Welcome to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Today was a travel day for many within our synod, though some were able to make it into Phoenix yesterday. As today was opening day for the assembly, there were some important things to get out of the way:
First, we had registration, making sure we were properly credentialed and had all the necessary tech gear for following along and/or participating in the assembly. Orientation sessions helped us learn about the agenda for plenary sessions and how voting would take place. For those at home, you can follow along easily at www.elca.org/CWA. There you will find the bulletin of reports and be able to watch livestream events.
Opening worship was inspiring, filled with amazing music and thoughtful and thought-provoking preaching. For those who appreciate liturgical arts, our music was accompanied by liturgical dance. And our own Brandon Graves assisted in opening worship as the cross-bearer. As we left the worship space, the hallway was lined with ministers ready to pray and anoint assembly participants. It was a truly sacred way to enter this week.
Our opening plenary session was filled with rules of assembly and making sure we could use the voting gadgets that are here. The biggest action of the opening plenary was completing the nominating ballot for presiding bishop. The election of presiding bishop is about extending a call to someone, and ahead of the ballot process we take time to sing and pray and let the Holy Spirit guide our process.
Our night ended with a presentation on an upcoming social statement that addresses the topic of sexism and patriarchy. These concepts are labeled as “sin” as both concepts elevate privilege to some at the expense of others – generally this is at the expense of those who are female, though because these concepts are not so simply defined, intersectionality with a number of other factors such as race, ethnicity, and economic status also play a role in the privilege being exerted in sexism and patriarchy. Our church is being called to address these sins and to help foster conversation in the wider society as we struggle with ending these concepts.
Ahead of all the fun stuff that welcomed us into the assembly, we also experienced a protest group standing outside the convention center. A small number (like 4 total protestors) of individuals associated with the Westboro Baptist Church carried signs, sang off-key lyrics written to familiar songs, and shouted their slogans across the sidewalk towards the convention center. I will not give any credence to their nonsense by sharing their signage or terrible lyrics. I will say that there was a counter-protest sponsored by ReconcilingWorks that had a larger group of ELCA members standing with signage that countered the Westboro message – our ReconcilingWorks signage included phrases of inclusion and justice, and our call to extend God’s love to all, messages that our church firmly stands by. I share that this protest happened only because it was an oddity today. I was both fascinated and underwhelmed by what Westboro Baptist Church did today. I was fascinated that they thought sending 4 people here would have any impact on our assembly, and underwhelmed by the tired rhetoric that they were spouting, there was truly no originality in their messaging. In the end, their little nuisance of a protest was thankfully overshadowed by our powerful opening worship and commitment to the work of the Gospel as we gather.
And so, we carry on doing the work of the church. We will keep standing firm on what we believe is the Gospel, we will continue dedicating ourselves to the work of our assembly, voting in elections, receiving reports, and affirming social statements for teaching within the Church.
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