Doreen Daley, Mirimichi Presbytery
1. What part of the General Council did you like best? Just like Maritime Conference, it is the moving and inspirational worship service but especially the wonderful music sung in French – First Nations language and English.
2. What part of the General Council was the most important? The most important part of the General Council was the approval of the three remits and the new crest and several other proposals that are very significant for the continuing work of the United Church.
3. What part of the General Council moved you in a special way? I was so moved when someone at the back of the meeting room started to sing “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying..” in the midst of a long discussion on the Israel/Palestine report – it so helped me to realize that it is the Spirit that should lead us in all of our deliberations! Who is it that we are called to follow?
4. What could you leave out and still have everything you needed? I find it so difficult when one speaker after another gets up to the microphone – sometimes I think they just like to hear themselves speak – but by the time a subject/proposal or whatever is discussed for over an hour – it is difficult to even remember where the point is and I believe it just gets more confusing and complicated. It would be great if we would just give the Spirit a bit more free reign and I really believe things would happen a lot quicker! That’s my rant for today!
Margaret Atkinson, Saint John Presbytery
I can not answer your questions. They do not ask me the right questions. So I will put this forth.
About half way through GC this statement danced vividly across my mind: “What about Me – What about Us”
In that I mean – the average Joe congregation that is struggling to find solution to the problems plaguing all churches. Don’t miss read that to mean I want to go back to what we were – never, I just want to solidify what we have and can be.
I want us to get down to just some basics and focus on the ‘Us’ and help find ways to make this church work. I would love to incite a ground swell that would change the type of business that comes forth at our GC. We need to look at ourselves to see what is causing the failure.
