GC 2020... I mean 2022 Part 2: What's Good for the Goose

 The 2019 Special Session of General Conference was a nightmare. Doing my best Agatha Harkness impression from WandaVision, I need to take you back there to see one important moment to remember how we got here.

After the Traditional Plan passed there was one more petition that had to be dealt with. It was a petition with a minority report presented by Rev. Beth Ann Cook. The purpose of the petition was to provide a path for churches to leave the denomination if they disagree with the outcome of the 2019 General Conference. The petition created a new paragraph 2553 that allows churches to leave provided that they pay certain expenses. It is, to be sure, an expensive way to exit the denomination. But it works. And it's fair.

I know it's fair, because that's what Rev. Cook said in her presentation at the 11:20 mark. "The intended process is literally how I would want to be treated if I were the one hurting because of [the outcome]." Although as a supporter of the One Church Plan I believed that nobody needed to leave the denomination, we had finally reached a point where it was clear this was inevitable. So I spoke in favor. I said, "Traditionalists made the original exit plan, traditionalists made the minority report, traditionalists passed their plan; this is their exit."

Now back to 2021. 

What I said two years ago is still true.

Progressives and Centrists are not leaving. U.S. Traditionalists, please know that I and many others still want you to stay. I still believe that all people should be able to be part of this denomination. But if you have to leave you can - and you don't need the Protocol to do it. You passed your own exit plan. 

Traditionalists may say they can't leave under this provision because they don't disagree with the outcome of General Conference. However, the new paragraph also says a church may leave, "...because of the actions or inactions of its annual conference related to these issues..." Nearly every annual conference in the U.S. has at least one pastor who could be charged today and hasn't been, either because of their gender or sexual identity or because of a wedding they have officiated. No church that attempts to leave under this paragraph would be stopped.

As I've already written, nobody wants this separation dragged out. It would be better for everyone if the Protocol and Christmas Covenant could be voted on this year - and it would have been even better if they could have been voted on last year. But it's not reasonably possible, and they weren't voted on last year. We are where we are. So do what you need to do. After all, it's only what you asked of us.

The GC 2020, no 2021, no 2022, Mess Part 1: Best Bad Option

 By now you've likely heard the news that General Conference is delayed - again. 

Technically, that's not the case. There will be a one-day General Conference on May 8th. It is possible, but highly unlikely, that the Protocol will still come to a vote. To simplify complicated rules stuff, there's a better chance that nothing will be voted on than that the Protocol will be voted on. 2/3 of the delegates present would have to agree to vote on ANYTHING and then  a second 2/3 supermajority would have to agree to vote on the Protocol. My guess is that the bishop who presides will find a way to avoid having the protocol come up even if there is pressure to do so, and in a virtual format there won't be any practical recourse to a bishop strong-arming the process.

I don't think I've spoken with anyone who is happy with this development. We all some kind of split is coming and we all want to get it behind us so we can move forward. We are faced with choosing the least bad option. Holding off on the protocol for now is probably that least bad alternative for a few reasons:

1. If you've ever heard me preach, you've heard me say context matters. The Protocol was written in a pre-covid context. How does the pandemic change things? Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe it doesn't. But we need to have conversation about that before perhaps the most critical vote in our denomination's history.
2. The integrity of the process is hopelessly compromised. The virtual General Conference will be attended by a fraction of the delegates and the paper ballot format for voting that is being recommended is easily tampered with. 
3. My concern about tampering dovetails with the third concern. Annual Conferences have met virtually with some limited success. But our Annual Conferences tend to involve lower stakes decisions with higher trust bodies. General Conference is the opposite - our trust is at a historic low and the stakes are at a historic high. Virtual won't work well in this context.
4. I'm not convinced that the May 8 meeting is even following our own rules. Remember, we are meeting to decide if we can change the rules of how we meet. But how can we meet to change those rules if the rules don't allow us to meet in this way? The answer is what one of my parishioners calls "Pandemic Grace." We all know this has to get done - so let's get it done and agree that we won't throw wrenches in the process during crazy moment. Pandemic Grace won't stand up in a court of law, though, and if we vote on something like the Protocol then I would fully expect someone who doesn't like the outcome of the vote to challenge it legally. That opens up the nightmare scenario we all hope to avoid.
5. The Protocol is most important to U.S. Traditionalists. The Christmas Covenant is most important to U.S. Centrists and Progressives. Delegates from other countries are split. The Protocol and Christmas Covenant really need to go together. It would make no sense for progressives and centrists to vote for the Protocol in a special session unless the Covenant is also going to be voted on. 

Again, this is not good new for anyone. The best option would have been for us to take covid more seriously so that some of the 2 million plus people worldwide would not have died. But this is where we are. In part 2, there is one way this mess could end before we get to 2022 - but don't hold your breath.