Last night, I bounced from ballroom to ballroom to listen attentively to the church struggling to understand the issues we face as the church. We will be voting upon the nominations for the Collegium of Ministers. There are 3 candidates for 3 positions. While I may concerns about those individuals, I am most concerned about the theology we explore together.
General Synod is when the whole church gets together to do business. There are thing we need to do to ensure our financial and administrative health but we do these things in the Spirit of God. I struggle workflow in the church because we don’t make decisions here as we make them in other places. The work of being followers of Christ always invites God into the process. God is supposed to be our green light no matter what our electronic voting gadget flashes. In all that we consider together, our questions are supposed to ask what we think about God. It is a theological conversation about where we see God moving in our lives. I understand that it’s often hard to distinguish what God is doing and we are doing. I hope that those intentions mingle but I’m not sure.
Our conversations articulate a language of distrust. I’m not sure what to make of that. I’ve seen it happen in the churches I’ve served. We have a hard time with trusting the ad-hoc task force addressing an issue. And then, there’s the alternative voice that insists that we should simply trust the hardworking the task force has done. I’ve been that alternative voice. As a pastor, I’ve watched the process. I know it intimately. I celebrate the work that has done. Now, I’m on the other side. I don’t understand fully the processes of either the question about baptism or unified governance. I want to believe good work has been done with good intentions. After all, these are my sisters and brothers in the United Church of Christ. Why wouldn’t I trust that work? Trust isn’t really my question though I hear that profoundly as others in the hope of a truly multicultural church. My question is: Where is God? How is God present in these movements of the church?
I don’t know. Even though we will vote today, I don’t know where God is leading.
Cooking with Elsa 