Bible Text:

“Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church…”                                 (Acts 15:2-3)

General Conference opens Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. in the Pittsburgh Convention Center. I look forward to the moment. General Conference closes late Friday evening, May 7^th. I look forward to the moment! We’ve had four years of preparation, four years of hard work. Hundreds of volunteers have been recruited. Thousands of snacks have been prepared—enough for 2000 people, twice a day each day the Conference is in session. All of it is an enormous undertaking, but it is also highly rewarding. 

General Conference massages and shapes the United Methodist Church for the next 4 years and beyond. Only General Conference makes changes in the church. Remember the old question, “How many church members does it take to change a light bulb?” Remember the answer? “Who said anything about change?” Only General Conference can make decisions about the structure and the order of the United Methodist Church. 

The hospitality team, which I chair, developed a team vision statement. It says this: “To provide excellent hospitality in the context of holy conferencing.” Most of you know what hospitality looks like. You have offered it. You have experienced it. But what is this “holy conferencing?” 

It’s taken from our spiritual forebear and founder, John Wesley. He describes his meetings with church leaders. Periodically he called them together to dialogue, to give testimony, to tell stories, to ask questions. It was a time of encouragement and support. (In secular terms it would be kind of like a pep rally.) 

Wesley wanted to provide his preachers with spiritual nourishment and undergirding for the hard tasks ahead. Many clergy worked in isolation. These sessions ministered to their spirits. It lifted their souls. They sensed that they were in this together. It enabled them to say, “By the grace of God I am making a difference.” Wesley called all of this, “Holy Conferencing.” 

But when Methodism came to America, it came under the influence of something called “representative Democracy.”  Gradually the church began to take on the look of that representative Democracy. The meetings included legislation, strategy sessions, organization, and rules of order. (It might interest you to know that over 1500 petitions have been submitted to General Conference for some kind of action over the next two weeks.) 

In some ways, the church began to look a lot more like the world. We had motions and amendments and substitute motions. Some inevitable rancor occurred. People chose sides. There seemed to be less and less emphasis upon spiritual encouragement and nourishment. There seemed to be less emphasis upon holy conferencing. 

Over the past 8 years there has been a real effort to move us (or at least nudge us) toward a more authentic holy conferencing. It has happened at the level of the Annual Conference, in the local church, and even in committee meetings. At the very least, we want to make holy conferencing the dominant feature of the assembly. In so doing we may enable the church to be a more significant presence in our world. 

I came across a little parable this week that I like very much. This is what it says. 

One year in a mythical kingdom, the entire stock of grain became poisoned. Anyone who ate it would become insane. Grain had been stored from harvests in the years past, but there was only a small amount remaining. The king fell into a quandary. Should people eat, and become crazy, or starve to death? Finally the king decided to feed the people the contaminated grain, but he reserved a little of the unpoisoned grain for a handful of people so, the king said, “Someone will know the rest of us are crazy.”

With its life built on mercy and gentleness, its awareness of brokenness, its ethic of forgiveness, much of the Christian church is analogous to that unpoisoned grain. While everyone else seems to be living insane lives, it is up to the church to preserve for our planet a vision and a visage of what God would have us do.

Don’t you like that? Holy Conferencing produces that kind of result. 

Look at the text today from the Book of Acts, chapter 15. Much of what is happening in Pittsburgh is very similar. In Acts, the church appointed Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem. They were “sent on their way by the church.” Luke tells us that when they arrived they were welcomed by the church. Then they told all that God had done with them. 

The United Methodist Church has sent 998 delegates to Pittsburgh. One half of them are lay; one half are clergy. Most are from the United States, but there are also delegates from Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. 

I am quite sure that the deliberation in the original Jerusalem conference was spirited. I feel quite confident there were disagreements. Was there debate? Probably. They were wrestling there with the emerging issues of a young community of believers. However, it seems likely that it was predominantly “Holy Conferencing.” 

General Conference 2004 is being undergirded by prayer more than any other in our history. Our own Intercessory Prayer Team here at Christ Church has been focusing for weeks. A large prayer team ministry team has been working for months as a part of the hospitality effort. To the best of my knowledge, for the very first time a large space is set aside inside the Convention Center—a place of quiet, focused prayer and group prayer. 

So you may say, “I will pray also.” If so, what should you pray for? Specifically? Can you pray for Holy Conferencing? Yes. But I think you can be even more specific than that. 

I call your attention to another great text. Chris Whitehead used this text last Sunday night. It happens to be the first text I ever preached upon, in the spring of 1960, 44 years ago. It’s from I Peter 3:15, and begins, “Always be ready to give an account for the hope that is in you.” When I preached on that text years ago, it had a little different context in that situation. Chris had a little different context for it on Sunday night as well. But as he read the text, I heard a new word that I had not heard before. Peter says, “Share your hope…share your faith…” And then he adds these two words: “Do it with gentleness and reverence.” 

