It's About Trust

I'm happy to report that today was a decidedly better day than yesterday was.  Was it perfect?  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  We still have yet to adopt all the rules, which is fueled by a lack of trust in each other and a lack of trust in the rules committee, and that still frustrates me to no end.  Yet I'm encouraged as I write this blog.  I got to have dinner with some members of our delegation and it was a fantastic time of fellowship.  I was able to get to know them on a level that I hadn't been able to do over video conferencing during delegation business meetings.  For example, I had no idea that one of them went to Wesley for seminary and had some of the professors that I have taken classes with, so we were able to bond over that, and I think that's just awesome.

And through that time of fellowship and learning more about each other, we were able to have some meaty and heavy conversations.  These conversations didn't necessarily result in changed minds, but—and maybe it's just me—they did result in opened hearts.  And consequentially, my trust in our delegation was affirmed as a result of that dinner and it fills my heart with joy.  Each and every member of our delegation felt a call from God to go to General Conference as a delegate, and that call was affirmed by our Annual Conference through election.  To not trust my delegation would be to not trust in God.

Of course, it's not just the delegation from the Upper New York Annual Conference that is comprised of delegates who felt a call from God that was externally affirmed.  Every single one of the 864 voting delegates went through that process.  Every single presiding bishop went through that process.  Every single person who has worked tirelessly over the past four years to put this General Conference together went through that process.  They all had a call from God of some sort that was affirmed in some shape and/or form by their peers, and if I can't trust them, then I cannot in good conscious say that I trust God.  And if they can't trust each other, how can they say they trust in God?

Everyone within the bar of the conference is my brother or sister in Christ.  And Christ calls me to love each and every one of them.  I'm not called to agree with them, but I am called to love them.  And that is a call that I will answer gladly.  The United Methodist Church has some tough conversations ahead of it, both this year and in years to come.  It's my deep and fervent prayer that those who make up the body of the sole entity that gets to speak for our church can find it in their hearts to answer that same call and come to first and foremost love and trust one another.