United Methodist Reporter Blog

Caspian countdown

If Amy’s May 9 blog left you wondering who on the Reporter staff has battled nightmares since GC ended, I’ll confess that I’m the one with that particular form of PGSD.

The good news is, I’ve just returned from a three-day weekend that did wonders for my nerves. I’m now determined to take better care of myself, and to catch up with friends and family who hardly saw or heard from me last month.

I also hope to review a few movies this summer, but won’t need to cover this Friday’s release of Walden Media’s Prince Caspian. . . . Ken traveled to New York early this month on a press junket for the Narnia sequel, and his perceptive take on the film, and the characters’ maturing faith will appear on UMPortal later in the week.

For the moment, let me direct you to Mark Moring’s Christianity Today feature on Phil Anschutz, the reclusive Christian billionaire behind Walden. Mr. Moring didn’t nab an interview with Mr. Anschutz -- no one’s done that, he says, in more than 30 years. But as such profiles go, it’s full of information I’d never read before.

Fuzzy words

I’ve been reading a lot of the blog reactions and fallout from GC. I’ve actually been paying closer attention to that than I did the actual GC, while it was going on. Something to do with being swamped in thousands of words rolling in from Reporter writers alongside UMNS and what scant words the AP had to say about it; imagine sitting alone in a room with a dozen walkie-talkies blaring proceedings from different meetings sans context and you’ll get why my brain was numb.

Tornadoes and other ways to lose one's home

Another round of tornado activity blew through the South this weekend. Thankfully, UMCOR is already on it (and you can help).

I spotted an AP story on the UMPortal's Yahoo! feed covering one community in Oklahoma that may not be allowed to rebuild. The federal government was already in the process of buying out the residents because of the town's status as one of the worst-polluted Superfund sites in the nation.

When God blessed humanity and instructed it (us) to "subdue" the earth, I'm not sure this was the result we were supposed to achieve.

I don't know that we need a task force to study absolutely everything, but I am thankful for the one that will examine global warming and look for ways we can care for the earth. We haven't all created Superfund sites, but there's room for everyone to improve the way we treat God's creation.

Post-GeneralConference Stress Disorder?

In the newsroom yesterday afternoon, we had some talk about what to call the after-effects of General Conference. One of the options was PGSD, or Post-GeneralConference Stress Disorder. It doesn't really hold a candle to PTSD, but the similarities are there. Some of the symptoms we've observed, both in ourselves and in delegates and others who worked at General Conference:

• Fatigue. That one's easy to spot.
• Illness. I talked with a fellow delegate this morning; her voice was not its usual perky timbre. She had to miss out on a business trip she was supposed to take this week, and we know several other delegates who legislated themselves sick, too.
• Nightmares. Some of us news staffers had bad dreams before GC. Others are having them now that it's over.
• Significant impairment in social functioning. I totally lost it the other night when a fellow choir member described the UMC as "in turmoil." (Sorry, friend. I'm sure the sleep deprivation had something to do with it. But I still maintain that we are not in turmoil. Do some more reading, mmkay?)

So, we are looking forward to a weekend of relaxation more than we usually would.

Anybody else dealing with this stuff?  Do share...

How Methodists raise money sitting down -- UM Reporter 5-16

Greetings, e-Readers!

General Conference is over, but you wouldn’t know it here in our newsroom. We’re still carried along by the momentum, and still churning out stories from the big quadrennial event. There just isn’t enough room on our pages for all that’s happened, so you’ll keep hearing about it for a while.

We have some late-in-GC happenings, including the wrap-up on how much money was raised through the auction of a basketball that Bishop Bickerton used in his Nothing But Nets presentation. William Gates Sr. (yes, Mr. Microsoft’s dad) even stopped by and chipped in a matching gift. Proving that the UMC can get good stuff done even during all the sitting, and sitting, and sitting...

Is the Trinity by any other name the same?

The Vatican recently ruled that anyone who was baptized "in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier" didn't really get baptized.

An interesting editorial in Christianity Today suggests that swapping out the traditional "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is akin to heresy.

After all, in the Gospels, Jesus refers to the Father and to himself as the Son. "Yes, he also employs other metaphors for the Godhead, but never so consistently and starkly," the CT editorial writer points out.

Yet mainstream Protestant denominations, says the writer, try to avoid "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" in favor of more gender-neutral language for the Trinity because they "see liberation from patriarchy as a hallmark of the gospel."

I understand the reasoning behind using gender neutral language, but it seems to create some pretty awkward phrasing, such as calling the Holy Spirit an "it" to avoid "he," (even though we refer to three PERSONS, not things, in the Trinity).

Or repeating the word God, as in "God's love for God's own."

What's an enlightened lover of words to do?

Reborn, and Looking Ahead

I feel as if I'm turning over a new leaf today. I'm working on a story that's not related to General Conference.

Looking ahead to June, wedding season, I've started a story relating to how the United Methodist Church is working to save marriages - before they start, and after.

Post-GC blogging blues

I've spent the last hour or so searching the Web for a decent topic to blog about, and haven't found much. After General Conference, all else in the world of religious press -- or at least its United Methodist arena -- seems a bit insignificant.

However, this profile of a Northwest Texas Conference pastor and the congregation he’s preparing to leave after 20 years did catch my eye. If only all local churches could be as vital.

That said, I must add that I'm a little crushed to see that the congregation goes to pains on its Web site not to identify itself as United Methodist. It really is. . . . a quick check of local directories and the NWTX Conference site proves as much. Now there’s a subject worth exploring for a future story.

General Conference Blogpile

So as the dust settles in Cowtown, what impressed you about General Conference 2008? What did you learn? What will you never forget? Did any experience change your mind about something? What are we going to do now that we’re done with General Conference ("Go to Disney World!")? How would you change General Conference if you were dictator?

Our news staffers kick things off after the jump.

GC: Press pass advantage!

Well, I finally put my press pass to good use today: I showed it to John Gordon to avoid getting put on camera.

Since I'd successfully wrangled my way out of it and he was looking at both of us, my friend the Rev. J.J. Whitney graciously agreed to do some talking. Check her out at the "Daily Delegate" video in Windows Media or QuickTime. She gave a far better wrap-up than I could've. She is a preacher, after all; I'm more comfortable typing for an audience.

There's lots more I could blog, but I'm not quite sure how to approach it all. I'm thankful that I let myself sleep in just an extra half-hour this morning after a rough day yesterday. I'm even more thankful that a dear friend who has been known to leave a comment on this blog drove over from the North Texas Conference. Thanks to her, I went all day without having a cookie. She brought me healthy food for breakfast (enough to share with our delegation), went with me to find a quiet spot for lunch, and provided spiritual sustenance, too.

I'm checking out of my hotel in the morning before worship, and I get the impression we won't be adjourning as early as the original schedule indicated, so I'm not sure I'll have time to do a blog entry again until I get home, or perhaps until I'm back into the swing of things in the Reporter newsroom on Monday. But I know I'll be reflecting on the experiences of General Conference 2008 continually.

A Future with Hope. May it be so.