“We have the audacity to believe that we accomplish great things by ourselves and on our own…instead of leaning on the One who is the source of all goodness…As United Methodists, we sing ‘All to Jesus, I Surrender.’ But do we? Do we truly surrender ourselves to the only One who can dignify the dirty and transform the trash?”

—Bishop Sharma Lewis

One of the great honors of my life is being part of the creation and facilitation of weekly worship opportunities for a congregation. It has become clear to me over the years that congregants have a deep, personal, and passionate sense of what they want their liturgy and worship environment to include and not include. Not a week goes by that I don’t receive some clearly voiced opinions in this regard. Decades of such opinions about worship have conditioned me to receive the opinions for what they are at their best—people’s heartfelt guarding of their worship’s content and setting, both of which, they believe, are important enough to preserve and defend. 

Of course, such a spirit of guarding and preservation can become hardened and fixed, creating a kind of cynicism toward anything outside of one’s liturgical preferences, so that one becomes landlord to the liturgy instead of on open-minded worshiper. This tendency has manifested itself in my own attitudes toward worship more than once. 

Part of why I love the experience of daily worship at General Conference is the way it regularly leads me outside of my familiar rhythms of doxology. I encounter here liturgical language and artistic expression that challenge and elevate my sensibilities; styles of prayer that meaningfully energize my engagement with the presence of God; and preaching cadence and content that inspire a heightened attentiveness.

This morning’s worship, for example, included innovative music that awakened my soul, sacred dance that intensified my availability to biblical truth, and liturgical language that compelled me to think more expansively about the life of discipleship. When Bishop Sharma Lewis, during her preaching, asked, “Do we truly surrender ourselves to the only One who can dignify the dirty and transform the trash?”—I wanted to say yes to following Jesus all over again. Such, I suppose, is the power of what the Holy Spirit can accomplish, even in—and sometimes especially in—the freshness of unfamiliar and creative liturgy.

Today’s vibrant worship led us into a morning plenary session that included the General Conference’s approval of a one-time exception to the normative delegate election cycle. This was an important act, given the many pandemic-related postponements and irregularities that the global church has accommodated over the last four years. The practical result of this one-time exception is the official credentialing of those delegates and reserve delegates who were elected in 2023 to fill vacancies. I celebrate that these gifted minds and souls have now been officially credentialed to be part of the General Conference’s work.

We spent the later portion of the morning and the entire afternoon in our legislative sections throughout the Convention Center. In my legislative section (Global Ministries), we discussed, amended, perfected, and ultimately approved two different and significantly updated ministry responses to the global HIV and AIDS pandemic. One of these responses is entitled “A Covenant to Care: Recognizing and Responding to the Many Faces of HIV and AIDS in the USA.” The second response, addressing the urgent need for HIV and AIDS care outside of the US, is entitled “The Church and the Global HIV and AIDS Pandemic.” Both responses are extensive, calling for the UMC’s commitment to witnessing to the gospel through service, advocacy, education, and ensuring the provision of medical care. Each local United Methodist church can become a place of advocacy and compassion in this regard.

Both responses will go onto the consent calendar, as they were approved with overwhelming support by the legislative section.

Today’s work in the legislative section reminded me of how grateful I am to be part of a church that sees the continuing scourge of HIV and AIDS as an opportunity to incarnate the love of Jesus in a way that brings help and healing into places of profound suffering. 

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be our final day of legislative section work. All of next week will be full-day plenary sessions.

A good day. 

Peace to all of you.