Bishop's Night on the District

Last night was Bishop Bickerton's night on the district.*** He spoke for almost two hours...on the 2008 Discipline...

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I did manage to stay awake.

Actually, it was good stuff.

We (as a denomination) have made some changes to the language in the Book of Discipline (BoD) - for the better.

Last night it was membership vows.

We used to say something like "Will you stay loyal to the United Methodist Church..." and now we say "Will you stay loyal to Jesus Christ through the United Methodist Church..." Small change? I don't think so. It's HUGE.

Yes it's big because we're refocusing from inward to upward - from this congregation to God as our motivation for loyalty and faithfulness. It's big because it helps us focus our mission and ministry where it belongs. And the Bishop was right, it's been WAY too long in coming.

But it's HUGE to me because it means that at General Conference the delegates were paying attention. They were paying attention not just to hot button issues and sacred cows - but to who we are as a denomination, who we are as the people of God called the United Methodist Church.

So what? Well, I sometimes wonder if General Conference isn't just a huge waste of time - all we ever hear about are the paragraphs that have been changed that now conflict with other paragraphs and what's out of order and the protests and the debates... But this is a substantive change that I think speaks well for the denomination. We want to focus on Christ. And the vehicle for that focus is through the church you are joining. (And Lori said on the way home, "Well the old vow - loyal to the United Methodist Church - well, that sounds kinda cultish doesn't it?" Ouch - but...yep, it does now that we've made the change...)

I can get behind that kind of change.

And then, well, let me just quote the new vow as *I THINK* it is going to be presented (new language in italics):

Will you be loyal to Jesus Christ through the United Methodist Church, and uphold it with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness?

Yep - 200+ years of Methodism and and we're officially adding witnessing to our vow. And, again, what took us so long?

What took us so long was that we've been inward focused, inward looking for waaaaaaay too long - we, as a denomination, have sensed our mortality and started circling the wagons, shuttering the windows, um...pick a metaphor. We stopped looking upward and we stopped looking outward.

Yeah, yeah - not everybody - certainly not me, of course, 'cause I'm as pious as they come... yeah.

But not anymore. If the GENERAL CONFERENCE can look beyond self to God and other, can't we all - local churches, districts, conferences - laity and clergy (what was that pesky commandment that Jesus said was the most important? Hmmm - sounds like General Conference gets it).

*** I have, in the past, been critical of the Bishop reducing the DAY on the district to HOURS on the district, but I've seen Bishop Bickerton's schedule - and I'd reduce it more if he could spend those hours with his family. No more whining on my part until I've been in the shoes, dangit...