A Common Table

The Opening Worship of the 2012 United Methodist General Conference held in Tampa, Fla. brings together worshipers from around the globe. A UMNS photo by Kathleen Barry.

The opening worship is about to begin and the conference will come to the common table to receive the sacrament as a gift of grace. People coming together from all over the world to be at table with one another, some are rich, some are poor, some are conservative, some are liberal, some have fancy doctorate degrees, some are well educated in life. All of them are coming together at a common table, anticipating the business of the church at hand.

This morning I took notice of some of the tweets from General Conference. Among them was this message from Bishop Stanovsky:

“Slow down on an elevator; sit with someone you’ve never known. Listen to another person’s life.” Rev Diane, GC briefing. #gc2021 #UMC

I was encouraged to read that this. Conferencing at its best is about building relationships.

I am prayerful for this General Conference that there will continue to be more relationship building even while the difficult decisions of legislation happen. At the end of the day there will be winners and there will be losers as people must decide to vote yes or no. It is difficult to build relationships across those lines. That simple binary decision of yes or no creates so much division. There is no option to vote “maybe” or “in some cases yes, in some cases no.” How will we be the church of the common table when so much of the process demands that there will be winners and there will be losers?

I believe it is possible to be graceful in the process but it takes the determined effort of all the parties involved. Perhaps there will be delegates who take the advice to slow down and listen to another person’s life. Perhaps they will share stories over a meal. Perhaps the grace of Holy Communion will not only happen at the opening worship but throughout the coming days of the General Conference.