Well, I did not make it to the 8 a.m. service at General
Conference; I was just too tired. Pat,
the amazing woman who runs things at the church and at Peace House, was already
in the kitchen when I walked in at 7:15 a.m.
She had a pot of soup on the stove for the volunteer lunch. Since I did not have anything to do this
morning, she asked if I would cut up lettuce and stir the soup. Of course I said yes.
When I came back down I met Mpajay from Uganda and Jean from
Nigeria. Jean does not speak English but
P does fairly well. The only language
the two men have in common is Swahili which Mpajay said he doesn’t speak too
well. I talked with Mpajay as we ate
breakfast. I heard his views on the
U.S.; this is his second trip here. He
told me he plans to seek asylum here.
The violence in his country is horrible.
He knows that it will take a while but once he is granted asylum he
plans to bring his wife and children here.
He is doing it for his children.
In 5 years he’ll be too old he said (he’s 38 now). Jean is an alternate delegate; I wish I could
talk to him.
When Pat came back I had a garbage bag full of chopped
lettuce for her. We loaded food into the
car and drove to the hotel where the LYNC lunch takes place. I walked across the street to the convention
center. I found my friend, Judy, at the
United Methodist Women’s lounge. She was
doing a shift there so I relaxed and waited for her. When she finished we went over to the
volunteer lunch and I tried some of the soup that I had stirred during the
morning.
We returned to the convention center and when Judy left, I
searched for a committee meeting to attend.
I found a Church and Society subcommittee that was voting on issues
around homosexuality. It was a bit
difficult to tell what they were addressing without being able to see the written
text of the resolutions. The person next
to me showed me a couple of them. One
that mentioned gender “confusion” passed (indicating ignorance on the
subject). A positive one regarding
sexual orientation was defeated. One
resolution that was against the criminalization of homosexuality was narrowly
defeated. When statements pro and con
were being made on the right to marry, the chair actually cautioned a speaker
not to use words like “anything” to refer to people. A petition regarding ministry to LGBT people
passed.
Not surprisingly, it was the Africans and the southerners
who spoke against LGBT people. On each
resolution or petition two speakers for and two against were allowed. It was clear during these statements that
some of the delegates did not really understand sexual orientation. I heard this morning that the African
delegates met 2 days before the conference started and were basically told how
to vote.
During a break a young man from the Ukraine began speaking
to me and the woman in front of me.
Apparently he noticed all of the people in rainbow colors around
him. He told us that in the Ukraine and
in Russia it would be a problem if the churches allowed homosexuality because
it is against the law. He went on to say
that he personally is against changing our language against gay people because
of what it says in the Bible. He quoted
Leviticus and we tried to point out the other laws (ie. mixed fiber clothing)
but he brushed it off saying we’re not talking about that. He was very self-righteous and didn’t really
want to listen to what we had to say—he just kept talking. He mentioned Adam and Eve so I asked him if
he believed the story really happened.
He looked shocked and said “of course!”
I asked about the two creation stories and he wouldn’t acknowledge that
they contradicted each other. It was a
polite conversation with the two of us trying to find out what this young man
thought and convince him that there are other ways to interpret the Bible.
The cause of the split in our church is not just
cultural. We do not read the Bible in
the same way. I asked the young
Ukrainian if he believed in Wesley’s quadrilateral (scripture, tradition,
reason, and experience are used to come to theological conclusions). He said he did but it appeared to me that he
was only using the first two in his thought process. Obviously he is a literalist and that is true
of most people with his point of view.
Progressives do not read the Bible literally.
It’s been a difficult few days for LGBT people here. I cannot pretend to understand how they feel
because I am not the target. A lesbian
lay delegate from New York was told she was out of order by a bishop during her
3 minute statement when she said “LGBT.”
I’ve heard this woman speak and she is impressive. It was very hurtful to her and others when she
was shut down like that. We are talking
about people, not an issue. This is not
a matter of there being two sides to a question. It’s about our church singling out a group of
people to discriminate against.
When the subcommittee adjourned for dinner I was done. The normal Portland weather had returned and
it was wet and dreary out. I took the
bus back to the church. I walked a block
to an Indian restaurant and enjoyed a delicious dinner and chai tea. Tomorrow is Sunday and I’m ready to worship
with some loving people.
Written on 5/14/2016
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