South Central Jurisdiction

News from the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women in the United Methodist Church. For more information: www.gcsrw.org

Women comprise approximately 59% of the membership in the South Central Jurisdiction.

1. Laywomen in the South Central Jurisdiction comprise 48% of the jurisdictional delegates. Seven conferences have 50% or more women in their lay delegation. Two conferences have no laywomen as delegates to jurisdictional conference.

2. Clergywomen comprise 32% of the jurisdictional delegates. Nine conferences have more than 32% clergywomen as their delegates. Two conferences have no clergywomen as delegates to jurisdictional conferences.

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I remember a year or so ago in Seminary when a young seminary student said, "I hate that we keep bringing up all this feminist stuff. I mean, we've all moved beyond the need for this any longer." He was very sincere, very naive but sincere. He felt the same way about race. Only a white male that grew up in a very affluent household could be that naive, and even then it was a little startling.

Shame on those two conferences that didn't see fit, to even try, to equally represent their conferences. I am curious if it will even be brought up at the conference. Will their lack of female representation even be mentioned?

Feminine Images

Feminine images in the hymnals are apparently under attack by a certain group. I was concerned about the postings that I had read about on different blogs, so I contacted a resource at the General Board of Discipleship. This was his reply:

Rumors may stop here.Here are the facts:
1) Good News HAS stated that it will try to press a new hymnal committee(which hasn't been formed because the legislation to form it has not been voted by General Conference) not to approve hymns with "questionable theology." That's a pretty broad term that could mean different things to different people.
2) Some may interpret the stated concerns of Good News to mean an attempt to remove any sort of feminine images for God. They have not said that. That part would be rumor. They HAVE identified, by title, some of the same hymns in TFWS they went after when the collection was first published, and the ones they have specifically named DO include feminine imagery for God. But that is not the same thing as saying "We want to remove all hymns with feminine imagery for God."
3) TFWS CANNOT be up for revision by GC action because it was never approved by GC in the first place. It is not a supplement to the 1989 UMH in any legal sense for that reason. It is simply a songbook, developed largely by GBOD and UMPH, and published by UMPH. I do not know at this point whether UMPH is considering a second edition of TFWS or something like it. They haven't asked us at GBOD in any official way to participate in it if they do have that in the works.

And in the meantime, if you haven't done the survey yet, please do now. As a hint, it will be MUCH easier for you if you print out the survey first, or have a hymnal and TFWS ready and pre-select the 10 you love and hate rather than trying to work through those decisions online.Here's that link:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JqqQD9anWCmmPk9oc6QApg_3d_3d

That is the end of the official word on the subject except to recommend that all interested parties do the survey. Today in chapel we sang, "This is My Father's World", and I loved it. However, I believe that if you claim that God is ONLY MALE then it is your theology that is weak. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

And my opinion probably isn't going to influence anyone very much but we have to defend all minorities against some of the bigotry that comes from ALL groups. Nazi Germany and history should teach us a lesson otherwise we have learned nothing.
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Okay, total change of subject. Classes are going great. I'm loving it. Went further down South to have dinner with friends, loved that too. My back is killing me from sitting in very, very uncomfortable chairs. However, I have kept up the work-out schedule and healthy eating (for the most part).

You remember the Hummer vs Mini-Van accident yesterday. I drove by the Hummer this morning and it didn't even have a scratch on it, a few pieces of broken glass. Crap--destroying the environment and innocent mini-vans.

First They Came

I know that all of you are aware of the poem written by Martin Niemoller:

"First They Came"

When the Nazis came for the communists,I remained silent;I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,I did not speak out;I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,I remained silent;I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.

There is a purpose for me reminding you about this poem. If I receive permission to re-print an email I received, I hope that you can see where I am leading. The vast majority remain silent because it doesn't seem to directly impact our lives.

Feminism

I love being a feminist. I love knowing that I am strong and capable. However, there are times when being married would really be nice. Having someone to stick up for you, having someone to give you back rubs (and foot rubs and all the other benefits) BUT ESPECIALLY someone to deal with the car dealership.



I left this morning to get my oil changed. I went to the car dealership because they still owed me one free oil change and tire rotation. I'm trying to make sure that everything is good to go before I leave for Houston. I get there at 11:45 a.m. I am told, "We are leaving for lunch and will be back at 1 p.m." Great! I'm thirty miles from home." I ended up visiting family so it turned out okay but it was 3 p.m. before I got home. The good news is that I did have a slow leak in one of my tires and they fixed it for me. (I am pretty meticulous about oil changes and my tires maintenance. If you break down out here, you can be totally out of touch because cell service is very, very spotty.)

I'm thinking of an analogy between poor customer service at a car dealership and the church. We have some of the same issues. We want everything according to our own schedule, we want to set all of the terms of the deal, and we are willing to shop around if we don't like the service.

I need to tap into some of your pastoral experiences. I have a man who has been a member of the church - forever. He is in his 70s and has Parkinson's Disease. He has been a pillar of the church and chair of the Trustee's for years. However, old age, disease, anger, etc. have made him borderline abusive. He called one of our members who hasn't been coming to church and told him that his mother's memorial garden needed to be ripped out and re-sodded because his family wasn't taking care of it the way they had promised. In the course of this conversation, Trustee guy called Absent Guy "A traitor to the church". I know that there are some anger issues involved in Parkinson's (my grandfather died from this disease). However, I think that he crossed the line. I'm really at a loss about how to handle this. Salvaging Absent Guy's involvement in the church is very doubtful (He has already begun attending another local church). My question is how do I curb the tongue and actions of Trustee Guy without causing some kind of rift in the church?