A More Perfect Union - Quote of the Week

"If I am shot at, I want no man to be in the way of the bullet."

-Andrew Johnson

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Conference Highlights

I decided not to take any pictures at conference since privacy seems to be such an issue, but I have no excuse for not taking notes. I was lazy. I should have known better. What follows are only a few vignettes from this past weekend. Overall, I left with more confidence in myself, the desire to be a better person, and the resolve to reach out to others, beginning with my family. To me, this was the spirit of the conference.

-Dancing the Barn Dance with the cowboys!!! Need I say more? Yee-owe!

-Gene Robinson received a postcard adorned with a beautiful picture of an altar in England. On the back, an anonymous sender wrote that he had a bullet ready for Gene and his partner. In the face of serious death threats and escalating tensions within the church, Gene received the encouraging words in a letter, "Sometimes God calms the storm around us, and sometimes God lets the storm rage around us and calms our inner soul."

-"If there is nothing else that you remember of what I say it is this: YOU MATTER." -Lani Graves

-Like many, I was surprised and delighted to hear Jonathan Rauch give such personal remarks on marriage. He closed by quoting, "To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part," and with, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Standing in the Thornton room on the 11th floor, the Capitol building was his backdrop.

-With several other conferences scheduled simultaneously with ours in the hotel, we constantly bumped elbows with other patrons. Tia was in an elevator when a couple of women entered. They were talking, and one said, "Have you noticed all of the gays in this building?" Without missing a beat, Tia reached in the depth of her voice and interjected, "Yeah, IT'S DISGUSTING, ISN'T IT???"

-After concluding her remarks at the Saturday workshop, Carol Lynn Pearson sat down. Nobody stood up to leave, and everyone was silent. Reverence permeated the room. Dana turned to me and said, "Time for the closing hymn and prayer." And that's just how it felt.

-I was impressed with the research and thought that Will Gartshore put into his cabaret. Garments may be an easy target, but to discover the beloved hymn, "Come, Come Ye Saints," and to play it in the background while speaking of the saints' desire for respite in the west was brilliant. And I think he was genuinely serious when he compared P-Town to Salt Lake City! (Actually, he's not too far off when you think about it.)

-"A more perfect onion..." [the opening lines to Mike Kessler's moving talk at the Sunday devotional]

For all you conference goers, let me know your favorite moments. Send an email or make a comment!

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