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EDITORIAL Brandishing Basins and Towels


Please allow me to be personal on this one.


This will be my eighteenth year as your editor and communicator, and in May I will travel the “Oregon Trail” to Portland with others for General Conference 2016. It will be my fifth. There are clouds of apprehension that hang over General Conference 2016 perhaps like no other. Conversations and rhetoric have taken on some of the sounds of brandishing swords and shields in preparation for battle. That will not serve grace and justice very well.


The world will be watching us


closely in May. As United Methodists we have held tightly to our claim to be a united community but our “brand” is in danger of slipping, depending on what is demonstrated in Portland. And the question begging for an answer is, “Can the United Methodist Church hold up for the world to see, a peaceful, collegial, united gathering of Christians who are not of one mind?” In March and April of 2015 there was an invitation to the clergy of the Susquehanna Conference


one of four “conversations” around the issues of human sexuality. The four gatherings came out


of


casual conversation between a Cabinet member and a pastor who found themselves holding two very different perspectives.


Both felt comfortable


to explain the path that brought them to differing conclusions. That led to the formation of the same kind of conversation for a larger group of clergy who, like them, would probably hold


differing views. Hence, the


invitations by Bishop Park to the four “conversations.”


As the press contact for the Susquehanna Conference, this editor was invited to the first of the four in case there was press curiosity. While it was not deemed necessary for me to attend further, I asked to do so. I have not been able to forget the conversations. I knew most of those in attendance and I also had some kind of perspective of the varied beliefs around the room that might ordinarily lead to voices raised at least a couple decibels. I heard none of


that. Instead there


seemed to be, unilaterally, a congenial sharing that was demonstrated without one raised voice.


Christian/holy


conferencing does happen around us! There is a recognition of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples that is practiced, literally or symbolically, by many Christian associations. (There was a literal expression of the washing of each other’s feet from the stage of our Annual Conference several years ago.) The practice usually involves a basin and a towel. In John 13:14-17 Jesus offers a


to attend


simple explanation of his action: “Just as I have done, you also must do. I assure you, servants aren’t greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them. Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them.” (CEB) May we suggest that, literally or symbolically, we enter the


Portland


Convention Center, brandishing basins and towels with an Isaiah-spirit of “come now and let us reason together.” We pray for our delegation who


will be among those who sum up the pleadings at General Conference 2016.


JW REV. MIKE


BEALLA Director of Connectional Ministries


Susquehanna LINK - April 2016


THE JOURNEY Change is


all around us! We


often use the term “transition” to express change. Perhaps transition implies a kind of continuation with a temporary adjustment which feels a bit more secure. But the bottom line is, we are living in a time of not just change, but exponential change. Every aspect of our lives seems to be radically impacted by the frequency and the amount of change.


I led a learning time at this year’s


E-Tour on the theme of “What’s Happened to my Church?” We shared great conversations as we talked about how change has impacted the church. What I felt from participants as I led the groups was a sense of uneasiness that ran the gamut from mild frustration to moderate fear. Everyone wants change, but it seems that no one wants to change. The truth is we are resistant to change, because we are afraid of what we will lose when change occurs. Change can rattle our being. Regardless of your political view, you must admit we are experiencing one of the most unsettling primary seasons ever (at least in our lifetime). The fear of the changing world around us has led us — beyond having and creatively


expressing opposite


points of view — to name calling and disrespectful practices. If we are not personally careful,


we can find ourselves getting caught up in all kinds of things that can separate us from living into the presence of Christ. We can easily play out our frustrations by pointing the finger at others for the world’s problems, judging our brothers and sisters as to which are good and which are bad, and using our faith positions to divide


us from each other.


Our concern for the future of our denomination may be pulling us apart by opposite viewpoints and theological differences, and is a reflection of a greater fear that God has left the building. Despite human attempts to divide ourselves in God’s name, God has always triumphed. Easter makes that so very clear.


The change we face today is actually a sharing with God in the creation of tomorrow. Change is God’s way of taking what is (or isn’t) and reshaping into what God intends it to become. That includes us. As painful as transition can be for us, we also know it is necessary if we are to become what God intends us to be. We are invited into this relationship with God to be co-creators of tomorrow. What an awesome gift and awesome responsibility.


I guess I am rambling on simply


to say whether we face change in our own lives, in our families, or communities of God’s own church, we are not alone. We need not truly fear change. God meets us in the midst of creation and walks with us into the future. For us it is a matter of remaining true and faithful to God no matter how unsettling life becomes. God will never let us go.


In this meantime between


God’s kingdom and our daily lives, remember God’s ultimate promise. It is real! Stand firm in your trust of God no matter how unsettling life becomes.


God has invited us on this journey of life … we can either embrace God’s change or stay behind and miss out on God’s plan for tomorrow.


COMMENTARY Ripples on the water


JERRY


WOLGEMUTH Director of


Communications


Several years ago I spoke for worship at a local church. I needed to illustrate the impact of a certain life-altering phone call I had received. So I delivered the line, “And then the phone rang,” followed by a dramatic pause. As soon as I paused I noticed several people look at each other in shock and begin to laugh. I continued with my presentation, but in the back of my mind was this frantic search for what I needed to cover with some kind of retraction. I could think of nothing. So I concluded my talk


with this


horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach about my delivery. As I greeted the worshippers


leaving the sanctuary, a woman came to me apologetically and asked, “Do you know what we were laughing about this morning?” I said I didn’t, so she explained. “A split second after you said, ‘And then the phone rang,’ the phone in the open office beside


the


committed blunder.


ring!” I was relieved


sanctuary began to that


I hadn’t some gargantuan


I remember when I was producing multi-image programs for my church and the ministerial association of my home town. For


Easter I produced a program with a resurrection theme - “A Promise in Fowler Woods.” Fowler Woods was a nature preserve nearby. I recorded the narration in the back of the woods on my property to capture the outdoor ambient sound. Part of the narration was, “A bird calls, and the day begins in Fowler Woods.” Those were the days of quarter-inch audiotape, so my plan was to get out the splicing tape and insert a pre-recorded bird call into the space after the words “a bird calls.” In preparation for the edit I listened to my audio track. To my astonishment I discovered, perfectly timed at a perfect audio level, the beautiful call of some kind of bird in my woods on Rome South Road. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it


again, ‘I’ve never seen the waters part like Moses did, but I’ve sure seen


plenty of ripples on the


water!’ When I was a young guy, full of vinegar, I could talk myself out of those “coincidences” rather quickly. I’m older; I can’t do that anymore. God is an omnipotent, omniscient,


omnipresent God


who is not beyond revealing the mystery of a personal presence in a bird call or a phone ring. Glad we could get together.


Alive in Christ Together


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