Monday

Hey Everyone! Well, this is going to be short and sweet, well, because I'm absolutely weary. We had a great time last night at the 4th of July celebration. Minneapolis is a beautiful city, and it the fireworks celebration was phenomenal. And as much as I love Alabama sometimes, I must say that I like the Minnesota fireworks soundtrack of Springsteen and Ray Charles much better than the Alabama country music soundtrack. There wasn't a bad Lee Greenwood song anywhere to be found :)!

Today was an incredibly long, emotional, fascinating, and wearying day. I'm serving on the Church Orders and Ministry committee, and we are dealing with the ordination standards for the church. There are several resolutions which we have been called to consider--some to strengthen our ordination standards, some to make them more open, some calling for further interpretations. We had open hearings this morning, so folks from all over the map came to share their stories with us. We heard from folks who believe that God has created them as gays and lesbians, others who said that they have felt and acted upon homosexual tendencies, but have now received God's grace and are changed. We heard from folks who are celibate, and folks who are not. We heard from folks who felt like the PC(USA) had excluded them and have sought refuge in other denominations. We heard from folks who feel that homosexuality in and of itself is a sin, and folks who proudly say that God created them as gay and loves them dearly. All of these stories are stories of great faith, and it was profoundly humbling that each and every one of these sisters and brothers opened up to us and shared their deepest longings, hopes, and concerns with us.

We vote on these recommendations tomorrow, so please be in prayer for our committee, and for every single person who are decisions will affect--and there are a lot of them. I'm still processing all that I heard and saw and experienced today, so I'll write more later. Peace, everyone! Rachel