This morning began with another wonderful worship service. We were able to participate in singing, dancing, and expressing ourselves in the ways in which we all choose to worship. The speaker was with us from Switzerland and brought us a message of being one with the world.
Following worship we were given a delicious coffee and croissant break. Mmmmmmmm….hopefully it puts everyone in a loving mood as we begin our legislation process where we will remember that we are one, while we are also each of us unique.
One of the most amazing pieces of the legislative assembly this year is that all people, no matter the language they speak were asked to wear listening devices so that people could speak in their own native language and all could be translated as they were speaking instead of having to stop and retranslate.
We had an exciting experience this afternoon for our cultural excursion. We got to go to the Holocaust Memorial, the German Parliament and many other historic Berlin buildings. We had to go through security at the Parliament building, and my pedometer of all things set the security off, so I had to get wanded. Pretty crazy since it has never set anything off in any airport.
Once inside the building we had a great guided tour of the building and what it means to be part of the German parliament. We also got to go and see the large earth friendly dome on the top of the parliament building. It was all in all an amazing tour. And, on our way there we got to see the Olympic torch being brought through the city of Berlin, for the youth Olympics. It was pretty cool.
Following our tour we got to go to an amazing little United Methodist Church that had prepared a pretty authentic German meal for us including potato salad and schnitzel. We had great hospitality and learned about the amazing ministry of a church in Germany who is doing outreach to children, families and everyone in their area. It was a wonderfully cultural experience.
Now we are back in the big room finishing up some legislation and then going to bed for another day of legislation tomorrow.
Today we dealt with some of the difficult issues surrounding same sex unions in states and countries which allow them. We did our best to remain civil with one another, recognizing our differences as well as trying to work within the bounds of unity. I believe that the votes here at our Global Young People’s Convocation are what will be similar to the votes at General Conference 2012, it saddens my heart to see that the direction we are headed as a church seems to be further and further away from unity and more toward division. It also saddens my heart to know that perhaps this may be the beginning of a new phase in the United Methodist Church in which we find different parts of our denomination going their separate ways.
On a personal note, ask Marcy or Glen, it’s true, I have acquired a stalker here in Germany. That’s all I will say, you can ask me or them for detailsJ
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