General Conference 2004

Rocky Mountain Conference News and Resources

Days 6-7

General Conference Report for Saturday-Sunday, May 1-2 from Olon Lindemood

Greetings from Pittsburgh, PA!

General Conference of the United Methodist Church is steadily moving along. I report to you on Sunday, May 02, 2004. The activities of the Conference are on "Sabbath delay" today.

The rest day is a welcome change from the daily routine. This week of Legislative work has provided many hours of deliberations and consternation. I have been participating in the Legislative committee on ?Higher Education and Ministry.? The process of hearing and voting individually on more than 350 petitions took time. We completed our work Saturday night at 11:16pm.

The good news is that the theme of "water washed and spirit born" keeps us all alive and well as we worship.

Friday morning we heard the Bishop from the East Ohio Area, Jonathan Keaton, offer a sermon based on the scriptures dealing with Phillip. He spoke of the appointments Phillip served in his ministerial service. One of those appointments was to the "ultimate outcast," an Ethiopian eunuch. The Bishop's preaching style helped the delegates engage in his message and offered a powerful witness to the presence of the Gospel message of Good News to all!

The Commission on the status and role of Women offered a worship service this Sunday morning. More than 500 persons attended. The Rev Janet Wolf preached. She spoke in the context of mentors who have forged the path of faith for the disenfranchised, marginalized and unwelcomed. She said that there have been times when the church has become an opposing voice to the genuine presence of God. In this generation, we deal with a church that will not let gay, lesbian and transgendered persons into the life of the church. In 1956 the first woman was ordained into the Methodist Church after years of women knowing that they were doing ministry and anointed by God and not the church. Today the same people who say "no" to a new generation of God's children use a rhetoric that also lets them promote war. Rev Wolf said, "It is clear in the Bible from start to finish, "Thou shalt not kill!" The service of remembering mentors continued with a journey of quietly walking though a silent space, thanking God for our women mentors and receiving a candle for the women we might mentor one day.

I am anxious to march into this next week and listen to the voice of God in this gathering. It is always a rush when we hear the tale of the God's presence in places that are far away from the Rocky Mountain Conference. At other times it is a rush to know that the General Conference actually cares about the implications of the actions taken for we who live in the Rocky Mountain Conference.

Friends, please know that it is a privilege to serve God in this way and to serve our church in this way.

Each morning, I pray, God save the Church.

Grace,

Peace,

Olon M. Lindemood

Footnote...

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church Concluded with our church knowing that we are committed to a future that we might live into together. Much work remains to be done. For today, I certainly feel privilaged to have been part of the moving voice of our sacred church.

May 8, 2004. oml.

General Conference links:

*Please note: people have been experiencing access problems with the GC site and related pages, due to the high volume of traffic they are receiving. Don't be afraid to try again later!* You can also try some of the General Church agency web sites below, or the unofficial ones listed on the main RMCUMC GC2004 page.

Please keep the Rocky Mountain Conference Delegates in prayer: Janet Forbes, Youngsook Kang, Olon Lindemood, Chuck Schuster, Aaron Gray, Judy Hill, Brad Laurvick, Dan O'Neill, Liwliwa Robledo, and Peggy Sewell.