23 April 2008
Reports from GC - Day 1: Apr 23
23 April 2008
Opening worship was truly marvelous. The mix of diverse cultural elements combined with a near-Anglican order of liturgy (including, for example, singing alleluia as the Bible was paraded overhead to the middle of the sanctuary for the gospel reading (sorry, no canting). We all celebrated communion together after Bp Janice Riggle Huie (my bishop from TX) offered an inspiring sermon challenging us to let go of our divisions and get on with the work of the Lord. Mark Miller and Marcia McFee proved an effective and spirited team of worship leaders. It was quite a production, which you should be able to view from umc.org.
Prior to worship, I ran into Doug Mills of GCCUIC, with whom I had collaborated the last time I taught polity at Candler. We had dinner together and he told me that I was batting .500 on my petitions considered by the Committee on Central Conference Affairs. It was good to know that I had some supporters even before I arrived. He also mentioned some upcoming work on justification and ethics for the UM/RC bilateral dialogue. Sounds interesting!
