As those who have been following this saga at the UMC General Conference probably already know, I’m here with the United Methodist Reporter team and most of my stuff is posted there. They found this lovely, old house that is rented out through AirBnB where we could all stay.
It helped lower costs enormously, both for sleeping space and for eating. But we get home late in the evenings, always after 7:00 pm, and it is a challenge to get dinner on the table. For the last several days, we’ve had some extra guests with us, a couple of utterly lovely young women who work with the Disciple Bible Study Ministry.
I had taken some shrimp out of the freezer for last night’s dinner but realized too late that we didn’t have any cocktail sauce. So I told the “girls” as I, the very much senior member here, call them, to see what they could scrounge up to fix with it and I would walk to a nearby Whole Foods and get what we needed. The picture above is what they put on the table. Pretty impressive and we were all totally grateful.
It is now the Thursday lunch break. Despite intentionally deciding to come in a little later this morning, my body refuses to sleep. My fatigue level is such that I honestly can’t think even a minute in advance, but just keep my head down, working on stories.
But if you really want to know how I feel about what is happening, you might check out last night’s podcast from the UMR team. For a while, the production team gathered other voices to interview for those podcasts, but we finally figured out that folks just want to hear about how we processed the day, so yet again, the team of Laura, Jay, Wes and Christy, all aided by the incredible production abilities of Ben, lay it out for you.
Am not on the floor much today, just in the press room, watching as I can while writing. Did have a wonderful interview earlier today with Sky McCracken, a District Superintendent from the Kentucky area. He and I have been Facebook friends for a long time and have been looking forward to meeting. He had the most refreshing take I’ve heard yet about the progress/lack of progress we are making as he offered a brief review of church history and how long it has always taken us to figure things out.
As do so many others, I function in a world of Chronos, clock time. And in the US, everything is measured by the minute or less. If we have to wait for more than just a few minutes at any fast-food franchise, we get impatient. Everything is to be done NOW, ready in seconds, pushed out around the world in nanoseconds, all by the click of a button.
But God’s time is different and very difficult for us to see and certainly to understand. It’s often called Kairos time. It holds all things together in an eternal present, which may also be eternally long.
Sure, we UM’s are a mess. We need to regain grace. We’re trying to function with an utterly archaic structure and with some things, especially itinerant clergy and guaranteed appointments, that hinder the ability to move forward now. Sky reminded me that the life span of the original itinerant circuit riders, all young, all male, was incredibly short. Either they died young from accident or disease, or they located, settled in one place for the rest of their lives, after just a few years.
I’ll talk more about this when I’m able to transcribe the interview and publish it, but our conversation was a bright moment of grace this morning and a reminder as to why I so love the UMC. We are connected indeed, and there is like-mindedness here underneath the chaos and frustration and sloggy, sloggy pace of the legislative items left on the table.
Speaking of that, with all sexuality items now OFF the table and sent to this special commission that the Bishops are putting together, I kind of wondered if we could just sweep through what was left and maybe even go home early (says the woman who misses her husband, her garden and her long, long bubble baths, in that order, very much).
Of course not. Every jot and tittle has to be debated and is often misunderstood by too many coming forward to debate it. Which makes me wonder, “What WOULD have happened if that exceedingly controversial legislation had indeed come to the table? There would be no way to finish essential work in order to keep going as a church!”
Cool, rainy day here in Portland after a couple of days of warm sunshine, but it is lunch time and I’m going to take a stroll and see if the food-truck guys are still here. Have found one thing there that is both gluten-free and quite tasty, so shall see if I can get it again.
More later,
Your weary correspondent.
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