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BY LINDA WORTHINGTON
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Bishop John R. Schol commissioned 12 men and women as probationary members, and ordained 10, including two Deacons, during the ordination service following the close of official business of the 223rd session of the Annual Conference May 26.

Continuing the conference theme, 'In the Potter?s Hands,' the bishop used the diversity of pottery - earthware, stoneware and china, depending on the clay from which it is made - to call attention to the diversity among those being commissioned or ordained.

'Some of this clay,' he said, is from Barbados, Mexico and a dairy farm, has second or third careers, is a CPA, an engineer, a chemist. Some are from one-parent homes, homes where a parent is an atheist; there is a clergy couple, some are adopted or from divorced homes, one is pregnant; some ride Harleys or mountain bikes, one plays a violin.

'You?ve done a good job of raising them for us today,' he said to the families gathered.

'Think how the touch of God through your congregation will reach out,' he said in appreciation.

Mark Miller, who directed music for the annual conference session and will co-direct music and worship at the 2008 General Conference, provided a wide variety of music throughout the service. A 35-member 'pick up' ordination choir, which rehearsed during lunch breaks, sang 'What Does the Lord Require of You?' an anthem Miller had written.

As he continued his ordination sermon, 'The Wheel Never Stops Turning,' Bishop Schol used his daughter, Rebecca?s, early pottery as metaphor, a creation that grew from her college experiences, but which, at first, her father thought ugly. He soon realized that it was her expression of deep emotion and some difficult life experiences.

'The potter?s wheel never stops spinning,' he said. 'Just when you think there?s nothing to be done,' he said, there are more surprises, new creations, because the wheel doesn?t stop spinning.

'Another thing I noticed with the potters,' - there were two who sat in front of the podium throughout the annual conference sessions, spinning and molding the clay into beautiful pieces, which decorated the stage for the ordination service - the bishop said, 'Their hands were almost like a dance.' They kept the clay from collapsing into mushy forms. 'God wants to do a dance with you.'

'We shall join hands and dance and prance,' the bishop quoted as he concluded reciting a poem by Toyohiko Kagawa. 'Just when you think no dance is left in you, the real Potter steps in and gets you ready for the dance floor.'

As Bishop Schol led the ordination liturgy, he was assisted by two other bishops, Forrest A. Stith, retired, 'who is a child of this conference,' and the visiting Korean bishop, Ki Bok Lee from the Nambu South Conference in Korea.

The bishops spoke to the 12 probationary candidates as a group, with the traditional words of examination to which they replied, ''I will, with the help of God.'

Each one, accompanied by sponsors from their churches. pastors or district superintendents, stepped forward for the laying on of hands. Family members and friends were invited to stand at their seats as each person knelt. As they left they received a cross and Bible.

It was a similar ritual for the eight people ordained as Elders and the two as Deacons. As a group the bishops examined them, and they, too, responded with the appropriate words, 'I do so believe,' I am so persuaded, by God?s grace,' and 'I will, with the help of God.'

Two Deacons, Doris Elaine Warrell and John William Bennett, were ordained, following a specific examination for Deacons. In unison, they replied, 'I will, with the help of God, and with the help of my sisters and brothers in the Order of Deacons.'

As each ordinand knelt before the bishops for the laying on of hands, Bishop Schol said, 'Almighty God, pour upon (Name) the Holy Spirit, for the office and work of an Elder in Christ?s holy church. To which all said, 'Amen.'

As they left each was draped in a red stole, signifying their new status as an ordained Elder, a member in full connection.

SIDEBAR:

2007 class of Elders

Miguel Angel Balderas
Barbara JoAnne Robinson Jessup
Patricia Delores Johnson
Carol Leydig Pazdersky
Melissa Corinne Hamill Rudolph
Corey Scott Sharpe
Jennifer Kay Smith
Cheryl Anne Wuensch

Deacons

John William 'Bill' Bennett
Doris Elaine Warrell

Probationary members

Patricia Allen
Christopher Michael Bishop
Kathryn Jane Posey Bishop
Katherine Elizabeth Brown
Marguerite Maria Campbell
Jennifer Dawn Cannon
Glenn Anthony Capacchione
George Edward Hackey Jr.
Jerry Leslie Lowans
Cynthia Michelle Moore-Valentine
Irene Helen Pough
James Winchester Ridout