Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent, Feb. 18, 2024
8 months ago
I believe that the conversation matters. If in the attempt to realize the reign of God on earth, we cannot engage one another in respectful and grace-filled dialogue, we might as well not even try.
2 comments:
We adopted it in the MS conference last year. Very smart idea. The Conference owns the program and writes the policies. Potentially one day it will be completed "owned" by us (no underwriter, which is currently Zurich).
Although we had a UMIP (United Methodist Insurance Program) in place before, not all churches signed up for it. And the churches on the coast who didn't have really regretted not being under the policy after Katrina.
Requiring churches to be a part of the program makes complete sense given that courts have been making the conference liable for lawsuits involving local churches. (Especially in light of the case of the sex harrasment suit settled by a local church's insurance carrier and the settlement was used to sue the conference. Did that happen in Missouri? I can't remember which conference that happened.) If we are all on the hook, we should all have the same insurance.
I have my doubts as to whether the PACT will ever be able to live without an underwriter, but I'm completely cool with the it being "our" policy.
So I say, support.
Oh, btw, Irene Howard (CEO of the UMPACT) is a Mississippian. She was our conference lawyer (chancellor?) before getting drafted by the General Conference. Very smart. She's been very forward thinking about this whole thing, I think, and we'll look back at this years later and realize what an asset she has been.
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