I haven’t posted much of substance the past few days. Mostly because there simply isn’t energy to do so.
Two mornings ago, the Council of Bishops presented us with a report we asked them to make.
We took a break and came back to discuss it and one word expressed how it is with my soul: open.
I think emptiness has a lot to do with openness. When you pour yourself out, there is a lot of space left to be filled.
For most of the remainder of the day, we found ourselves lost in parliamentary procedure, mistrust, debate, misunderstanding, chaos, and clamor.
In the end, we adopted the Bishops’ report by 23 votes.
Some of the stages of grief include denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance.
Is openness acceptance?
Am I, are we, collectively grieving the end of The United Methodist Church?
I’m tired and not fully prepared to reflect, but here are some initial asides to explore later:
1) it feels like we both avoided catastrophe.. and like we simply put off the inevitable.
2) Unity in Christ is bigger than unity in a denomination.
3) in spite of our differences, we do incredible discipling and world transforming work!