I ask you to pray during these next two weeks for gentleness and reverence to prevail. 

GENTLENESS 

First, gentleness. That is a Christ-like trait. Jesus was firm. Jesus was also gentle. 

I remember our youngest son Dwayne coming home from his summer week at Jumonville when he was in Junior High School. They had spent the week learning and memorizing an utilizing Ephesians 4:32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” The verse was actually set to music. He sang it all the way home in the car. 

Kindness and gentleness needs to prevail at General Conference. Otherwise we will get into a great deal of trouble. 

A man with a sports car was climbing a twisting mountain road toward his mountain home. He often drove this road like he owned it. On one particular day, just as he was racing to go around one of his favorite bends, a car rounded the bend coming at him on the wrong side of the road, out of control. It veered and swerved several times, and just before coming at him in a head-on collision, managed to swerve out of the way. A woman yelled out of the window of the car as she went by, “Pig!” The driver of the sports car was so astounded and angry that he hurriedly shouted back, “Sow!” Feeling vindicated that he had at least gotten a word in, he prepared to move up the mountain again. He moved around his favorite hairpin turn in the road. He gunned the engine, raced around the bend, and ran head-on into a large pig in the middle of the road.[i] 

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” Ephesians is a letter to the whole church. These are words to the church, words of wisdom to the church. There is no better way to approach a gathering like the one that is happening this week. 

There is room for differences of opinion. I celebrate that. But there is no room for rancor or rudeness. John Buchanan, editor of “The Christian Century” writes, “[The church] needs examples of people who disagree but who still talk with each other.” 

Some people are coming to General Conference for whom doctrinal issues are the most important thing. For others, myself included, discipleship issues are the most important thing. I believe we can disagree and still be gentle. 

John Wesley commented on this over 200 years ago. Listen to the words from a sermon by John Wesley. I have edited them slightly for clarity. 

Where are the Christians who love one another as Jesus has commanded? How many hindrances lie in the way? The two main hindrances are, First, we cannot all think alike, and second, we cannot all walk alike…But although differences in opinions or modes of worship may prevent an entire external union, need it prevent our union in affection? Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt we may![ii] 

Gentleness is a part of your prayer life for the next two weeks. 

REVERENCE 

The other word is “reverence.” Share your hope. Deeply believe with gentleness and with reverence. It means let everything that happens honor God. Honor God in all that you do and all that you say. 

There will be some great moments of honoring God in the coming days. Worship at General Conference is usually worship at its finest. Friday afternoon’s memorial service here with the bishops was worship at its finest. There will be some great worship. However, it probably will not make the Post-Gazette or the Tribune-Review as a newsworthy item. 

Neil Alexander, president and publisher of the United Methodist Publishing House recently said this in the March/April issue of “The Circuit Rider”:  

Could we expect those who gather to care for the needed legislative work will first and foremost go to Pittsburgh in humility and eagerness to listen intently together for the still small voice of God?

Might we hope that our representative leaders will set directions with aspirations that attract the people called Methodist to link arms as a renewed, vibrant, and unified community of disciples of Jesus Christ?

What if General Conference lifted up one compelling call to mission and ministry that so obviously honors God and shows love of neighbor that across the whole connection people will leap forward shouting, “Yes, here am I!”[iii] 

Remember I Peter 3:15: “Always be ready to account for the hope that is in you, but do it with gentleness and reverence.” 

Kent Millard is a friend of mine serving a church in Indianapolis. He will be leading the Indiana delegation when they come to General Conference this week. Kent came here to Pittsburgh for a pre-General Conference briefing in late January. He stayed at the Hilton Hotel at the Point. He drew upon a very powerful image as he looked out the window of the hotel. 

He talked about how two rivers flow gently toward each other—the Allegheny and the Monongahela. Quietly but steadily, they become one river—the Ohio—and keep on moving toward a single destination. 

Various streams of thought flowing together to quietly honor Jesus Christ. It doesn’t get any better than that. 

The issues of General Conference will be numerous. Delegates will talk about a simpler structure for the church. They will talk about the meaning of being inclusive. They will talk about the meaning of communion, or whether or not we should have a few less bishops. They will talk about healthcare and healthcare cost issues. They will eventually adopt a four-year budget for the church. 

They will talk about a variety of social issues. Everything from homelessness to homosexuality, from AIDS in Africa to attitudes about abortion, from the economy to the environment. 

So pray. Pray specifically and passionately. Pray that gentleness and reverence prevails. 

Remember again the words of John Buchanan from “The Christian Century”: “[The church—the nation, and the world—] need examples of people who disagree but can still talk to each other.”