Boy do we really care about...

Annual conference of the Central Texas Conference happened from June 6-8. It the the "annual business meeting" of the Conference in which the 300+ churches in the conference come together and give reports on the state of the different ministries of the conference. In addition to these reports (some great and others not so great), there are conference resolutions. These are bits of legislation for the conference which can call us to action on a wide range of issues. Most of the time, in my experience, these resolutions are usually not calls to actions but more like statements of belief for the conference.

This year there was a resolution in which the conference voted to approve. It was a statement on "Welcoming the Migrant". (If you click the link you will go to the entire conference report by which you can just search "Welcoming the Migrant" and it should get you there.) This resolution passed with zero debate. Not a single question or comment. I am glad, as I think this was a good resolution and responsible for the conference, but I was amazed it passed without a single comment because of what happened next...

The next resolution took three votes before it was upheld (which meant the resolution failed as the conference church and society committee did not recommend, or think this resolution was "concurrent" with the Central Texas Conference. A vote to uphold the recommendation of the conference church and society committee and thus reject this resolution was actually to vote "I". If you are confused, you can thank Robert's Rules.).

The three votes were:

1) To allow the creator of the resolution to speak on this resolution for three minutes. He was not a delegate to annual conference and thus did not have the free option to speak on this without the consent of the body. The body voted to allow him to speak.

2) To call the body to a vote on the resolution. (There were three speakers 'for' and three speakers 'against' the resolution each of which were allowed three minutes to speak their position. After these speakers, in order to not allow any other questions or debate, one member of the body called for a vote to see if we were ready to vote on the resolution - of which the body was.)

3) To uphold the recommendation of the conference church and society committee and reject this resolution.

What was the resolution that took so long, had the maximum speakers and a "call for the question" vote?

The Resolution to "Support the Teaching of Creation Science".

Why we spoke so long on this topic and not very long on the topic of the conference supporting a path way for the migrant? I do not know. I think it is interesting.

Why is it always African Americans that keep makeing race an issue?

Annual Conference is the annual "business meeting" of the area United Methodist Churches. I have been to six of these meetings and they all have sucked. It is dry. Business focused (report giving) and a wink and nod toward anything spiritual. Robert rules the day at these things in the past, and Robert is not really open to the blowing of the Spirit.


This years Annual Conference, which concluded yesterday, was different.


I don't know if it was because it was in a church. A different bishop. A different agenda. Or a combination. I do not know. All I know is I actually felt the blowing of the Spirit on the back of my neck. I will say, it gave me chills.


It was not all peaches and cream, it was still a business meeting at its core, but the Spirit was present in a way I had not been aware of in the previous years. I thank God for that.


I heard something after the Commissioning and Ordination worship that stuck with me. If you were not there the preacher was an African American who comes from a long tradition of speaking about things that Anglo churches do not. At the end of the of the worship, I heard someone express, "It always is the African Americans who keep making race an issue."


In reflecting on this, I would say, "It is only the survivors and family members who keep bringing up the Holocaust as an issue."

Just as it is important for us to never forget the Holocaust, we should never forget the reality that everyone (myself included) is racist. (Harvard has little implicit association tests you can take to see your implicit bias)

Race need to be brought up as often as it can be, regardless of how uncomfortable it is, so that we may never forget and grow into less racist lifestyles.