Middway through Day 2

Two cool cats hanging out in the hallway. Patrick and Marie are wearing "Spotted Owl" hats. These have become the symbol for younger clergy and some of the issues being brought forward to assist the church in recruiting and retaining clergy under 35 or 40 or 45. I'm not really sure what the line for younger is presently.

I had been getting frustrated last night and today with Bishops talking about how our differences need to be set aside so that we could do ministry. The unspoken implication seemed to be that diversity was not a value of the General Conference. I don't think this is what they meant. Yet so far the presentations of the Bishop's has seemed to be of a tone that we need magically set aside our differences and get along. I grew frustrated at their lack of naming the differences. I have some great friends in ministry with whom I disagree about many things. Those differences are valued and while sometimes they are difficult to work through in our friendships we do not hide our diversity of opinion or our beliefs. The bishops have seemed to want to hide everything under a rug.

Then we had the "Young People's Address." Apparently this was the first time that there has been such a thing and they did a remarkable job. They spoke of the difference between speaking over each other and talking with each other. The pointed to poverty as the greatest world wide challenge in front of us. They called for the church to be a place where young people belong. I was especially moved by a young man from Nebraska who said that "It is time to transcend the division." He spoke of his life experience as a high school liberal in a conservative area. Then of his experience as a person of faith in a liberal college. He called for us to follow the Wesley tradition of following religion and reason together. I remember him saying both liberal and conservative (or did he say "red and "blue"?) are right! Then Matt from the PNWAC closed the presentation. He spoke of a world that is desperate for Jesus. He encouraged us to interact with one another. He pointed out that it is not only the young who are the church of today and tomorrow, the delegates are also the church of tomorrow!

Three times I heard the young people name some of our divisions and say the word "gay." The word the Bishops have been so afraid to say. The young people named our divisions so NOW we can be the church. We can interact with each other in authenticity, whether we agree or not. It was a dramatic moment to have the youth and young adults lead in such a powerful way when the Bishops could not or would not.

Committee meetings this afternoon and evening. Yippee!