Jonathan LeMaster-Smith

I wait for the Lord; my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

-Psalm 130:5-6

A few people had messaged me wondering what to say in their churches in the Sunday in between. Five days of General Conference have passed and five more are on their way. We are already tired, and we have long way to go before we rest.

But, we get a Sunday. Sunday, the sabbath for most Christians, is not a day of rest as much as it is a day of hope, a day of anticipation. The sabbath is the day we work to experience and imagine God’s Kingdom. We celebrate the resurrection and new life in Christ, we partake in sacrament and ritual, and we fellowship with the family of God.
We have the opportunity each and every Sunday to imagine and experience God’s Kingdom again, hope for that Kingdom, and as it comes to a close, prepare to begin building the Kingdom God calls us toward. And that is what I plan to do.

What I saw with the last five days of General Conference is one of determined hope. Opening worship began with songs that both grounded us in Christ and our Wesleyan tradition and called for us to expect and anticipate a revival that is coming. Bishop Bickerton had stern words for those who would wish to sow discord among the people called Methodists. In fact, some people could not seem to handle my interpretation of his words, which called on people who wished to sow discord if they did not get their way to GET OUT and let us do our work.

The other Bishops have added to the message to call out evil, to trust in the power of God, and to be the church God needs us to be so that we can keep building God’s Kingdom. We are a church that is done with nonsense, lying, and evil, and we have a tenacious hope that is not going to be stopped by the wickedness that would seek to divide the church.

In terms of legislation we see the foundation being laid for, as our doctrinal standards say, a church that is both practical and incarnational. The passing of legislation around regionalization begins the process of contextualizing the church into regional bodies that allow for creative understandings of the incarnational work of Christ in local settings. This does not fragment our church. Instead it offers a strength grounded in history, doctrine, polity, and, above all, the work of the Spirit.
.
It is also the catalyst for what I am going to call a connectional ripple effect. For far too long we have been a stagnant church, watching people, resources, and ministries stagnate in pools untouched by the beauty of connection. This legislation, along with the removal of restrictive language that should come next week, is a rock thrown into the water, troubling it, and beginning to move the connection again. Churches will feel more free to begin to do ministries and embrace theological trajectories that make sense in their context, and to listen to the Spirit, whether they are called to hold camp meetings, protests, food drives, or seminars.

Moreover, legislation around reimagining the roles of elders, deacons, and local pastors, and others in ministry will offer new opportunities for people to live into ministries that are suited for their vocations and their contexts. And honestly, I feel like we are passing this legislation so we can get to even more creative legislation. I also see this opportunity in our revision of the social principles that both allows for a global social witness grounded in scripture and the work of our founder, John Wesley.

Finally, I see a move to re-immerse ourselves in scripture and tradition with this revision of the social principles as the first fruits of this work. This will refresh our bodies, minds, and spirits, as we set course for uncharted territory as the people called Methodists. My prayer as we enter into this work is that we do not let the uncertainty, the difficulty, or the discomfort prevent us from receiving the true grace of God which, as John Wesley reminds us, is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to love, serve, and obey God and building the Kingdom God has in store.

Onward to Perfection Y’all,

Dr J