{"id":7066800,"date":"2026-09-25T17:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/an-ocean-of-drops-at-the-2024-general-conference\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T17:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T17:30:08","slug":"an-ocean-of-drops-at-the-2024-general-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7066800","title":{"rendered":"An Ocean of Drops at the 2024 General Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"


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We can\u2019t keep swimming if we get out of the water. <\/p>\n

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Dungeness Spit, Washington, USA : 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Drops<\/h2>\n

The 2012 science fiction film Cloud Atlas<\/a> journeys through six different time periods and the struggles for justice or mere survival in each of them. One of the time periods is in 1849, years before the breakout of the American Civil War. The son-in-law of a wealthy businessman in America is sent overseas to conclude a business arrangement to transport slaves from Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The son-in-law is transformed when he witnesses brutality done to the slaves and his life is saved by a slave on the trip home. He returns to his partner and confronts his father-in-law, stating that he has renounced the slave trade and will join the abolitionists. They have the following exchange:<\/p>\n

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Father-in-Law: <\/em>There is a natural order to this world, and those who try to upend it do not fare well. This movement will never survive, if you join them you and your entire family will be shunned. At best you will exist at pariah to be spat at and beaten, at worse to be lynched or crucified. And for what, for what? No matter what you do it will never amount to anything more than a single drop in a limitless ocean<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

Son-in-Law: But what is an ocean but a multitude of drops?<\/p>\n

Cloud Atlas, 2012<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is no movement for creating a more just society that is not the result of one drop drawing in another and another until the weight of the drops seeps into and overwhelms even the most powerful and insidious institutions on earth. <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s true in the church as well.<\/p>\n

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Polity<\/h2>\n

The United Methodist Church has a book of polity<\/a> called The Book of Discipline<\/strong>. The book is very much like a multitude of drops in that it contains the efforts, insights, and wisdom of generations of Methodists\u2013and theological foundations from centuries before that. <\/p>\n

Together, they form the bulwark against secularism outside the church, limit fundamentalism inside the church, guide our leaders in the pulpits, and protect the vulnerable in our pews. Amongst others, they celebrate our ministries with women and girls<\/a>, our missions with ministry partners across the globe<\/a>, our preservation of historical landmarks and heritage<\/a>, our advocacy for reproductive justice<\/a> and refugees<\/a>, as well as simple guidance for local churches to operate and serve their mission fields. <\/p>\n

All polity drops are not equal (our doctrine about Jesus Christ is waaaay<\/em> more important than how the trustees vote on a new boiler), but the accumulation of all of them hopefully becomes a multitude of drops deep and wide enough to hold all of us and lift all of us up as a rising tide lifts all boats. <\/p>\n

Big Drops<\/h2>\n

On Day 4 of the 2024 General Conference, there are many big drops that will make a big impact on The United Methodist Church:<\/p>\n