Annual Conference 2019 Lake Junaluska, NC - Part 1

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Friday, June 21, 2019

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.  Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.  Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.  For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.  Ephesians 4:1-6

Arriving at Lake Junaluska is always a joy.  There is so much that is welcoming about this place.  June’s normally hot weather in the Triad is replaced by cool, bordering on chilly evenings and the lake waters, surrounded by mountains develop those cooling breezes.  

The mountains proclaim the glory of God’s handiwork while the Rose Walk has a special beauty which only our loving Father could bring forth.  These all speak of the hospitality that awaits by the staff of this wonderful place, smiles and cookies greet you when you walk through the door.  And all that pre-shadows the collegiality that awaits as you bump-into old friends and are introduced to new.

Of course, there are a few moments that wait for you that are less special; they do, after all, demand your credit card.  And there are those inevitable lags in some of the plenary sessions where Roberts Rules of Order are given a higher place on the agenda than Genesis through Revelation!  This is when the petitions hit the floor.  Petitions divide the assembly between humanish-created factions, the current names are progressive, centrist, and traditionalist.

As I reflected on the petitions that will get an up or down vote this Friday I’m reminded that the resolutions/decisions that come out of the voting process really do divide the body.  It depends upon which side of the “winning vote” you stood.  The question is always asked:  How can anything that divides believers be good?  And the thoughts took me to recalling that Jesus himself

Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.  Matthew 10:34

There is nothing that divides like a sharp sword.  That is, next to the division that is coming some day in Heaven, when Jesus divides the sheep on one side and the goats on the other.  This is the shadow of the supreme eternal division between Heaven and Hell.  By the very definition of petition, resolution and rules, division is not always bad; not if God is making the decisions.

For You Today

Join me as I run the list of stuff I’m grateful is in my life today:

     ·      Lake Junaluska is a great place to have time away from what you usually do, time to reflect and put things in perspective in a magnificent setting.

     ·      I’m reminded (and humbled) by all the Methodist clergy, laity, and worship experiences that surround and support me and all point to how blessed I am to have a place to serve God with all I’ve got.

     ·      And, frankly, I’m thankful for the treasurer of our church who will reimburse me for the expenses of being here this week; because that reminds me my church understands the importance of it and backs it up with generosity.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth photo     Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©