International assembly begins with worship April 27, 2004 By Melissa Lauber*  | | Members
of the Mass Choir sing at the opening worship of the United Methodist
Church's 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh. A UMNS photo by Mike
DuBose. |
PITTSBURGH
(UMNS) — A common song, sung in different voices, marked the beginning
of the 2004 General Conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention
Center.Native
American, African, Hispanic, Korean, Caribbean and gospel drumbeats
called the church together for its quadrennial legislative assembly. The
998 delegates and more than 1,000 visitors joined a mass choir and
orchestra in the historic hymn “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” at the
April 27 “Service of Holy Communion and Remembrance.” Some
participants sang in Korean, others in Spanish, others in French,
Swahili or English, and the hymn was also performed in American Sign
Language. The
song was preceded by a lone dancer in white who swept through the
auditorium with African dance movements. She held a censer, reminding
the audience of the words of the Psalm 150:6, “Let everything that
breathes praise the Lord!”  | | Members
of the Mass Choir sing at the opening worship of the United Methodist
Church's 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh. A UMNS photo by Mike
DuBose. |
Water
played an integral role in the opening worship service, as Bishop Janet
Riggle Huie of the Arkansas Area and Bishop Peter Dabale of Nigeria
scooped water from a large basin and let it fall, proclaiming, the
General Conference theme, “Water Washed, Spirit Born.”The
conference is conducting the business of the church during the next 10
days in a facility located by the spot where the Monongahela and
Allegheny rivers come together to form the Ohio River. In
his sermon, Bishop Ruediger R. Minor, president of the Council of
Bishops, remembered when he was sent to Russia 12 years ago. There, he
said, he discovered that baptism was not about a few drops, but about
being scrubbed clean. “We
all need to be scrubbed clean, even if you’ve developed an expertise in
cleaning the dark spots of other people,” he said. “A symbolic washing
won’t do it.” The
bishop reminded those present that since the beginning, God has had a
plan for his creation. That plan, he said, was alive in the time of the
prophets, continued through Jesus and is present in the world today. “It
is the Christ in us who recognizes the Christ in our sisters and
brothers.” If we cannot see the Christ in others, it might be our own
fault, he said. “We may have silenced the Christ in us.”  | | Katy
Hinman finds a quiet spot to study her music in Pittsburgh's David L.
Lawrence Convention Center. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. |
Preaching
on Ezekiel 36:16-28, 33-36 and John 3:1-8, Minor called upon those
present to make honoring God their first priority. This must be put
before running the church’s machinery and getting support for certain
causes, he said, encouraging the delegates to act “for God’s sake.”“Will God have a chance to put God’s name on this place?” he asked, in a challenge to the assembly. In
other water-related worship, participants had opportunities to
symbolically remember their baptisms before receiving Holy Communion.
They also watched liturgical dancers perform with flower scarves, and
sang “Wash, O God, Your Sons and Daughters” by Ruth Duck, the hymn on
which the conference theme was based. Performers
in the internationally flavored worship included General Conference
Music Director Barbara Day Miller and the Candler Singers, from Candler
School of Theology in Atlanta; and the Centenary Worship Orchestra from
Lexington, Ky.  | | Bishop
Gregory V. Palmer (center) joins the processional during the opening
worship of the 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh. A UMNS photo by
Mike DuBose. |
The
mass choir included singers from Mount Lebanon United Methodist Church
in Pittsburgh; Trinity UMC in Camp Hill, Pa.; Foundry UMC in Washington;
Grace UMC in Warren, Pa.; the Korean UMC of Greater Washington; and the
Combined Clergy Choruses of the Western and Central Pennsylvania annual
conferences.Liturgical
dancers were from Gordon Memorial UMC in Nashville, Tenn.; Kapp N
Kompany in Atlanta; Gales Ferry (Conn.) UMC; Living Springs Christian
Fellowship UMC in Bowie, Md.; the North County Ballet Ensemble
Liturgical Dance Troupe in Plattsurgh, N.Y.; and Contoocook (N.H.) UMC. Bob
Winstead coordinated the drumming for the service, which was performed
by Elie Kihonia, Yong-Rae Lee and Native American Drummers from the
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. During
the service, the bishops and the bishops’ spouses who died during the
last four years were remembered with prayer and a procession of flames. *Lauber is a staff writer for the United Methodist News Service News media contact: (412) 325-6080 during General Conference, April 27-May 7.
After May 10: (615) 742-5470.
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