There is Hope

Today has been wild, but first let me tell you about last night. The opening worship for the conference was awesome. The power of the Holy Spirit is with the United Methodist Church. The service was full of hymns and songs of praise. Yes, these are song that can be found in one of many our hymnals, including the Official United Methodist Hymnal. The service was a celebration of our diversity as well as our unity. Passing the peace and sharing Communion with my many brothers and sisters in Christ really left a feeling of spiritual fulfillment in me. The service was had another very special meaning; it was a celebration of the birth of the United Methodist Church. Yes, you are reading this right, I said the birth of the United Methodist Church not the Methodist. On April 23, 1968 (40 years ago) in Dallas, Texas at General Conference the merger took place and we became the United Methodist Church.

Now about today, the conference opened this morning with a worship service which included the Episcopal Address by Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher. Bishop Christopher’s message was about the “Foundation of Hope”. The message along with the again the music was a message of hope. In fact the entire day has been a message of hope. Although the Bishop’s address was good this morning, I must really praise the young people. Their messages really inspired me, because through them I defined know that we do have a future and our future is in good hands.

Today has been an exhausting day, because I have walked from one end of the convention center to the other at least 30 times. I have again admired the cultural garments and the native dances of our brothers and sisters from countries other than the United States. Oh, the dancing, I have not seen praise dancing so eloquently done.

I can’t leave without expressing how hard our United Methodist Women are working up here and the comment that I have heard about the cookies. All of the members to General Conference are enjoying the cookies that our Churches have prepared.