What a time to be alive! I don’t know many people…in fact, I don’t know anybody that is making that observation with the emotion I make it. And with all sorts of reasons, including personal timing. What a time to be alive.
Our two national political parties are heard to spew more hatred than governing wisdom. We have experienced a sad and painful division in the United Methodist Church, resulting in the birth of a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church. Words and waves of excitement, hope, commitment and challenge flowed from the first General Conference of this new expression of the Methodist/Wesleyan faith and I feel especially privileged to be a part of this new “expression.”
A few weeks ago, (August 12) I turned 90. What a time to be alive…not just to be alive…but to be alive as a Methodist. I say it that way in part because of the division we have experienced in the United Methodist Church.
I’m a Methodist by choice. I was converted in my early teens under the powerful preaching of a fifth grade-educated Baptist Preacher. I was nurtured in the faith and inspired to answer God’s call to ministry by a dynamic, young, educated Methodist preacher. Under his guidance and mentoring, I answered God’s call to preach, and I received my “local preacher’s license” at age 17, in June 1952.
For over 70 years, I have sought to be faithful to Christ’s call to be one of “Wesley’s preachers”. I am more Methodist/Wesleyan than I have ever been, The UMC came to birth in I968. So, I have been a Methodist Preacher longer than there has been The United Methodist Church.
At no time during those years has my relationship or involvement been casual. I have been “all in;” at times to a fault, maybe blindly all in. And now I am not.
I have chosen to continue in ministry with the new expression, the Global Methodist Church. I watched from afar the first General Conference. (Sept. 20-36, 2024) Personal health kept me from being where I so desperately wanted to be.
I had been invited to offer an initial greeting to the delegates, and to pray in the opening worship service. Though physical limitations kept me from being personally present, technology enabled me to do so. I’m sharing here a portion of my prayer, inviting Christians, and especially those with a Methodist/Wesleyan connection, to pray for us as we seek to faithfully follow our calling joyfully in Christ.
Eternal God, your glory is higher than the heavens, and your love and concern is for all creation. In joy and gratitude, we praise you.
We confess that, as your children, we have not been faithful. We have received your salvation, but not to the uttermost so we are not the holy people you call us to be. We bask in an assurance of salvation, but we fail to share your salvation with others. Forgive us, Lord, for keeping your amazing grace to ourselves.
We pray for our global Wesleyan witness as we earnestly seek your presence, not just for today, but for the ongoing witness of this expression of the Wesleyan faith and way.
Thank you that in our journey begun by John and Charles Wesley, we feel one in the Spirit with all those who claim and seek to be faithful to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. We join them in the conviction that nobody is left out of your concern and, as our loving Father, your justifying grace for salvation is available to all.