Last week was the Virginia Annual Conference. For you non-Methodist folks, that's the annual gathering of clergy and lay delegates from across Virginia. It was held in Roanoke, so I was there from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon (it actually continued into Sunday afternoon, but I was a) on-call on Saturday night and b) scheduled to be the liturgist at the 8:15 service on Sunday. I needed the money from being on-call and didn't want to miss an opportunity to lead worship at Oak Grove (I am SUCH A GEEK), so I left on Saturday afternoon.
The kids came to Roanoke with me, of course. Actually, Susanna was already there, because my rock star mother-in-law, Nina, had taken her for a few days. Nina lives just outside Roanoke, so we stayed there, because it was free (as a clergy person on leave, I am responsible for ALL my expenses for attending AC). They had childcare for kids 3 and up during the daytime sessions, so Susanna went to that. Nina (who is retired) watched Greg during the day and both kids one night and on Saturday morning (see: ROCK STAR status).
I got to re-connect with a few friends: I had dinner with a former pastor who is now a friend (Hi Dave!), a clergy friend from my Danville days (Hi Susan!), and my college roommate (Hi Laura!). I also attended the Emory & Henry Alumni luncheon, where I lowered the average age by about ten years (seriously, at one point I think I was the only person under 45, and most people were over 55). I also got to have brief catch-up conversations with other friends who I hadn't seen in a while. The past two years, I've only attended AC on Monday because a) it was local (in Norfolk) and b) I simply didn't have the time to attend the whole event (in 2009 I was doing my residency, and last year I was nursing Greg and my mom had just started chemo). It was nice to see a lot of familiar faces.
It was also nice to really and truly put on my "clergy hat" for four days. My primary identity for the past two years has been that of a stay-at-home mom and wife. I'm not knocking that, but it's nice to embrace another identity. Many people at Oak Grove know that I'm clergy, and Randy has been really gracious about giving me room to utilize and explore my gifts, but 90% of the time I function as a lay person. That's fine, but it was really really nice to be with other clergy and explore that part of my identity.
This year was a voting year. Every four years we have General Conference (Methodists around the world) and Jurisdictional Conference (Methodists from a particular region, such as the southeast US) and we elect clergy and lay delegates to attend those events. In the past few years, the rules have been changed so that provisional members (of which I am one) can vote for delegates to GC and JC. It was sort of fun, although also a long and tedious process.
The preaching and worship were amazing, as always. Rev. Dr. Sam Wells (the dean of the chapel at Duke) was our preacher, and HOLY COW, can he preach. If I'm ever in Durham on a Sunday, I will attend worship at Duke Chapel just so I can hear Sam preach again. Actually, I can also listen to/watch his sermons on the Internet, and I may explore that option. Really, he is THAT good.
There were two bittersweet aspects of Annual Conference this year. First, our bishop was very ill and was unable to attend Annual Conference. She's recovering now, but was in no shape to preside over AC. Instead, we had another bishop (Bishop Whitaker of the Florida Conference) "sub" for her. He did a phenomenal job, but it just wasn't the same without Bishop Kammerer. Second, the rest of my provisional class (the group of people who were commissioned with me) were ordained this year. There are a couple others in my class who have not been ordained yet, but about 95% of the class has been ordained. I am so, so proud of those who were ordained, and I know that I am where God wants me to be...but it was hard to watch from the congregation and know that it will be at least 2014 before I am ordained.
I'm already looking forward to next year's Annual Conference (which will be in Roanoke again), and also looking forward to the moment when I see my name listed as the new pastor of a church. Since I'll have a per diem, I'm also looking forward to staying in a hotel within walking distance and not having to drive back and forth each day. That gets tiring and eats up a lot of gas and time.
