General Conference Reports
Yellowstone Annual Conference
Winifred Keefer
April 26 | April 27 | April 28 | April 30 | May 1 | May 3 | May 4 | May 5 | May 6 | May 8 | May 12
Friends,
We are here. In Pittsburgh. We did not make the afternoon orientation session, but did take part in a very upbeat MFSA reception this evening. I have be asked to help on Saturday evening for the Ball awares when the Montana Logging And Ballet Co. will perform. I will usher, as I have been trained at the theater in Billings as an usher.
I have renewed friendships and made new ones. Life is good.
Good night.
Winifred
Friends,
Today was interesting and busy. I began by eating breakfast at Smithfield Church with MFSA. Jean Davis went with me. Then we walked to the convention center where we spent the day. It is cavernous and walking to various parts is lenghthy, though the excalators worked well between floors. Jean and I stood in line in the CC for both lunch and dinner. Lunch had several lines and offerings; dinner only had the grill open and we probably could have walked to a cafe in the time we waited. But we did eat.
It has not rained and I am tired of wearing the raincoat.
The opening worship was impressive with 6 choirs and 6 dance groups. Communion was served for the entire crowd which is the 990 or so delegates plus bishops and probably twice that in other folks. We are indeed on bleachers. Didn't pack the states seats today and only had two sessions of sitting there, each about an hour or two.
The opening sermon was excellent, calling for harmony. The Episcopal Address had only one sentence that I found restrictive, other wise it too called for harmony.
The suggestion from the organizing committee that the legislative groups be chaired by presiding bishops was defeated by voting for an amendment to delete that idea. The vote for the amendment was 54% to 45%.
Jean and I observed the legislative group on Global Ministries because it has several petitions affecting the Women's Division. We watched the election there of the chairperson, co chair and secretary. The election seemed fair, with four persons nominated. The word that we have gathered is that most of the chairpersons are clergy and often District Superintendents, and sometimes ready for election to Bishop. That is one reason the organizers wanted Bishops to chair the groups.
That is about all for the convention. A friend of mine (also on my list) drove here and has been doing transport. Tonight she picked up a load at the CC and couldn't make the right turn, so we had a tour of the city, crossing all three rivers. It was fun.
Now we are getting ready to sleep, four of us in a room for three. One is on the floor on the mattress without the rollaway (it looked ricketey). We are on the list for a larger room when one is free.
Lots more could be said, but this is enough for now.
Friends,
Well, it is nearly midnight and three of us just arrived in the room. The fourth one is already asleep. We made a deal with the man at the desk that since we had requested a room for 4 in August, and there is none available, that tomorrow two of us will move to another room with same price for the four of us and a price break possible. Other than packing again, this is good news. And there is more.
Jean Davis and I are sitting in on the Global Ministries legislative session. Today the chairman announced that if there were reserve delegates in the room from conferences without a person in the group, that person could sit in. So Jean with her great knowledge of UMW and Women's Division was able to be a voting member of the sub committee on petitions related to Discipline changes, and then part of the sub sub group dealing with about 6 petitions about Women's Division and UMW. She was so able in her remarks that a seminary student approached to ask questions. So we said, how about dinner. Then I added a woman from North Texas who is currently their conference UMW president. She spoke very well also. So the young gal had a great teaching set. And we had a wonderful dinner in the hotel across the street, via passage way, a sit down and be waited on meal. It was a good thing and a God thing. (or Goddess).
Needless to say, Jean was thrilled to be able to participate.
Incidently, all the negative, narrowing petitions were rejected by the sub sub but ran into problems with the sub committee review. There were some (mostly men) who talked about how UMW should be controlled more by the church. One favorite point was on the debate about making the UMW comply with the General Rules. These were written by John Wesley and petitions to conform to them and social principles appear in many places in the many (1406) petitions. A man (John...) read parts of the Rules, including no buying or selling on Sunday (no Sunday brunch) and no wearing of gold, and we would be naked because clothing must be of one fiber. He made his point that complying with these would not be good for the women. I hope his clone is in every Legislative group.
