PREPARING FOR ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2023

Much of the work of conference leadership has been laser-focused on preparing for Annual Conference, which will be held next week at First UMC in Colorado Springs. Annual Conference is a time when clergy and lay members of the Mountain Sky Conference gather to help us order our life for the coming year. We will worship together, engage in mission, share in bible study, engage in learning workshops, approve new candidates for ministry, adopt a budget, remember those saints who served God and now rest from their labors, and renew old friendships and make new ones.

I have been watching reports from Annual Conferences across the country. I have been struck by the joy and hope that has been expressed across the connection. As we move past the heartbreak of disaffiliations, there is a renewed commitment to our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. There is a desire to deepen the United Methodist connection. There is a vision for who God is calling us to be that is contagious, captivating clergy and laity.

In these few days before we gather, I will be in deep prayer for our time together. I pray that the winds of the Spirit will carry us safely to Colorado Springs and that those who will be attending via zoom will feel the connection we share.

I pray that everyone who is a part of annual conference will find joy knowing they are a part of something lifegiving and will rediscover we can do more together than we can apart.

I pray that someone will find Jesus tapping them on the shoulder and hear him say, “Come, follow me.”

I pray that we will offer one another generous grace as we commit to listening to one another, even when there are sighs too deep for words.

I pray that we will do what United Methodists are told to do from the time they enter Sunday School: to leave a place better than we found it (whether that place is First UMC, Colorado Springs, or each session we are a part of).

The words that continue to surface in my prayers are these: Grace. Joy. Connection. May these words guide our time together.

Praying For Pentecost

Can you really be prepared for Pentecost?

It was 50 days after Passover and Jews from all over came to celebrate the beginning of the wheat harvest. People from different regions came to Jerusalem, when suddenly the Holy Spirit came with fire and wind, stunning them all as they began to understand one another, despite the different languages they spoke.

There were some who scoffed at all this and tried to dismiss this divine disruption by blaming it all on a drunken crowd. Unfortunately, there are always some who are skeptical when the Spirit breaks in and takes us somewhere new. They drag their heels, at best, when invited to join into the future God summons us to. At worst, they discredit, discount, and find all sorts of ways to sabotage anyone from following the leading of the Spirit. I have seen this phenomenon in more than one church, and these churches lack the life that the Spirit seeks to offer. There is a stuck-ness that begins to make vital ministry outdated and causes visitors not to return.

Oh, but when the Spirit is given free reign, look out!

The divide often caused by differences is overcome as the Spirit unites us in powerful ways. Our common life is filled with celebration and a wild abandonment as we allow the Spirit to guide us to places we never dreamed we’d go. It makes for a messiness and some chaos, but there is also a deepening sense of mission and our invitation to join in this Spirit-filled life is contagious.

When I was asked about what I wanted to have happen at General Conference 2019, I said, “I want the Holy Spirit to show up and we all be surprised.” I was extremely dismayed by the results of GC but then Robin said to me, “What if we got what you asked for? Maybe the Spirit really did show up and is continuing to lead us all in these post-GC days.”

Hmmmm….

As we prepare for the Mountain Sky Annual Conference next week, I am praying that the Holy Spirit shows up. I am praying that we will be surprised, over and over again, by the Spirit’s leading. I am praying that we will discover a deeper sense of our oneness in Christ. I am praying that we will delight in our differences and celebrate them together. I am praying that the Spirit will propel us to invite others to this joy-filled life we share together. I am praying that the path is made plain for us as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus.

May your Pentecost celebration tomorrow be filled with surprises from the Holy Spirit!