Overall, AC was good, but it had its ups, its downs, and its strange moments. This may have been the strangest Annual Conference I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been going for 11 years.
Day 1: Opening Day
The first day of Annual Conference began with an informal opening worship, followed by clergy session. During clergy session, we elected 21 provisional members into our Annual Conference.
Following that, we had opening worship, where the bishop encouraged us to “Burn, Baby, Burn.” He implored us to be motorcycle churches rather than lawnmower churches: getting out and taking risks rather than playing it safe. It was a good sermon to kick off our theme for the week, which centered on our mission as the Western PA Annual Conference of the UMC. Our vision is “to ignite and sustain a passionate spiritual connection with Christ among all people in Western Pennsylvania.”
Immediately following worship was strange moment #1 of 2009 AC. One of the first things we have to do on the business end is approve the agenda – usually a simple task. Well, someone made a motion to amend the agenda. The amendment proposed that we move the constitutional amendment voting up to Friday afternoon. In an extremely rare moment, the vote on amending the agenda was so close that we had to count votes, and 30 minutes later, we passed it as amended.
The rest of Thursday was pretty boring, all things considered. We had our legislative section meetings, then dinner, then a memorial service.
Day 2: Inappropriateness, Inexplicable Voting Rules, Ironic Pizza, and Hoisting the Cup
Friday began harmless enough, with Bible study followed by reports from various people: the conference lay leader, the cabinet, etc. But strange moment #2 of 2009 AC came just before lunch, when a woman came to the podium and announced she would lead us in a time of stretching and meditation as part of our new “Health as Wholeness”* focus. She began by asking us to stand and give our neighbor a shoulder massage. Now, for me, it would mean turning and giving my secretary a massage, which I considered awkward, uncomfortable, inappropriate, and probably a violation of our denomination’s Safe Sanctuaries policy. So we went to lunch instead.
Friday afternoon, we voted on the constitutional amendments. It went smoother than I expected.
Strange moment #3 came on Friday evening. It was Mission Night, but it was also the night of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. We heard a great sermon by a pastor from Mozambique in celebration of Mission Night, including stories about how parents in his country can barely feed their children one cup of tea for dinner. This heartbreaking story of widespread poverty was immediately followed by our bishop announcing he had ordered 80 large pizzas so we could all watch the rest of the hockey game together in the plenary room. On top of that, the pizzas were placed directly in front of the Health as Wholeness information table. It was the most irony-laced pizza party I’ve ever attended.
*In light of the rampant obesity plaguing our clergy, our conference is promoting “Health as Wholeness” in an attempt to make us better pastors, as well as cheaper employees to insure.
Day 3: Legislating, Reporting, and Questioning
Lisa came up for the day. We also had one of the young adults in our congregation spend the day with us, as he wanted to see what AC was all about. They got to see some reports, as well as debate over some legislation. (You can find summaries of the more interesting legislative action in the long form report.)
Saturday evening was Ministry Night, where we celebrated the ministry of the laity, of the local pastors, and of the clergy. Bishop Will Willimon preached a wonderful sermon.
Day 4: Ordaining and Returning Home
Sunday morning was the ordination service. Many people I know were ordained or commissioned, including a long time close friend, Matt Johnson. We were groomsmen in each other’s weddings, and we both love United Methodist polity and legislation more than almost anyone else. I’m glad that we are now officially colleagues in ministry, and look forward to being ordained in the same class in 2011.
As always, Annual Conference was many things. More than anything else, it was a celebration of our connectional nature. We became one body for just a few days, then dispersed again for another year of ministry throughout the mountains and valleys of Western Pennsylvania, where we will ignite and sustain a passion for Christ among all people. May it be so.
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