Sacred or Secular?

For the first time in recent memory, and perhaps since there have been General Conferences, there have been officially scheduled Sunday sessions. (That is not to say that there has not been General Conference work done on the Sabbath. In past General Conferences Sunday has been an unscheduled day to allow rest and relaxation as well as mundane activities such as laundry, etc. Legislative Committees who found themselves behind in their work, often found the need to work part of Sunday.) Some would say, as at least one delegate did, that we should not do such work on the Sabbath. The age old question of sacred vs. secular remains alive today. Some would say that there is a definite division between the two, but this writer sees less and less of a distinction. Instead, I tend to say all things created by God are by their very nature sacred. What secularizes the sacred is the way in which we deal with whatever it is. Thus, it is fine to do the church’s work on the Sabbath. Like any other day, we need to pay particular attention to HOW we do the church’s work.

A couple of Minnesota items: Judy Zabel, delegation chair, and Mary jo Dahlberg were both elected to the inter-jurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy. At their organizational meeting last night (which necessitated their missing the Minnesota dinner) Mary jo was elected to the executive team of this body as a lay representative from the North Central Jurisdiction. This body is the one which facilitates the transfer of bishops across jurisdictional lines – a very rare occurrence. In addition, the Discipleship Legislative Committee has recommended adoption of one of Minnesota’s petitions which calls for the creation of study materials that will inform youth and adults about the theological issues surrounding war and peace. It has yet to come to the floor of the plenary for consideration. Watch this space for this and the fate of other MN petitions.

This morning’s plenary recognized the fourteen bishops who are retiring as well as the new leadership team of the Council of Bishops: President – Bishop Gregory Palmer, President-Designate – Bishop Larry Goodpaster, Secretary – Bishop Robert E. Hayes, Jr., Ecumenical Officer – Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Executive Secretary – Bishop Donald Ott. The last two positions are filled by retired bishops.

Time was also spent celebrating the 40th anniversary of the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction which segregated African-American churches from white churches. This existed from 1939 until 1968. There was also a report on Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century. The morning concluded by the adoption of the first items of legislation.

The entire afternoon will be spent in legislative committees and the evening will be a relaxed one as the Central Texas Conference presents a program for delegates and visitors that celebrates the culture of Central Texas. Monday will signal the beginning of morning, afternoon and evening plenary sessions. Monday evening’s session will be presided over by Bishop Sally Dyck!