May 2, 2024
Dear Friends,
Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia! At Calvary UMC, we are celebrating all fifty days of the Easter season in community with new members joining last Sunday! Thanks be to God!!
Our faith-to-life application homework from worship on April 28 was to pray for the UM General Conference 2024 - that God’s will is done. Also, from the Acts 8:26-40 scripture passage, with the persons God places in our path, we’re to follow the verbs: go, join, listen, and ask.
The UM General Conference 2024 began in Charlotte NC on April 23 and ends tomorrow on May 3, 2024. May we continue to pray for the delegates and all attendees. Online information can be found at www.resourceumc.org. Next week, I’ll send a summarization of what’s occurred at UM General Conference 2024.
Yesterday at UM General Conference 2024, a 93% vote resulted in the removal of restrictive language related to ordination (added in 1984) to the Book of Discipline . This means all persons who are called of God into ordained ministry may pursue the UM path of discerning that calling. Also, items related to weddings were added: The Superintendent shall not penalize any clergy or local church for performing or refraining from performing (or holding) a same-sex marriage (on their property). Calvary UMC is blessed with people who hold differing beliefs on this subject and others. Some receive this vote with joy while others receive it with sadness. No matter our specific beliefs on this subject, I pray that - at best - we can agree to disagree while still loving God and loving neighbor as self (Mark 12:30-31) as we continue to serve in community. As always, I am available to listen and pray with you as we continue to follow God’s will at Calvary UMC.
This Sunday, my husband Wes and I will not be at Calvary in worship. Instead, we’ll be full-time grandparents at a Remission Celebration for our 12-year-old grandson, Landon, in Olney, Maryland from 11 AM- 3 PM. This celebration was planned two months ago, so I asked a dear clergy friend of mine, Rev. Dr. Sarah Dorrance to lead worship with Holy Communion this Sunday at Calvary UMC, May 5, 2024. Also, tomorrow at Children's National Hospital in Washington DC at 12 :15 PM, Wes and I are delighted to be witnessing Landon ringing the bell in celebration of his remission from Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma!
I’ll be back in the church office as usual on Monday, May 6, 2024. Thank you all for your dedicated prayers as we give God the glory for it all!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Linda
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