someone needs to impose time limits on speeches

We were in Bible study by 8 AM this morning. There are over 50 small Bible study groups 8-10 and ours happens to have 6 young women, an Armenian Orthodox Bishop, a senior African gentleman, and the United Church of Christ's general secretary. For 8 AM the discussion was lively and engaging. Following our hour long discussion on Eph 4:1-6 and a discussion on how we see justice and unity at work in our respective communities, we began our morning worship. I must say, all of this time in corporate worship is good for my soul. Rounding out our morning were keynote presentations by four regions on justice.
A couple of quotes that stood out
"Justice is not the same thing as charity. In the Christian community, we need to be doing both." J. Ayana McCalman, lawyer from the Caribbean
"Are we ready to make every effort to maintain the unity of God’s people so that God’s love may be known in God’s world? Or must we confess that we are often far too comfortable with things as they are and far too indifferent to women and men crying out for authentic love, for visible expressions of forgiveness and restoration, for communities of belonging marked by hope beyond hope?" Ruth Padilla, Thd Candidate, Latin America
Okay, so I loved Ruth's paper. In case you wish to read it in it's entirety, here's the link www.reformedchurches.org/docs/RuthPadilla-English.pdf
The more I hear, the more it dawns on me that the rest of the world has every right to disdain me, a Western Christian. I waste resources like water while many in the world go without potable water, I thoughtlessly consume with little regard for where products come from and what the human cost of my greed is, I support companies that have appalling treatment of their employees and little regard for who they destroy as they pad their substantial bottom lines, I do not push for better recycling practices... the list goes on and on and here I am face to face with people who's lives my greed destroys. Oh, it has a very high human cost and these brothers and sisters have every right to judge me and the society I live in.
And yet, they graciously see me as a partner who desires to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God by their sides. Increasingly, I want to tell each person I meet that "I am sorry!" I think I have some work to do in living into their gracious image of me.

On another note entirely, this afternoon there were 4 president/executive secretary speeches. They took a combined four hours. I have NEVER been so desperate for a cup of coffee. The first 3 were tolerable. The last had 75 points and he read all of them in there entirety. Moderation!!!!! Please.
The evening rounded out with a regional meeting deciding on which delegates we would like to put forward for nomination for the executive of WCRC (another 3 hours of sitting). So the final total of couch potato hours today is... drum roll please.....14. oii, I need to take a walk.