If I'd known when I entered the ministry that I'd spend this much time talking about sex, I'd have told the Holy Spirit, "Thanks but no thanks.")
After worship, we had a joint gathering with our companion synod, SE Penn and the very small but delightful Alaska contingent. We're exhausted. We've done a lot of sitting and a lot of walking and a lot of concentrating. We're wiped.
But at least I have my clock on CENTRAL time now, so when I set it for 6:30 it will not jolt me out of bed at 5:30! (No WONDER I was so groggy!)
Well, that's all from here for tonight. The BlackBerry is a dangerous toy - even though I'm STILL figuring out how to use it!
Blessings from Minneapolis,
PS
No comments:
Post a Comment