19 June 2008
AC Day Three
19 June 2008
Today’s proceedings began too early (for me, at least – but I’m not used to early mornings) with the MFSA breakfast at which our own Beth Corrie addressed a gathering of about 30 kindred spirits. She discussed her personal story of growing awareness of peace and justice issues, particularly as related to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and her cousin Rachel’s death while serving as a part of a peacemaking team in Palestine. She talked about the need for and usefulness of targeted, selective divestment from companies that profit from war and from human rights violations, and she called upon us to renew our baptismal vows wherein we promise to “resist evil, injustice, and oppression” in whatever forms we find them (I hope I have that quote right).
Later in the morning during the first general session, we heard a moving report about the NGUMC’s contributions toward the construction of a children’s center in Sierra Leone, a desperately ravaged and war-torn country where orphans were often forced into military conflict at very young ages. A 17-year-old young man from Sierra Leone, who was a beneficiary of the missional work done there, addressed the Conference and told his story of being rescued from a situation that would almost certainly have led to his death, had there not been this facility to take him in when he was nine years old. Needless to say, this was a very powerful moment.
Toward the end of the afternoon Beth received the Eleanor Richardson Award for lifetime achievement in the field of social justice. She also received a standing ovation from the roughly 2,000 delegates and guests gathered in the hall, and had the opportunity to address them for a couple of minutes about her passion for peace, justice, and the education of youth in the ways of peace and justice, and again cited our baptismal vows as a source of the theological imperative to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. As soon as I can get some photographs downloaded from Beth’s camera, I’ll be sure to post them here. Needless to say, we were very proud of Beth and her ministry, and were ecstatic for the entire Conference to hear her speak.
No big elements of controversy today either. I think we’re just going to coast through tomorrow morning, passing a large budget and voting on mostly uncontroversial resolutions and get out of town. From a business standpoint it’s been an oddly low-key year – lots of just getting through the necessary business and moving things along. I’ll be adding one more update after the close of the Conference on Friday, so stay tuned.
