Greetings and reflections on General Conference from Bishop Deb Kiesey
TRANSCRIPT SUMMARY:
I continue to ask people to pray that that the Holy Spirit really is felt. I mean, the Holy Spirit's there. It's whether we listen to it. The theme, “Be still and know that I am God,” is a really good theme.
It's just a meeting. The Holy Spirit is going to work. You know what? We can have all this legislation and all this talk and all this back and forth. But what really is important is how we come out of it and what we do with it. Once we go back home. It is a reminder that it is huge.
My first general conference was in 1988. In 1992, I was the first elected clergy from Iowa, and the first elected clergy until 2004. In 2004, I was elected to the episcopacy.
At General Conference, you get to see your [Dakotas] delegation and the Michigan delegation and the Iowa delegation. It is hard to get out of the arena because you're talking to so many people. I love it. I really I like that part. That's a real highlight.
I remember there were riots in Los Angeles, way back when. We had a lot of stuff going on around that and prayers. I think a group came and talked to us about what was going on and how we can establish safe zones for people. It was intense.
Probably the hardest General conference was in 2019. That was difficult on lots of different levels. We have all been praying and working hard since then to hopefully make this postponed 2020 General Conference better.
The spirit seems good. It seems positive. People are hopeful. There have been fantastic sermons that remind us that, we are who we are.
It is time now to create a new church, and to go forward with, with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes when you walk into a church, you can kind of sense the spirit of the church. I kind of feel that way here. Everybody feels hopeful. I really feel like the Holy Spirit is going to move and do some really good things.
I hope we are beginning that process of changing the harmful language. I think we are going to have to do things differently. Our financial situation is very different, as a lot of conferences are experiencing. But I think maybe it's going to force us to do things in a new way, to find ways of collaborating.
I know you have heard me say it before, it is what I told Bishop when it. It is so easy to fall in love with you [the people of the Dakotas Conference]. My heart is with you folks. There is just something about the Dakotas that has always tugged at my heart.
It is because you are doing ministry, and you're doing good ministry in hard places with not the resources that there's a lot of conferences have. You are doing it with the spirit and with deep faith. I just love you all in the Dakotas. I have told Bishop Lanette that they are so easy to fall in love with.
