If they aren’t out of balance when we get them, the church can sometimes smack people out of balance. We ordain and assign too many unbalanced, ungrounded, unhealthy, self-important and self-loathing clergy. Clergy have considerable power.Ĭlergy: balanced, biblically grounded, spiritually healthy, self-loving. We’re called by God to use the power we have. Speak God’s truth to power when we see power capitulate to money, sexism, racism, etc. “built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.” Getting a paycheck from the church is not the definition of who we are as Christians. A difference between hopes in institutions (clergy, churches) rather than hope in one who actually holds the future (Jesus). Here are my mostly unedited notes on Garlinda's presentation: She spoke on the theme of General Conference 2008, “A Future with Hope.” She asked, "what do we believe the future should be? There's a distinction between just having hope and putting legs on our hope." I thought her presentation was very powerful, heartfelt, and moving. Our keynote speaker on Tuesday was Garlinda Burton, the General Secretary of COSROW. In our mainline churches we have been so accustomed to the cold war between liberal and conservative that we haven’t imagined a new arrangement, a convergence. (Loss of younger generations accelerated) See the church as a religious country club – if they want to make a moral difference in the world, the church isn’t the place to do it in. (think answer is music, but jazzing up music won’t help if not answering real questions) Another kind of discomfort our churches will feel if they don’t address these questions. Mainline churches realize they are using younger generations. I think we’re at a place where we need to ask a whole new set of questions. when you’re asking new questions, that’s what revolution is all about. (paraphrasing) We are at a juncture where the changes we need are very profound. Tuesday, following up on the previous night's forum, the Bishop shared this thought from Brian McLaren, from a magazine - not sure which - anyone know the source?: People seemed to want to show their appreciation for these voices, but I'm afraid much of the conversation continued with people referring to young clergy as if we weren't there in the room! (Actually, I think the bishop was quoting someone here, but you get the point.) Some young clergy in the conference shared that they didn't feel respected or equal or included in the conference. The bishop said, (rightly, I think) that he believes young people are simply not finding the church relevant. The conversation seemed to focus on the lack of young clergy in particular and young people in general in the church. He really goes out of his way to connect - I appreciate that!) Clergy were invited simply to comment, ask the bishop questions, bring up matters of concern. He must have stopped to chat with me 5 0r 6 times throughout the event to see how I was doing. I know he reads my blog, but I can 100% tell you I'd be saying this even if he didn't. (Bishop Devadhar is one of the most hospitable bishops I know.
Monday evening we had a sort-of open dialogue time with the Bishop.
What would you say in a workshop about blogging to young people? Actually, I feel like most young people will know virtually everything I've presented in my other workshops. Question: I've been asked to retool my workshop to present to youth next week.
#Download reflections bishop paul full#
But once you walk people through how very simple it is to read and start a blog, people become hopeful and full of ideas about what they might do, how they might connect via blogging. Particularly for older people (clergy in this case), I find there is still a bit of fear/anxiety when it comes to using the computer/internet, etc. This is the second time I've taught a workshop on blogging, and I find it an interesting experience. The theme of the event was "In the Spirit of Fellowship," and on that note, Bishop Devadhar invited my colleagues Joe Tiedemann, Chris Heckert and me to present a workshop on blogging and how blogging can be used to create/enhance/nurture community. Finally, a chance to blog about the Bishop's Convocation.
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