Dive In!

I’m sitting in Saint Louis, in a hotel lobby, drinking coffee and looking out at the Gateway Arch. I’m here for an event called “Exploration 2011” which is a two day conference for people 18-26 who are thinking about ministry as a vocation. It’s a good event. It’s an important event. It’s one of the best places to hear people in the UMC talk about “calling," or what it means to think that God has prepared you for a specific job and wants you to do that job (or task, or function, or mission, or whatever.) I like thinking about that. I like listening to 18 to 26 year olds who are sorting through all their life choices and their growing self-awareness and their deepening spirituality.  That’s not usually an easy or a quick task. Mostly what we are doing here is reminding young people to listen for God’s voice alongside, and perhaps above, the voice of their peers, the larger culture, and even their parents.

I have no official responsibilities at Exploration 2011, which is wonderful. And it also means I have a little time to think about another two day meeting I attended at the end of October for delegates to General and Jurisdictional conference from the South Central Jurisdiction. (Sorry the language is so convoluted). About 200 people were in OKC voluntarily to: #1 get a preliminary briefing on legislation coming to GC (and ask questions about that legislation). #2 (or maybe for some this was #1) to network.

I learned so very, very much in the few hours I spent in OKC. I am very grateful to the organizers of the meeting, I guess it was the first time they had publicized and prepared such a gathering so well. As a first time GC delegate the information I received and the people I met in October will help me be so much more prepared for GC in April. I did realize that I am starting in a conversation that other people have been having together for decades. There were moments it felt like swimming in very deep water.

I have a lot to sort through, both in terms of legislation and in thinking through the relational dynamics I witnessed and experienced. Good thing I have a blog. I suppose I could journal instead and keep all these thoughts to myself (and if no one reads, I will have kept them to myself.) But what fun would that be for you?

Anyway, eight blog posts spinning out of OKC to come in the next weeks (months? We are about to have Advent, after all).

Gathering of Women Delegates
Call to Action
Study of Ministry
Dinner with Legislative Committee
Finance and Administration
Pension and Health Benefits
Worldwide Nature of the Church
Episcopal Elections

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming

My hope is to sort through all the above before I get the big book of submitted legislation sometime in Jan or Feb. (What I heard in OKC was  only a fraction of the total of submitted petitions.) Wish me luck.