New friends

Gary Pederson
Christ Our Shepherd, Peachtree City, GA

Thursday in Orlando

Today was a very busy day at Churchwide. We had so much to cover and it seemed like we were running out of time. Some things that we had to do (like the Genetics social statment) were important, but other things just seemed to take up a lot of time for most people (constitution amendments). It seemed like the discussions were a little more strained today. People were getting tired of covering some of these items and discussing minimal word changes. Overall the atmosphere is still good, just a little tired.

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on all the items we approved or disapproved today. There were too many to list. The big one was that the Genetics social statement passed. I even got up and spoke... the first one from Southeastern Synod to speak at this assembly (Jill Henning and Bishop Gordy spoke on items later in the day). I got up because there was an effort to change a section in the Genetic social statement to make it seem like scientists should not just be questioned if they are doing research that may harm any other species, but the ELCA should tell them they should never do research that knowingly harms ANY other species. So I tried to make the point that we shouldn't legislate that...and I used something like research on eradicating kudzu as an example of something that most people would think was a good idea! Now I am forever known as the guy who brought kudzu to the Churchwide assembly floor.

I want to talk about a different aspect of Churchwide assembly tonight. I go to a lot of different conventions in my job. I go to sessions and talk with the people I know. And everyone else talks with their friends and other people they know. It is rare for total strangers to ever talk for more than a minute or two at these professional meetings. Churchwide Assembly is such a different meeting. Everyone talks with everyone...about everything!

Let me give you an example of what happened last night. I was merrily typing my blog enrty and a pastor was sitting nearby answering her email. We exchanged small talk, but nothing much. She left for a while ("Don't bother saving my seat"). Pretty soon she wanders back and starts talking to me about an email she got. We get into a discussion of how to handle a difficult situation she was facing...that goes into another discussion of our life histories...that goes into another discussion of pretty much everything we have ever done in our life. Stories flow!

All of a sudden over the course of an hour, I have a new friend in Pastor Beth Halvorsen from Texas. I gave her a couple of GraceFlock CDs. Actually I gave her one, then I told her my story about writing "The Eyes of Hope" in Mississippi after Katrina and gave her the CD with that song. She promised me a signed copy of the book she is going to write on her doctorial thesis project...something about surrender and tenacity...and boldness and humility. (Sorry, Beth, you explained it much better than that!) I need to read the book when she gets it done, so I can understand what it is all about.

Anyway, the point of this story is that a wonderful part of Churchwide Assembly is the interesting people that you meet. The room is full of people with such great stories. That is what makes a Churchwide Assembly such a special meeting. It is not all about the legislative actions, the worship, the bible studies, the music, and all that. It is about the people of God...and God's people are pretty neat!