The petitions were in changed in a couple of cases, but the restrictive portions are gone. Currently. They still have to be rejected by the full conference. They will go on a calendar for non-consent and then just accepted that way. Though there may be some that didn't get the proper percentage of votes for the calendar and will come to the floor. And they can be pulled from the calendar. So we can't totally rejoice yet.
The stadium seats were used this morning and worked well.
And that is General Conference from my view. And the view is 75 % of the folks pulling computer bags or small suitcases and using cell phones. It is the 21st Century.
Friends,
Well, that date line is wrong. It is already Saturday. It has been a good day in many respects, including visiting with my "former" roommates when I went to retrieve my rain coat from the room Alice Ann and I moved from. Now we have added Beth Cooper from San Diego (Wesley Foundation director who took the college kids to El Salvador) to the room with Jean Davis and Alice Knotts. And now one can walk from door to window without stepping on a bed.
I began the day by moving most of my things from 526 to 326. So I didn't make the opening worship service. But I did what I felt was important for me to do: attend the legislative session with Jean on Global Ministries. She had gone to the room Friday evening and I had watched then. We were both there today. The sub groups had reported to the sub groups in three areas: non-discipline, discipline (the one we attended), and resolutions. The petitions for the Discipline affecting United Methodist Women and Women's Division were accepted by the sub group as non-concurance. They were accepted by the total group last night as non-concurrance. That means we don't want them. We had about 7 - 12 of the Good News type in the group. Some of the items that passed had more than 5 voting for concurrence which means they cannot go on the consent calendar and will be discussed on the floor of the entire conference next week. I heard several excellent rebuttals to the wishes that would marginalize women's division. We keep hoping that there will be folks not indoctrinated by Good News type that might think for themselves.
It is our understanding that other groups had more vocal and larger negative folks. But for today, we are feeling good about the people we are with.
For dinner, a daughter of a gal who also volunteers at the Moss Mansion picked up Jean and myself and took us to a lovely restaurant. It was nice to drive about Pittsburgh in the day light and see some of the central city. And the Maryland crab cakes were excellent.
The legislative committees are to meet tomorrow, but I had made plans for the day. I have been invited to have breakfast in the Westin Hotel with folks from Iliff. That is 9-11. Then I will walk ( 4 blocks or so) to the Smithfield church where Jean and I will find transportation to an afternoon program by Middle East Network of United Methodists. Speakers include Jeff Halper, an Israeli: Salim Shawamreh, a Palestinian, and Sandra Olewine, a UM missionary in Bethlehem. It is to be concluded with a Middle Eastern dinner. So I get educated and fed both. It is to end at 7:00 and at 8:00 in the same First UMC the Ball awards will be given by MFSA to Gil Caldwell. The entertainment is our own Montana Logging and Ballet Co.
And that is all for now. I can sleep in just a bit tomorrow. And will try to find some better looking clothes. It rained this evening, so I may have to go back to wearing the raincoat.
Winifred
Friends,
As I mentioned in yesterday's note to you, today was (for me) quite relaxing. The breakfast with Iliff was most enjoyable. Then I wandered to the Convention Center as folks were leaving the plenary which I missed. The afternoon program by MENUM (Middle East Network of United Methodists) was most informative and the supper was delicious. We listened to and watched powerpoint and slides of Palestine. There were excellent slides of the wall that Israel is putting up and on the video we saw the demolition of a home. I don't think I learned anything new, but the images and first hand reports truly made the situation in Palestine real.
Of course the evening program was enjoyable. We had difficulty hearing Gil Caldwell give his speech accepting the Ball Award and when ML&BC began we could not understand them either. At that point the audience let the group know there was a sound problem and they did some adjustment so that it was much better. I think the very high domed ceiling was part of the problem and wonder how they hear the preacher on Sundays. Beautiful old building, though.
Now the sad news. It is second hand and if I get a report from the GC News update, I may copy that for you. It seems that the Judicial Council brought their decision asked for on Tuesday that the parts of the Discipline relating to ordination of GLBT was law. This of course relates to the Karen Dammann trial. Then Maxie Dunham made a motion, or something, that marriage had to be between a man and a woman. Everyone was so surprised, that there was no discussion and it passed. That is how I understand it. And that is 2nd hand news. Now we have the weekend for groups to decide how to deal with these two blows to the West.
