Wrapping It Up

Today was the final day of conference. It is always a bit of a challenge to check out of the hotel and attend the last morning activities. I arrived in time to hear the moderator speak and see the  consecration of next year's moderator and moderator elect.

The preacher was Suely Inhauser of Brazil.

I kissed my sister good-bye as she headed for the airport. Then I headed out in search of food. If you are ever in Charlotte, NC I can recommend the fried green tomatoes and crab cakes stack at the Mimosa Grill!

Then to the airport for my trip home. The Charlotte airport was filled with Brethren. I had great conversations with people as we unpacked this year's experience. Mary Kay and I were on the same flights home. It was good to be with her. Her daughter picked us up at the airport. Bryan was at LAX dropping off Matt who is on his way to Senegal!  I am so glad to be home.

Business at Conference

I still was not feeling great on Tuesday so I got out of the breakfast meeting I was supposed to attend at 6:45 am.  I made it to the Convention Center by 8:30 am because Katrina was planning to speak at the microphone concerning the amendment on Equitable Representation on the M&M Board.  This amendment would have further reduced the representation of West Coast Brethren. I checked in with Katrina and she was ready.  But things had changed overnight.  The Moderator called for more table talk and when people lined up at the microphones Katrina was no longer first.  Several speeches ahead of her were against the amendment (which was also her opinion) so the moderator said he was looking for speeches in favor.  Katrina never got to speak....but the amendment did fail.

I think the thing that has most surprised me about this conference is the lack of vitriolic speeches and the mood of the business.  The business has been peaceful, respectful and thoughtful....at least from my vantage point.  A statement against drone warfare passed and the query on Scriptural Authority was answered by reminding us of our 1979 paper on the subject.  I was grateful for the process.

BMC hosted a worship service in the late afternoon to recognize 10 new Churches of the Brethren that have joined SCN.  

The preacher was Christy Dowdy and her sermon was excellent.  The service ended with communion. I was so deeply moved by the journey we have been on and the welcome to the table that I couldn't stop crying.  The fact that I was sharing this with my sister made me even more emotional.

After the service I hurried back to the BMC booth to staff it until worship began.  I find the booth to be a place of welcome for me.  The evening service was a dialogue sermon between a conservative and a progressive in the church.  Can we stay together as a church?

Lazy Monday

I woke up feeling even worse.  I went to a breakfast meeting and when I opened my mouth to talk I realized just how bad I sounded.  But I had some responsibilities so I headed over to the convention center after the meeting.  Morning business was mostly preliminary stuff. Lunch was the Womaen's Caucus luncheon.  It was very well done.  I stopped at first aid hoping for some help with the way I was feeling.  The worker told me he could take my blood pressure or give me a bandaid.  So I decided that the best medicine would be sleep. I spent the rest of the day taking care of my body....and my soul. At 9 pm I went to the insight session on the On Earth Peace inclusion statement.  The conversation was very respectful.

New Sunday Schedule

Annual conference this year tried out a new model.  Business was delayed a full day to have us worship together, pray together, and spend time in spiritual workshops.  The day began with a worship service.  The three point sermon was preached by Phillip Yancey around the theme of grace and safety in the church.  After worship I attended the workshop led by Shawn Kirchner on music and prayer.  Shawn's workshop took place on the stage so that he could have a piano.  His workshop was packed.    Extra chairs needed to be brought in.  Still people were standing, sitting on the floor and some couldn't find a place on the stage and sat below on the main floor.  It was a deeply worshipful hour.

For lunch I attended the University of La Verne Alumni luncheon.  I always enjoy this lunch and learn new things about my alma mater.  I am also grateful that the president of the university comes to Annual Conference.

We had another worship service in the afternoon.  The service was a three point sermon by Mark Yaconelli on prayer.  He urged us to begin by slowing down. After the service, my sister and I were scheduled to staff the Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests booth -- only the second year BMC has had a booth in the exhibit hall.  The booth this year portrays the rapid growth in SCN churches and is sandwiched between Womaen's Caucus and New Community Project.

Each SCN church is represented by a candle.

The Womaen's Caucus booth is always filled with good people.

I skipped out of the evening "concert of prayer". The choir tour schedule has caught up with me and I am not feeling well.

To Annual Conference

Saturday morning we could choose to go back to the Biltmore Estate, stay at the hotel or take a tour with Rebecca as our guide.  I chose to go with Rebecca--34 of us went.  Rebecca did an awesome job of sharing Southern culture with us and teaching us how to say, "The Lord Have mercy."

First we headed to the birthplace on Governor Zebulon B. Vance, one of Rebecca's ancestors.

