A Healthy Debate

Being a delegate to General Synod is a fascinating role. After roughly 12 hours of debate (a.k.a. – diplomatically arguing) the tension, especially this morning, is palpable. What are we debating? The need to help our seminarians obtain funds through a national-based offering.

After two votes on rather controversial amendments, the resolution itself has been diluted to a point where, as our flagship seminary president mentioned, ineffective. No national offering will be held…and that’s a cynical view. As a seminarian grad with five figures of debt and as a seminarian graduate who didn’t qualify for any UCC scholarships (after all, I am white, male, straight, and ‘privileged,’ coming from a humble low-to-middle class family), this resolution is disappointing.

Yesterday we passed another resolution placing the proverbial cart before the horse with the resolution to divest from fossil fuels. The resolution doesn’t address the sheer problem of demand – our insatiable appetite for gasoline, diesel, oil, coal-driven electricity, etc. Te root core of the problem isn’t the fossil fuel drilling, and digging, although environmentally is a growing detriment tithe world our great-grandchildren will inherit.

While I’m not comfortable in the environmental impact of our culture being victims of comfort, I’m confident we haven’t addressed successfully the core of the problem.

Not so surprisingly, this happens frequently here.

I call it…

Passion.

Passion energizes our vision, influences our stance, and even allows us to dig our heels in, even in the fog of seeing through our own lenses. Passion does, indeed, prevent progress as much as it is capable of encouraging progress.

Being “gung-ho”, on the band wagon, on the right track without paying attention to the finer points has been an accusation of one of the flaws of the United Church of Christ. While gifted in seeing a bigger picture, the finer points do occasionally get lost in the mix. I feel this happened last night and this morning.

It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.

Still, that’s the beauty of the UCC. This wild, wonderful gaggle of delegates comes together to be the Church in all its wonder, glory, function, and dysfunction.

That’s Church. National speaking to and not for the local church.

Frustrating? Yes. Beautiful, too? Yes.

One of speakers stated (in a few more words) that if you love something you love it with a passion.

You stand up for it.

You speak up for it.

You may even fight for it.

Do you love your Church?

I do. All of it.

Tension, Conflict, and Faith: The “Joys” of Being a Pastor & Delegate in a Larger Church Setting

This morning I sat in a Q&A session about divestment in fossil fuels through our national setting investment corporation, a movement that is passionate about socially conscious-free investments. More clearly, investing monies in companies or businesses that do not harm people, environment and the like. Hopefully that’s a clear enough picture that I’ve painted.

I’m now in my committee (OY! Committees!?!?!? Yep, that’s the congregational way of doing things) discussing resolution 14, RESOLUTION SUPPORTING COMPASSIONATE COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND THE PROTECTION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS (sorry about the caps lock thing, I’m a little to lazy this morning to retype a copy and paste).

This has been an informative hour and a half,my brain breaching max capacity. If I forget a few of my family member’s names, I can blame the sheer volume of information that has my slots full.

There’s a conflict in my heart. A good conflict. While faithfully mindful of the environment as it pertains to a healthy world, i.e. agriculture, I also am pastorally mindful, compassionately mindful, of my constituents in rural NE Colorado, home of one of me largest fracking industries in the nation. If you’re familiar with both fracking and faith,you understand my conflict, the tension within which I exist. I’m also in conflict due to the context within which I pastor, rural Colorado, where labor forces for agricultural industries rely heavily upon migrant or immigrant hands.

While agricultural field or slaughter jobs are available, many Caucasian folk aren’t likely to apply for open positions. Again, conflict rises in an area with heavily Hispanic/other immigrant population rises as an economic/industry need and yet conflicting with negative or even uneducated sentiment toward the particular race or culture entering in. While our church’s local history is one of immigration and cultural resentment toward founding members, perhaps the history has been forgotten, perhaps empathy has been replaced with an unfortunate cynicism. All in all, I’m in conflict. There have been ICE raids in our locale, and did I mention, I also carry a badge, as the Commander of the Volunteer Chaplains of our local law enforcement agency. Conflict once again…layers…

…and layers…

…and layers…

…of inner, spiritual conflict.

The environmental impact of fracking is debatable in some socio-economic arenas, in other words, depending on where one lives, the opinion will likely change…greatly. Similarly, the,issue of immigration is more heated now (particularly in the southwest) than ever before, even though this present administration, while promising a better life for immigrants, is responsible for the highest rate of deportation and even detaining undocumented folk than any other administration in our nations history.

Surprised? I am.

Appalled? You should be, if you’ve heard the stories of unfair treatment, of systematic oppression only comparable to the likes of Jewish concentration camps of the late 1930’s early 1940’s.

This is all new information I’ve taken in in the last 2 hours…I’m emotionally pooped.

So here’s where I am in all of this…at the moment…as I continue to be informed by new information and by your responses, as members of the local church, to navigate a proper and valuable vote to represent who I represent…the local church member.

I am not in favor of the resolution to divest from fossil fuels as it does not address appropriately our insatiable appetite for them, aka – demand. I also do not agree with a section of the resolution that states fossil fuel companies business plans are completely flawed. Perhaps staying at the table as investors to steer these same companies toward renewable energy? My answer is, “I don’t know, but is it possible?” All things are possible.

As it pertains to the committee I am sitting on/in (follow this link to the current resolution as its been proposed before any amendments via committeeresolution #14) I am in favor of the resolution.

I’m in favor because my faith, our faith, should continuously call us into this notion of neighbor. Do you love your neighbor? St. Augustine’s definition of neighbor was whoever was standing/sitting beside you. So, I ask the question, who is your neighbor and do they have to be right beside you?

I look forward to your (the local church’s) input. God’s grace and peace to you.