I got up later than usual and had a leisurely time getting to the 9:00 AM breakfast. I had a day that did not exhaust me. We are debating on Sunday's activities.
Winifred
Friends,
To day most of what we did was pass or reject legislation. Most of it was OK. I had lunch at the Smithfield church and then sat in on a presentation of Transgender (now know the difference between that and Transexual) and bought the video with a study guide that can be copied as needed. If you have a group that would like this video for a discussion group, let me know. It seems well done, I say it that way because I haven't seen the entire video having entered late. (so what is new?) Dinner was with the Denver area folk (i would guess over 40 folks.) I had a chance to check on some session planning with the Bishop. And greet his wife. Bishop Quipugo and his wife are here and I hope to greet them. With a thousand voting delegates and probably another 3000 here, it gets hectic we have a great group of five women who laugh a lot.
I am tired and I retype as much as I type..We still have Women's Division items to come on the.
The town is scared of the witness that Soulfource might and we understand the police will be out tomorrow. Demontrators that break the law may be actually placed in jail for at least over night. At least that is a rumor.
I have to quit, I have used the back space key as often as the keys that spell words correctly. I will blame it on the desk and t he pillow I have to sit ont to reacjh the table.
Have a good . Our trials are about to begin. And we are onlookers at tthis point.
OH, I didn't get any tatting done today,. Too busy following the petitions in the 3 large books.
Winifred
Friends,
This is a difficult day to write about. There were some good things, like friends, good company for meals, and nice noon time attendance at a meeting with Bishop Leontine Kelly who told us to stick with our church.
The legislation of the day dealt with all the various petitions in the various groups that had any thing to do with homosexuality. The news is not good. The Judicial Council came in with a 3 to 4 split on how to deal with the Rev. Karen Dammann trial. I don't know exactly what it means.
Legislation that could have been friendly to our friends was voted down. Before noon the body dealt with a petition to add language to paragraph 161.G indicating that we members disagree on the compatibility of homosexuality. The majority petition from the legislative group added that to the statement already in the book that "homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching." The minority of that group brought a statement that we affirm God's grace is available to all. That was the one that finally passed with many speeches about whether to be truthful or to not show disunity. The other petitions in the afternoon and until 10:20 PM followed that pattern.
Many of those speaking for the conservative view were delegates from Africa and Mexico. The points were made through questions that the Central Conferences can write their own Discipline (as long as it conforms with the basic Wesley ideas) and that Mexico does not even use our Discipline. I hope that some folks will begin to wonder about the advisability of the weight of their vote on matters that are so vital to the Western Jurisdiction and others in the USA.
Alice Ann attended the noon time communion that Jeanne Audrey told me had about 200 in attendance. I chose to go to Smithfield Church to listen to Bishop Kelly. There were about 10 bishops offering the communion and I understand a communion cup was broken as a symbol. It was a very healing service for those there.
So, it is the end of a long, difficult day. I trust that tomorrow I will have better news to relate.
Shalom, (peace, harmony, health, wholeness, justice in one word)
Winifred
Friends,
I do wish that I could take this machine to the convention center and write during the day. Instead, you get my reports from a tired woman. However, I did omit a good piece from yesterday, so I will start there.
The Judicial Council elects went in our favor. The delegation elect 2 lay and 2 clergy. This was Tuesday morning. The lay elected were both folks we like. Jon Gray from Kansas City, MO, was first elected followed by Beth Capen, a lawyer in Kingston, NY. I was impressed with her knowledge and ability 4 years ago. She is definitly part of MFSA. The Clergy person elected first was Susan Henry-Crowe from South Carolina conference and dean of Chapel and Religious Life at Emory U. in Atlanta. She will be good. Dennis Blackwell was elected 2nd. He is an Asbury Theological Seminary, a school that produces conservatives. So we have 3 out of 4. There were 6 reserves elected for each group. They were more mixed. But that is OK.
