The 149th Session of the North Georgia Annual Conference will convene on Tuesday, June 16. We will once again be hosted by the Athens Elberton District and enjoy a week together of holy conferencing and holy worship.
We will be experiencing some powerful worship opportunities. We will be considering some very important issues that effect our future. We will be choosing delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference. We will remember those who have gone before us to the Church Triumphant, and we will fix the appointments for 2015/2016. All this in the span of a few days. To do this we will need prayer, patience, and large amounts of grace.
But, that is who we are, isn't it? We are a people of prayer. We turn to our Creator and seek to be one with God and to grow not only closer but bolder in our living of the faith to which God has called us to live. That takes prayer, and in those prayerful moments we lift up our friends, our extended family, and our church.
We are also a people of patience or, at least, we pray for the outpouring of this fruit of the Spirit. We give room for all opinions and thoughts. We patiently listen and consider all sides, and we then again pray for guidance. We don't worry about missing out, because Jesus Christ has given us all so much.
Grace should flow from our veins to one another as the grace of Jesus Christ has been poured upon each of us over and over again. The Holy Spirit of God opens wide the channels of God's mercy and grace to all God's people. We who have been given so much also freely give to others.
This week has the potential to be tedious and boring. We can easily get caught up in the heat of debate and say harsh words or worse give hateful looks. By the end we are tired and worn out. BUT, this does not have to be case if we approach the week and the experience in prayer, patience and grace. We might finish up on Friday empowered and filled with a renewed call to go and serve the people called United Methodist. We decide now how we will finish up.
I pray for you, my clergy and my family, to find the strength and the courage to pray, to be patient, and to show grace. I know I need lots of all three.
This is God's week, the 149th time God's people called United Methodist have gathered in North Georgia. Let it be a time of praise and honor to God alone.
Happy conferencing!
Dana