Connection
For me, Annual Conference is all about connection. Yeah, there's the business to take care of and the things we have to do, but the really important part for me is connecting with and conversing with friends from all across Indiana that I haven't seen in the past year, or more, and finding out what God's been up to in their lives. To be honest, the last two years at Annual Conference haven't been that for me. I wasn't in a good place either time, so I have been really looking forward to those connections this year.
I spent a good deal of time this morning making such connections, browsing through the displays and the Cokesbury book area (yes, I found some to purchase, believe it or not!), talking to friends old and new. I found that when you're moving, people from the area you're now in want to connect, to sort of say "goodbye," and others from the area you're moving to also want to connect, to welcome and to figure out who this is who is coming into their area. So it was, for this introverted pastor, a busy, exhausting, but fun, morning.
But, believe it or not, the biggest connection for me came during the opening worship and plenary. The theme this year of the Annual Conference is "Share Your Story," and during the opening worship, Bishop Coyner was sharing his story as well as some of the stories of the Annual Conference, evidence of the ways God has been at work in his life and in the life of our area. One of the stories he shared made a real connection with me. Allow me to share it with you.
On stage is a cross, one that once stood at the top of a church that is now gone. But that cross (and church) were there over a hundred years ago when the Epworth League (the predecessor to today's United Methodist Youth Fellowship) met in Indianapolis. These were youth from all over the country who made what was, in those days, most certainly a long and somewhat costly journey to this national gathering. During that conference, these young men and women took up an offering of money, a large sum for those days, and left that money with the Indiana Conference along with this challenge: to build a hospital that will welcome everyone in Jesus' name.
The leadership of the Annual Conference at that time took that challenge seriously, and through another capital campaign eventually built Methodist Hospital here in Indianapolis, still one of the largest providers in the area for those who can't get medical care elsewhere. They also take good care of United Methodist clergy, of which I have been one. In 1999, when I needed a heart valve replaced, I came here, and through the hands of a gifted surgeon, God brought healing to my body. On the way to Annual Conference this year, as usual, I stopped to visit my cardiologist who told me that my heart is still looking and sounding great sixteen years post-op. So I couldn't help but think how, had those youth not had a vision for a hospital that cared for everyone in Indiana, I wonder what my treatment would have been like. And I wonder about everyone else who has ever found healing there at Methodist Hospital, some of which would have had nowhere else to go. Thank God for those youth with a vision and a heart to care for others in Jesus' name.
Which brings me to the question: what vision do you have, what passion burns in your soul, for something that might touch lives yet unborn, lives you may never live to see or know about, in Jesus' name? How can you plant seeds now that will bear fruit in years, decades, maybe even centuries to come?
Thank God for his connections!
I spent a good deal of time this morning making such connections, browsing through the displays and the Cokesbury book area (yes, I found some to purchase, believe it or not!), talking to friends old and new. I found that when you're moving, people from the area you're now in want to connect, to sort of say "goodbye," and others from the area you're moving to also want to connect, to welcome and to figure out who this is who is coming into their area. So it was, for this introverted pastor, a busy, exhausting, but fun, morning.
But, believe it or not, the biggest connection for me came during the opening worship and plenary. The theme this year of the Annual Conference is "Share Your Story," and during the opening worship, Bishop Coyner was sharing his story as well as some of the stories of the Annual Conference, evidence of the ways God has been at work in his life and in the life of our area. One of the stories he shared made a real connection with me. Allow me to share it with you.
On stage is a cross, one that once stood at the top of a church that is now gone. But that cross (and church) were there over a hundred years ago when the Epworth League (the predecessor to today's United Methodist Youth Fellowship) met in Indianapolis. These were youth from all over the country who made what was, in those days, most certainly a long and somewhat costly journey to this national gathering. During that conference, these young men and women took up an offering of money, a large sum for those days, and left that money with the Indiana Conference along with this challenge: to build a hospital that will welcome everyone in Jesus' name.
The leadership of the Annual Conference at that time took that challenge seriously, and through another capital campaign eventually built Methodist Hospital here in Indianapolis, still one of the largest providers in the area for those who can't get medical care elsewhere. They also take good care of United Methodist clergy, of which I have been one. In 1999, when I needed a heart valve replaced, I came here, and through the hands of a gifted surgeon, God brought healing to my body. On the way to Annual Conference this year, as usual, I stopped to visit my cardiologist who told me that my heart is still looking and sounding great sixteen years post-op. So I couldn't help but think how, had those youth not had a vision for a hospital that cared for everyone in Indiana, I wonder what my treatment would have been like. And I wonder about everyone else who has ever found healing there at Methodist Hospital, some of which would have had nowhere else to go. Thank God for those youth with a vision and a heart to care for others in Jesus' name.
Which brings me to the question: what vision do you have, what passion burns in your soul, for something that might touch lives yet unborn, lives you may never live to see or know about, in Jesus' name? How can you plant seeds now that will bear fruit in years, decades, maybe even centuries to come?
Thank God for his connections!
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