And the Rest

As a white male I don't often get the feel like a minority. In general when people speak in generalizations I can find some general way in which those statements apply to me and my situation. This morning was an odd experiment in minorityship. Now I want to be clear that I am not offering a comparison that should in anyway be seen as putting my morning on par with a life as a racial minority. I am not suggesting that in any way that I have been held down. That said, it found myself in a position that is rare for me.

A few months ago I was asked to serve my church body as an advisory delegate for our Synodical Convention. As a DCE I am not able to serve as either a lay delegate nor pastoral delegate and thus have no current hope of serving in a voting capacity. This morning a meeting was held for delegates for our district of the synod. The majority, actually nearly the entirety of the discussion was for the benefit of the voting delegates. That is natural. Their voices will naturally shape the future of our church body in a way that those of use in an advisory role cannot hope to.

I knew the rules of the game going in. None of this should have surprised me. Actually the only surprising item that was presented was a list of the church workers in the synod. 24,000 total, 18,000 teachers, and 6,000 pastors. So, how many DCE's are there? For that matter what about DCO's, Music Ministers, and Family Ministers? I know that we are out there, but the math does not add up, and I hate to be picky but I don't consider myself a teacher as my parents are Lutheran teachers.

The entire meeting took place and now as I am home and reflecting on what I have to look forward to at the Convention, I still have the same question that I started with. What does an advisory delegate do? When I get an answer I will provide that here. My assumption is that there is indeed some purpose for us. I just don't know what that is quite yet.