Bishop Shamana from Cal/Nev gave the worship sermon. Two quotes are: "If you love God, you have to love those God loves." "We need a church called Ananias to take the scales from our eyes." referring to Paul and Ananias.
Some where in the day we were told to preach "Open hearts, open minds, open doors" until it becomes the truth.
At noon Jean and I wandered to the Westin Hotel for a comfortable lunch without much walking. It certainly was led by the holy spirit, because sitting at the table next to ours was Bishop Quipungo and his wife from East Angola. They are coming to Yellowstone converence and I had been hoping for at least an introduction. We had a nice conversation and I was able to tell them of our plans for their being with us.
The legislation was better than yesterday, until the evening. A document called Living Into the Future was adopted. The goal is to streamline our conference. I have not studied it carefully but is it to make major changes in the relationships between our agencies. A document was adopted that was chosen to replace the one that our general agencies of Mission and Finance have been working on for three years. It was completed in 3 days here and passed to the delegates. I have not seen it. It is smaller than the one originally proposed.. The finance portions were to be passed today so that Finance com can have the budget ready for Friday. The pastor from Florida proposed we pass all five at once. She read them rapidly, we were confused. As we left at 10:30, they were taking a half hour break to allow her to get better presentations ready.
For dinner, four of us ate at Mahoneys: Jean, Beth, and Jeanne Audrey Powers. She had some excellent advice for Beth about contacting folks to help with her project on the survey of clergy women.
So both meals were productive.
The key to getting through this conference is to be flexible and allow the spirit to lead.
Winifred
Friends,
Yes, friends, good news, and I do mean for us. My attendance at the plenary sessions today was spotty, having a long lunch with friends, old and new, and leaving at 9:00PM. But I was present for the debate on issues that were vital to me.
First section of good news concerns United Methodist Women and the Women's Division. I attended last week the legislative section on Global Ministries of which Women's Division is a part. In that group we defeated 5 items that were not good for the groups. One example was having the Division be accountable to the General Finance Agency, instead of to the Board of Global Ministries.
However there were two petitions of similar wording that went to the group on Local Churches. These both would change "shall" to "may" in the sentence: "each UMC shall have a UMW." That was being discussed on the floor when I returned following lunch. The intent is to allow groups to form "Mission Societies of the UMC" which would not be accountable to the general church and would pull dollars away from the UMW and their numerous mission projects. One argument for allowing the church women to choose what group they want (though they may have as many as they want now) instead of UMW was that it was the same as being "pro-choice." The final result was the failure of the petitions by a vote of 665 to 198 or a win with 77.1%.
The next petition that I witnesses was the attempt to make all church folk from pastors to leaders accountable to "historic creeds and doctrines." These were never well defined. The final result was a very watered down version that had been amended to delete the paragraphs that were offensive. Then a delegate asked to send the whole item to the Judicial Council to see if it was even legal, since the Discipline says we can't add to the the Historic Rules. They added by including Wesley's sermons in the list. The final vote for the watered down version was acceptance by 570 to 334. This was a minority report to replace the two paragraphs that had been placed by the legislative group to replace the original version. The final minority version was almost identical to the majority report. So I suppose some folk felt they had to pick one or the other, though they could have rejected both. At least the wording is not the punitive wording that the confessing/good news/renew/IRD would like to have.
These issues have had me worried for some time. I am feeling much relieved.
Now to the good stuff. At about 11:00 this morning the Common Witness folk, who have been wearing multicolored small stoles all session and lots of rainbow pins and crosses, with the prior knowledge of the presiding Bishop paraded around the delegates, inside the bar of the conference where only delegates are allowed. They were welcome by the Bishop (a woman, forget her name) who announced that we were to have visitors and would be welcoming to them. Estimates of the number in the parade with signs and banners were from 300 to 500. An estimate of about another 500 standing was also given by folks seated high enough to see. About 30 Bishops stood in solidarity and many delegates. I went to the top of the bleachers to take pictures and noticed that our 2 delegates were the first up in their area of the room. The parade circled the room about 5 times singing. I got some good close-ups of friends when I left the high spot and stood next to the rope that encloses the bar.
