Marcus Briggs Cloud of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference addresses the 2012 United Methodist General Conference in Tampa, Fla. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

I was reminded again of a couple of obvious things.

1. How easy it is look and not see.
This is especially true when it comes to people. The young man who blessed the conference space on behalf of the native peoples was a case in point. His presence alone was inspiring but his prayer and the song he sang touched me in the dry places of my soul, even though I could not understand the words. Then he is gone only to appear again playing trumpet with the band. He is gone again… Only to appear again with a violin. A man of great talent and depth of spirit who on a normal day I would have looked at but not seen. Oh … so much slips by unnoticed as I am focused on my agenda.

2. Bishop Goodpaster’s message challenged the conference to act immediately, while delegates seems more and more uncertain and confused about all the restructure proposals and amendments. We will see how fast we act.

3. The plenary report of the rules committee revealed an agenda of the conservative right. There will be a move to stop any form of demonstration, which is aimed at LGBT silent witness activities. If this move prevales I hope confrontation is not the byproduct.

We are off to a great start adjourning at 10 pm.
Much to look forward to.

Craig

Rev. Craig Parrish is the Conference Treasurer for the Pacific Northwest Conference and head of the PNW delegation to Tampa, Florida for General Conference 2012.

4 COMMENTS

  1. “3. The plenary report of the rules committee revealed an agenda of the conversative right. There will be a move to stop any form of demonstration, which is aimed at LGBT silent witness activities. If this move prevales I hope confrontation is not the byproduct.”

    I have two thoughts about this. One is that I am not terribly surprised that some would like for the inclusive voices not to be heard, but I will be very disappointed if those who would silence the dissenters prevail.

    The second is I couldn’t help but notice the typo (“conversative” instead of “conservative”). It’s an interesting typo, since “conversative” would imply a social engagement with one another–the opposite of cutting off any particular voice(s). I suppose those conservatives are not being very conversative!

  2. Thanks Craig for your wonderful reflections about the opening. I appreciate your depth of spirit as you share. I look forward to your future posts!

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