For most of its 200+ years of history, the members of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference have gathered in person to worship, to celebrate, to consider the business of the church, to debate important matters of church practice, and to ordain new church leaders. Yet this year, for its 234th annual session, the conference has gone virtual! Due to the constraints of COVID-19, the people of Eastern Pennsylvania will gather for business and for worship — all online.
That time of holy conferencing begins today! Friends, I’ll ask you to keep our Bishop Peggy Johnson and District Superintendent Steve Morton in your prayers throughout these next few days. Also pray for those from Wesley Church — Karen Marmaras, Chris Foster, and Sue Kiefner — who are serving as local church or district delegates this year. Pray for those being commissioned or ordained in the midst of this season of covid-tide. Pray for the routers and servers, the laptops and tablets! And pray for God’s vision and guidance, that all the people of the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference may follow wherever God leads us next.
To that prayerful end, I share with you these words of prayer from United Methodist liturgical scholar Laurence Hull Stookey:
You have called us, O God, to do the work of your church as careful and efficient stewards. To this end, we bind together our congregations and govern them through the work of conferences, in which we consult and consider together pressing matters before the church.
Give wisdom and vision to those who serve us as members of our Annual Conference. … Enable them to seek first your kingdom and its righteousness.
Give all delegates a love for your whole church — a desire not only to serve you as we now can, but also a determination to bring unity to divided churches, that the world may more readily receive the Gospel and find — in our manner of living it out — the way of peace and unity.
Through Christ, who is the head of the body, the church. Amen.
(Laurence Hull Stookey, This Day: A Wesleyan Way of Prayer, 145-146)
Blessings,
Pastor Candy
As God’s people throughout Eastern Pennsylvania gather today, may we all remember:
Our God is bigger than coronavirus.
Our vision is bigger than coronavirus, too.
We are people blessing people.
We are Wesley Church.
Get into the Sunday School spirit by joining us for our “Rally in the Gallery” — a virtual Rally Day pancake breakfast — on Saturday October 17 at 10:00 AM.. It’ll be a great way to connect with your church family!
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/gTbiVqtmfj2FJs7o7
Want to know more?
- Learn about our church and its ministries: https://wesleychurch.com/
- Make a gift to support our mission: https://wesleychurch.com/giving-2/
- View our recent messages: https://wesleychurch.com/sermon-message-on-video/
- View previous devotionals: https://wesleychurch.com/pastor-candys-devotionals-2/
