There is nothing like starting a great day with fresh bread and worship in Russian. Culture and diversity is a huge part of this event and it shows by looking around the room and through our worship. I was so grateful that most songs were in English this morning, however enjoyed the opportunity to hear and clap along with the songs sung in Russian. Along with the music being lead in Russian our speaker Rev. Pavel Serdyukov preached in Russian. Luckily we all had headsets which links us to translators that helped us through the differences and allow everyone to experience worship. Unfortunately there is still a struggle with dialect, as Rev. Serdyukov spoke there were times he told a joke a few laughed and about a minute later more laughed. Yet at the end of worship we all walked away with the strength of Unity. Christ died on the cross for everyone, he was one body and shed his blood for all. We are supposed to carry the cross, the same cross as the people in Russia, Africa, and around the world. Rev. Serdyukov reminded us though that it is not a small cross, not one we just wear around our neck to prove we are a Christian. As believers in Christ we are to pick up the cross as a church, just as Christ needed help with the cross so do we. Fortunately we are a part of a church that has connections around the world, The United Methodist Church is united to help one another and support each other. You may not understand a prayer that has been spoken due to language barriers, but what is so amazing about our God and savior is he understands every language and will listen to any prayer, from any culture, by any person. Language barriers are always going to be there but as a Christian we can carry the cross together and feel God’s holly love cover the entire world.
Following worship we moved Rules of Order. Finally the fun stuff of legislation, we were given training on the process and how legislation would work while in Berlin. The Rules of Order where understood for the most part and agreed upon as a body.
Up next was lunch, chicken salad, pasta, rice, and of course bread. Another delicious meal that brought together more conversations and a chance to build that relationship with others.
The afternoon consisted of one thing, Legislation. We broke out into legislation groups, I chose Church and Society the biggest and longest group. In our topic group we selected a chairperson and secretary from the group who helped us and lead us through legislation. We discussed six pieces of legislation with topics of the climate justice, extrajudicial killing in the Philippines, Genocide in Gatumba, and same-sex marriage. Three hours later we left after questioning, agreeing, and disagreeing. The next step is taking the legislation to the floor luckily we have a break till Saturday.
The next activity was a Ministry Fair. This gave everyone here an opportunity to show there ministries back home. There were people representing the General Board of Church and Society, The Student Movement, Jurisdictions shared their ministries, and many more. One ministry that was a lot of fun to visit was Lydia Patterson Institute from El Paso. They taught us some new dances and finished the evening with the smashing of a Piñata.
During our free time in the evening we spent some time relaxing and playing games.
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