Holy Conferencing

We United Methodists have been tossing around the phrase, "Holy Conferencing" with some regularity lately. What does that mean? One of the definitions for conference at Dictionary.com is: "the act of conferring or consulting together; consultation, esp. on an important or serious matter. "

As a clergy the Annual Conference is my church. It is the place where my membership is held. The gathering of my church is very important to me and while I care about the quality of the events and I care about some of the legislation we discuss, primarily the conference is about the gathering of the church an the conversations that take place as we gather.

I have had numerous conversations these past couple of days. Some have been business oriented related to some of my work within the conference such as with the Camping Board of Stewards. Some have been to meet new people. Some have been to process events that are taking place around us. Some are catching up with old friends and acquaintances.

Each of these conversations are opportunities for God's grace and they are Holy. Our conferencing has a particular culture and history and that too is holy.

Today was a day for recognizing clergy who are moving into retirement. One of the ceremonies that took place was "the passing of the mantel." It is from the story of Elijah and Elisha where at the end of his life Elijah passes the "mantel" of God's presence in his ministry on to the younger Elisha. Last year a retiring clergy placed the mantel on Kendra who was being ordained as an Elder that year. As we watched the ceremony I thought how cool would it be if in 30 or so years Kendra is able to pass the mantel on to a young clergy.

There is meaning in the traditions of the church. We have traditions at Annual Conference that mean a great deal to me. Some are formalized some informal. Our Annual Conference has a particular hymn that we call the Bishop's hymn. A bishop in our conference many years ago (I can't remember the exact date . . . 1920s?) had a favorite hymn, its first line is "Beloved, Beloved, we are the children of God." We sing it every year at conference, so far we have sung it twice and I wouldn't be surprised if we sing it again tomorrow to send off Bishop Paup.

Elaine Stanovsky in her sermon for the ordination service tonight spoke well of the traditions of the church and how for all ministers of the church (clergy and lay) the way that we come together brings us home, home in the familiarity of who we are and how we relate with one another. She related this coming home to Annual Conference as a remembrance of our baptism.

We were also reminded today that holy conferencing includes being accountable in our relationships with one another. We were told wisely (again by Elaine, she was 2 for 2 today!) that we are still maturing in how we deal with clergy misconduct. We listened to an account of clergy misconduct that took place 25 years ago and yet still has a major impact on a woman's life. We are still learning what it means to be holy with the victim and with the perpetrator of the offense. Can we be graceful with everyone involved?

It is important to me that holy conference take into account the mistakes that we all make and our reliance upon grace. The Annual Conference is a bit like a small rural town. We live in a fishbowl with one another. If you don't know someone you know someone who knows the person you don't know. There is a very small degree of separation and we are guilty of spreading much gossip about one another at our worst. But we are also able to show great grace with one another and those are holy moments too.

It has been a good couple of days of conferencing and I am looking forward to some holy sleep and relaxation before beginning my new appointment at Mill Plain UMC.