An interesting week at annual conference

It certainly was an interesting week at our West Ohio Annual conference of the United Methodist Church. It basically is a gathering of over 1,000 clergy and 1,000 laity from the conference. We get together and worship, hear God's word, see what is happening in ministries around the world, and also work through legislation. The legislation portion really is the political arena of our UMC functioning. Here we debate and vote on certain issues. One of the hottest issues right now in the UMC is that of Homosexuality.

It showed up again this year on our legislation slate. We had 17 pieces of legislation to be voted on and 3 of them were on homosexuality. One was passed and the other two were tabled. The item that past was advocating that each church and pastor purchase a DVD curriculum from Cokesbury that covers the topic of Homosexuality and other sexual preference issues. It is supposed to explore the concept and inform the viewer as to the different sides of the issue. Some pretty interesting conversations happened out of this issue to say the least.

I read just last week that California has legalized same sex marriages and the court upheld this ruling and is to be voted on in Nov. However anyone is free to marry between now and then. Nothing is stopping them. Every year that goes by it seems this issues grows throughout this nation. And now it seems to be "the" issue for debate at annual conference.

Other issues that came up were two different pieces of legislation around Global Warming, one on that felt like affirmative action, and another on immigration. Think about that...7 of the 17 issues on the table felt like they were coming out of "Left" field. At times it felt more like a political national convention than it did a church meeting. It certainly does challenge me and my thoughts about modern day Christianity. One wonders why our local churches are dying and then we see what the focus of our interests are and then it is made clear. We spend more time focusing on the issues instead of focusing on Jesus. Jesus is the form and function of the church...to point people to Jesus and allow him to guide us through the murky waters of the world. Sometimes we forget this. It was another eye opener for me this week. Keep praying for our churches and our leaders. I know I am. Blessings, Your Dreaming Pastor