Our alarms went off simultaneously at 5:00 a.m. That’s way too early! We were out the door by 5:45 a.m. and arrived
at the Inn by bus just before 6:30 a.m.
Once inside we lined up to get a cross and a stole. I was first in line and received a rainbow
stole that was pinned to my cross. Once
everybody had their stoles, we walked in a line down to the entrances of the
convention center and then lined both sides.
LGBTQ clergy stood right in front of the entrances.
These were the same stoles we hung up for the service on
Sunday—from the Shower of Stoles Project.
The stoles came from defrocked clergy, gay people barred from
ordination, and others. I held a stole
honoring Madison, a child denied baptism in a United Methodist Church because
his parents are gay. This was a silent
vigil so we stood quietly with the stole-draped crosses in front of us. I focused on a sign across the street from me
so I wouldn’t make eye contact with the delegates who passed by. The focus was to be on the stoles. I prayed as I stood there and tears came to
my eyes. It was a powerful witness.
We returned our stoles and entered the convention center. As
we approached the entrance to the hall, we saw a long line of gay clergy waiting
to enter. We walked inside and found a
good vantage point. Around the end of
the worship service, the line of clergy began walking in unannounced. They moved across the center of the hall then
formed a circle. Supporters surrounded
the bar (the perimeter of the delegate area) and held up hands in
blessing. It was an amazing
spectacle. Soon we all dispersed and
found seats.
The first thing we heard was an announcement from the
Council of Bishops stating their proposal on how to move forward. They said that deep unity allows for a
variety of expressions to coexist in the church. Unity is a gift from God. The bishops suggested a new Book of
Discipline for our church. They will
lead the church in a pause for prayer. A
General Conference may be called in 2018 or 2019. The next steps would include deferring all
votes on human sexuality and referring the subject to a special
commission. Our group felt hopeful after
this announcement.
When we returned from lunch we heard Rev. Adam Hamilton make
a motion which mostly supported the Bishops’ proposal. Amendments were made and rejected. Finally the motion itself was defeated. We were disappointed. Why did delegates choose to ask for the
bishops’ leadership and then reject
it? The whole thing was muddled by poor
parliamentary procedures. Delegates
spent more time arguing parliamentary procedure than discussing the issue (and
this was true for everything today).
When the session reconvened after a break, a motion was made
to simply accept the bishops’ proposal as written. After speeches for and against, delegates
voted in favor of moving forward together.
While not everybody was happy about this, many of us are feeling
hopeful. We need to take a break from
all of the nastiness—especially that being directed against LGBTQ people.
We were told that the conservatives might try to introduce
legislation to overturn the decision so we sat in plenary for a while. We stayed for a special presentation on the
massacre at Sand Creek in 1864.
Afterwards we left and returned to the church by bus, totally
exhausted. We found a little Lebanese
restaurant close by and are now settling in for the night. It’s been a long day.
Written on 5/18/2016
No comments:
Post a Comment