Joye and Brenda Go To RioTexas Annual Conference

2015

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Not my article, and a different story, but many true words here.

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Transforming Communities and Uniting Peoples

My favorite plenary session of the conference was Saturday afternoon. There were various reports from the people doing good things for the communities they serve. The work these organizations are doing is amazing!

One such group we heard from is Project Transformation. This is the best of the best. The basic idea is that college age students serve as interns over the summer providing a day camps for school aged children at churches in underserved communities. Their time at the camp is not only spent on fun but also helping to provide reading and academic support to bridge the summer learning gap. They are able to effect not only the lives of the children who participate but also the interns and the communities. If you’d like more information here’s their website http://projecttransformation.org/riotx/ The program in the Rio Texas Conference is small right now but it hopes to grow over the coming years.

Woot! This is where it’s at!

Brenda

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

The Glory of Submission

When I saw the title of the sermon for Saturday morning’s worship service, my stomach lurched. This word, submission, has powerful connotations. Those who know me, know that the idea of submitting to anything outside my own free will doesn’t sit well with me. The sermon focused on the submission to the will of God above all else. Bishop Michael Lowry asked us to forgo worldly pursuits in favor of living the life God wants us to live. 

In and of itself, I don’t have a problem with that concept. Living a life where you treat other people with kindness, forgive often and love completely. Yup, I’m all for that AND historically that is not necessarily how submitting to God’s will has been played out in the lives of the religious (many religions, not just Christianity) around the world. The call for submission of women, submission of people of color, submission of LGBTQ people has meant the poor treatment of all these groups of people. Who decides what God’s will really is and how does that play out in the policies of the church? When humans decide what that means, they often get it wrong. 

I feel conflicted even bringing this up AND I want to be real about my experience of Annual Conference. So there it is.

Brenda 

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Dennis Akpona from Nigeria spoke about his work providing healthcare services to LGBTQ people in Nigeria. He spoke of threats to his life, torture and the blessings of asylum in the U.S. Again stories that were hard to hear. He is doing wonderful things for the other refugees coming to Chicago through the organization he co-founded CLASP - Chicago LGBT Asylum Program. Dennis thank you for sharing yourself with us. Brenda

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Service of Remembrance

Tonight was the Service of Remembrance. It was a very nice service, led by Bishop Dorff, with the (excellent) message given by Bishop Minerva Carcaño. As the names of each of those ministers or spouses who have died in the last year were read, a candle was lit. If present, the family stood. I wanted to stand for each of the others, those who didn’t have anyone there to stand for them. I thought of my grandparents, members of the North Mississippi Conference (now Mississippi Conference). I wondered if anyone had stood for them, especially my grandmother, who had died so far away, in the Oklahoma Conference.

Then, more names. One person started reading a list, then another joined in with a different list, then another, and another, and another until the room was a cacophony of sound, full of names, an accounting of lives. It was very moving, to understand that all these people would be remembered in this way, every year.

Does this happen in every conference? This summer, were my grandparents’ names read aloud, heard by ears that had no idea who they were, but remembered nonetheless? I hope so! But if not, I remember, will always remember.

Isaac Page Box, Senior

Grace Jones Box

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Ready to Come To The Waters #RioTxAC http://ift.tt/1C3Qywm

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Apparently I'm now allergic to shellfish! Half a dozen crab legs later and I'm a red splotchy mess. Benadryl here I come! #RioTxAC #eatingincorpus

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Wellsprings of Justice Lunch

Bishop Minerva Carcaño spoke at the lunch sponsored by MFSA. Some of the stories she had to tell were hard to hear. She told us about her work and the work of the UMC to help and support immigrants, especially unaccompanied minors. It broke my heart to hear about the 11 year old boy who made his way from Honduras to Texas only to have his life cut short from hunger and dehydration just after he crossed the Rio Grande River. I can’t begin to imagine sending one of the girls on such a journey. I can’t imagine how horrible the life his family was living that would compel his mother to send him. I can’t imagine not knowing if my child was alive or dead. There is such a great need in this invisible community. A need for care, for love, for support. It’s overwhelming.

Brenda

#RioTxAC

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

First close vote!

Since we are uniting two conferences, new standing rules needed to be adopted. There was a clause that read "Additional lay members required to equalize lay and clergy membership shall be assigned to each district based upon district membership...etc). Someone moved to change it to having them assigned to the local church based on local church membership. It was narrowly defeated. Had to go past hand raising to standing up. So exciting!

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Oak Hill UMC is representing with the rainbow stoles! More than other delegations! Bring it on for full inclusion! 

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

OHUMC Laity Delegation is in the house! #RioTxAC http://ift.tt/1IzfMHV

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

I couldn't think of caption for this that wasn't pathetic! Options: Now we're legit! Too legit to quit! ATX in the house! Yup, no comments please. -Brenda 

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

The ubiquitous feet by the pool photo! Brenda #RioTxAC #thesweetlife

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Late breakfast/early lunch at Price’s Chef. Amazing Diner breakfast and exactly what I wanted! #RioTxAC #EatingInCorpus #Me http://ift.tt/1FM0ThY

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

I’m having the buscuits! I wonder if I can get them with groovy?

#RioTxAC #eatingincorpus

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Born-again PK reminiscings

When I was growing up, Annual Conference was just a way of life. Just like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, there was Annual Conference. Sometimes it was in the city we lived in or near (variously, Tulsa or Oklahoma City) – those years I had to go and stay in the child care (ugh).  In the years it wasn’t in our city, other arrangements were usually made. Grandparents might come stay with my brother and I, or I might spend the long weekend with friends, or a long-term babysitter might come stay with us. 

My overwhelming impression of conference was that it was BORING. Stupendously so.  Except there was this … dinner variety show called GridIron that my parents looked forward to with great anticipation every year, full of hilarity and fun.  When they’d get home from it late late at night, they were still laughing, and then there would be inside jokes between them and my aunt and uncle (not just a Preacher’s Kid, but a Preacher’s Niece and a Preacher’s Granddaughter, for that matter. And now a Preacher’s Cousin. Maybe someday a Preacher’s Mom or Preacher’s Grandmother?), wait, where was I? Oh, right, inside jokes between my parents and aunt/uncle and their clergy friends. Oh, how I wanted to go to GridIron! But…it was never to be.  

Only recently have I found out the GridIron started as an underground young progressive clergy satire show in much the spirit of Laugh In. I wonder if anyone ever filmed it?  I wonder if RioTexas has something like it?  Would I be invited if I were clergy? Would it be like a secret club? Like the Skull & Bones at Yale? Would there be a secret handshake?  

What would a secret liberal clergy society’s handshake look like? 

- Joye

[joyeandbrendagotoconference]

Dinner Comment

The only thing I have to add about tonight's dinner is that we should have run for the hills when the "chef" had to go put on his shirt before he could cook our meal. Ewww!  - Brenda