Zebulon Vance was the governor of North Carolina during the Civil War.  We got a tour of the home where he was born.

Next we got a driving tour of Rebecca's hometown of Weaverville, which was named for one of her ancestors.  We returned to Asheville to tour the childhood home of Thomas Wolfe, which inspired his book "Look Homeward, Angel". 

I enjoyed the tour. It made me want to read that book, now that I have visited the setting for the book.

We were given a half hour to find food and make it back to the bus. Everyone managed to do that.  They are a remarkable group.  Back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the group.  While we waited for everyone to load up, I entertained myself by taking a picture of the sign in the bus bathroom.

Heading on to Charlotte for the culmination of our choir tour I passed the time by taking cloud pictures....again.

Shawn and Nike had us run through the pieces we would sing in worship.  By the time we arrived in Charlotte, I felt better prepared.  We scurried off to our hotel rooms to get on our concert black and meet in the worship hall by 5:30 pm for a sound check and quick run through.  I don't know how Shawn and Nike walk into a new venue and get us all set up and ready each time.  We sang in worship, which went long.  That meant they had no time to go over any music with us between worship and our concert.  With smiles on their faces, they lead us through a great concert.

To celebrate and because we were all hungry we headed over to the Ember Grille.  Bob Dyer shared the epic poem he wrote for our tour and we said our thank yous to those who made this tour possible. The tour was fabulous in every way. I told people I thought it was the first bus tour I had ever been on in which I still liked everyone when the tour ended.  What an amazing group.  So much thanks goes to Laurie for all she did to make things run smoothly and to accommodate everyone's needs.  Have I said how much I like this church?

Friday on the Bus

We left Harrisburg Friday morning with the hope of driving 3 hours to Mabry's Mill without having to make a stop.  The bad news is that GPS led us astray through some winding back roads.  Several people got to feeling quite ill and everyone was ready for a restroom by the time we made it to this lovely spot.  We toured the mill....

...and then found a picnic grounds to eat food we had picked up from the store at the mill.  There were biscuits with ham, Southern fried chicken, pickled beets and more.  It was a lovely spot.

We arrived in Asheville much later than planned, so we dropped off people at the hotel who were not joining us on the tour of the Biltmore Estate.  Then we hustled off immediately to Biltmore.  They stayed open for us and took us right in, dividing us into multiple groups.  It was an amazing home/castle. I would show you incredible pictures but alas, we were not allowed to take any pictures indoors.  Here is the outside to give you a hint on how magnificent the inside might be.

After the tour we boarded the bus in the rain, expecting a downpour. By the time we took the short ride to Antler Village the rain had stopped.  We divided into groups of 4-6 people and had very delicious meals.  We got to our hotel around 11 pm.

Lazy Thursday

When I got to my room on Wednesday night I was done in.  I called my husband and asked his opinion if I should not participate in the Thursday activities.  He said, "If you are wondering that, it means you are completely exhausted and should rest." So I can't report about the group's experience visiting Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. I slept until noon and then went in search of a Target.  It was a bit of a hike but the exercise felt so good after all the bus riding.  One of the things I miss in California is all the clouds.  So I spent time taking cloud pictures.

Back on the bus in concert dress, we headed to Bridgewater Church of the Brethren for dinner and an evening concert. After figuring out the staging, location of the piano and the idiosyncrasies of sound we gave an excellent concert.  The Bridgewater CoB is lovely.

I enjoy singing in the choir but more than that I love being with the choir....a collection of wonderful people.

As a reward for our good singing we stopped for ice cream on the way home. The pictures of Ryan, Zandra and I using the hula hoop at the ice cream stand are not included!

Wednesday

One bus and a couple cars set off today for Virginia. The bus left at 9 am and pulled in after 4 pm.  It was a long bus trip that included a very scenic drive on the Skyline Highway.  

When there wasn't beauty to see out the window I entertained myself by taking pictures of the fashion statements on the bus.

Ryan entertained himself by putting on his headphones and dancing at the back of the bus.

Most people found more conventional ways of occupying themselves....like sleeping, playing Scrabble, talking and singing.  Shawn waited to take his nap until he could stretch out in the hotel lobby.

We had a very quick turn around in order to head off to the John Kline Homestead.  Our group was too big to accommodate us all at the same time so we were split into smaller groups.  My group started at the Linville Creek Church of the Brethren, the home congregation of M.R. Zigler and John Kline.

We were given a tour by a retired minister who shares his politics on the bumper of his truck.

We saw a film about John Kline and then toured two of the church's rooms dedicated to historical items.

The Linville Creek church has a very large cemetery on its property.  We found John Kline's tombstone

And M.R. Zigler's.

