Here we are at the start of what will be a historic month for all people called United Methodist, this February 23-26, 2019 will be the special general conference meeting considering the plans for the way forward in our world-wide Church. I ask for you all to pray for those who will be going to St. Louis from around the world, for their safe passage and for their hearts and minds to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit as they gather to discuss and vote on this very difficult subject. As I reflect on the Church and its history I am reminded again that there have been times when the called Methodists have been divided and split apart by controversy. In the time leading up to the Civil War, we were divided on the issue of slavery and the rights of slaves. I pray we learn from that time and realize that we will always be stronger together than divided. We can remain connected even if we feel differently about any subject. As Paul addresses the Corinthians:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” and the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (1^st Corinthians 12:12-28

We are the body, many different parts but still connected by the Love and Grace of Jesus Christ, still one family united in the Spirit which encourages us all into a closer walk with God. Let us pray for God’s will to be done in our lives and in the life of the Church, let us not divide ourselves into winners or losers, let us rather remind ourselves how very different we are yet how very much the same we are loved by God. May the peace and love of God surround you,

Pastor Donnie