Following the parade many went to an upper area for a time of reflection. Many spoke of their journeys. I would guess maybe a hundred or less were there. I chose to join that group and miss what was happening in the plenary.
We did return to the plenary to take part in the noon communion service which was led today by my Bishop, Warner Brown, Jr. The music was played by Jorge Lockward and for the communion they played and sang the Spirit Song (that may not be the exact title) by Steve Garnass-Holmes. (in Faith We Sing). And I was able to greet Jorge and Minnie Brown who was waiting for her husband.
It is felt that many in the conference were more educated about many issues by the end of today.
Tomorrow I go in the morning with Alice Ann to the airport to pick up the rental car we will be using for our trip next week to Seneca Falls and this week end to visit 2 houses by Frank Lloyd Wright, including Falling Waters. We will be at the conference by afternoon and ready for the celebration planned by Common Witness at the end of the conference. Maybe celebration is the wrong word, as the legislation is still against gays and lesbians. But we feel we have made our points and shown our strength. The rules may not admit that we are not of one mind on this matter, but the folks in attendance know it.
I will be downloading the photos from the camera to the computer. Following that I can place some on a web site I have been informed about. When I get that done, I will tell you where to look for them. I can't do that in the limited time I have at this time. Tonight I may get to bed before midnight.
Winifred
Friends,
First an apology for being so slow in sending this. It was a very late night, with the session ending before midnight and followed by a closing worship service. Then we attended a communion service sponsored by Reconciling. Thus we arrived at the hotel about 1:30 AM.
Today Alice Ann and I had to get the rental car from the air port and then take stuff to UPS. So now, belatedly, I am sending this important resolution passed Friday Morning.
There has been much rumor and news reports that the United Methodist Church was to divide. This is untrue. On Friday morning Bishop Sprague (presiding Bishop) invited to the podium Bruce Robbins, formerly of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, and Bill Hinson, who had addressed the Good News breakfast on Thursday. The two came to make a statement and resolution of Unity. This is the resolution, which you may want to read to your church on Sunday, if you have been hearing the incorrect rumors.
"As United Methodists, we remain in covenant with one another, even in the midst of disagreement, and affirm our commitment to work together for a common mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ throughout the world."
This passed 869 for and 41against with 8 abstaining. 918 delegates voting.
Further notes will be in another e-mail.
Winifred
Friends,
I am sorry to be several days late in this final report. The MFSA Social Questions Bulletin published late Friday lists methods of Singing the Lord's Song. One section is Rest and Recover. That is what Alice Ann and I have been doing, non-stop. Yesterday we saw two Frank Lloyd Wright houses and rode the Incline up the mountain in Pittsburgh and watched the city lights come on. Tonight (Monday) we are in The United Methodist House at Chautauqua, NY. There is no phone to send this tonight, but I will compose and try to send on Tuesday when we will be near Seneca Falls, home of the Women's movement.
Some personal recollections. The River of Life, or parade as I called it, was wonderful and the Bishop very gracious in allowing it. Some of those who do not 'approve' of GLBT issues felt that it was an intrusive interruption.
In voting on a large item on making the members of the UMC accountable (Bishops to laity) to "historic creeds" we did not get a defintion of 'creeds.' Some one suggested the Creeds in the UM Hymnal and one woman objected because her church doesn't use the Hymnal. The final vote was NOT to have to abide by any creeds, but the suggestion of following the sermons on John Wesley was added to a section in the Discipline. This was challenged and sent to Judicial Council, questioning it as an addition forbidden by our rules.
During discussion of continuing Igniting Ministries, several delegates mentioned that perhaps the theme of Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors should be taken out since it is a lie. It did not impact the vote, but at least the statement was made publically.
To sum up GC. With the exception of refusal to admit that we are not of one mind on the topic of homosexuality, the voting went well, with many of the petitions to restrict not passed. Looking closely, the West was marginalized in some areas. We will see in July at San Jose how we will react to those. The petitions that would have eaten away at the U M Women were defeated. That is good.
I am glad I was able to attend the Conference. The community of those who are working for a fully inclusive church was wonderful.
Winifred