Next we headed to the Tunker Home, birthplace of M.R. Zigler.  This woman gave us some historical data and then we toured her home--set up very much like a museum.

When we left her home we turned right on Brethren Rd. and headed for the John Kline Homestead.

It was now our turn to have dinner as actors portrayed the life on the John Kline Homestead for us.  The meal was out of this world.  Chicken fricasse, sour cream mashed potatoes, succotash, fresh baked rolls, baked asparagus, pickled watermelon rind, meadow tea and cherry pie ala mode. It was absolutely heavenly.  By candlelight actors around us showed us life in a pacifist home during the Civil War, complete with a knife wielding Confederate soldier.  It was a splendid evening.

We got back to the hotel after 10 pm--absolutely stuffed with good food. I think I will not join the group for tomorrow's excursion. I am plum tuckered out.

Another Day of the Choir Tour

Wednesday was an optional day and since I chose to go to Gettysburg, I can't share about what other groups did.  Up and on the bus by 8 am, we pulled out of the parking lot at 8:03. I have been very appreciative of how considerate everyone is at getting to the bus on time.  I love this church.

We arrived at Gettysburg at 9:30 to meet our National Park guide.  He got on the bus and began our tour at the Peace Memorial.  Seventy-five years after the Civil War, 1,800 Civil War Veterans, from both sides, gathered to dedicate this memorial for peace. I think it might have helped me to end the tour here, rather than begin here.  There was so much death and destruction with the Battle of Gettysburg that by the end of the tour I left feeling heavy with grief

Our guide took us through each of the three days of this horrific battle -- from both the Union and Confederate sides.  We ended at a place called Little Round Top that was pivotal in the battle.  From there we could see the whole valley.

Several of us were disappointed that we didn't get to visit the place where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address...saving something for our next trip, I guess. We stopped at the Visitors Center to see a film about the Battle of Gettysburg and to visit the Cyclorama -- a huge circular mural that depicts the horrific Pickett's Charge.

Next we had Visitor Center food -- you know the kind--and then returned to Bird-in-Hand to hear how our choir friends spent their days.  We threw on our concert dress and headed to Elizabethtown for the second day in row.  The church hosted us for dinner at the cafeteria of Elizabethtown College.

After our "purposeful" dinner (before all concerts Nike tells us to eat our meals with purpose) we headed to the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren.  Around 140 people came and we rocked it!  We greeted people at the reception following the concert and then boarded the bus in the rain and headed back to our hotels in a thunderstorm.

Day Three

By 9:30 am we were on the bus and beginning a tour with our guide, whose parents had both been raised Amish. We drove by many Amish homes as he described the Amish way of life.  

Then we stopped at his mother's quilt shop. The prices seemed reasonable and the Brethren shopping extravaganza began.

We spent so much time there that we did not get to go to the candle shop on the itinerary. Instead we stopped at a roadside store that is owned and operated by an Amish family.  We drank homemade root beer, ate soft pretzels and purchased pickled beets and whoopie pies for later consumption.

Our next stop was the Hess homestead, now owned by a young Amish couple.  

After a delightful lunch served to us in the basement of the home, we went for a peek inside the Amish school across the street.  We sat in the desks while Dot's sister-in-law described the Amish education system.

The men took turns using the boy's bathroom.

Then a tour of the stable to see horses, cows and the German shepherd puppies.

After our thank yours and good-byes had been spoken, we headed to Ephrata for a tour of the cloister.  

We liked the acoustics in this building and so we sang Spirit of the Living God for our guide.

After our guide finished describing the history and life of Ephrata, we went off in different directions with our few remaining minutes.  I headed down to the cemetery and found the grave of Conrad Beisel.

Back to Bird-in-Hand for a few minutes of rest and then dinner at the smorgasbord.  I had ham balls, mashed potatoes with gravy, zucchini casserole, beets and pie....good Pennsylvania cuisine. Then off to Elizabethtown to visit the Young Center at Elizabethtown College. Jeff Bach was waiting for us.  We sat in a room that reflected the architecture of early Brethren meetinghouses. Jeff wowed the group with his knowledge of our history.  I learned so many new things from the time we spent with him.  There was talk on the way home of bringing Jeff to LVCoB for a Brethren Heritage weekend.

At the end of our evening in Elizabethtown we walked outside to see the loveliness of the college campus....and to capture fireflies!

The late night, for those of us staying at the Village Inn, was filled with cheese, whoopie pies, beets, chocolate covered popcorn, laughter, visioning and toasting the good day and the people who made it happen.  As Doug Bro often says to me, "Have I told you just how much I love this church?"