One of the joys of being United Methodist is that we are a connectional church that spans the globe. This enables us as a denomination to be in relationship and service with people from all over the world in ways that we could not as individual, local churches. The Nebraska Annual Conference calls this "Connectional Joy."
The difficult thing about connectional joy, or feeling connected to the larger body of the United Methodist Church is that it's all too easy to grow preoccupied with life in our local congregations. I realized this clearly recently when a member of the church I serve attended the ordination worship service at Annual Conference (in which I was ordained an elder). She told me afterwards that it was one of the biggest ways that she's experienced the joy of the United Methodist connection (and this is a very active and faithful woman and leader in the congregation). She mentioned that she saw the connection in the way there were lay people like herself, clergy, her own pastor, her district superintendent, and United Methodist Bishops all participating in worship together.
That experience has challenged me to share moments of connectional joy, ways of lifting up and celebrating Christ's ministry through our connections with other churches and people around the world. One way that I'm doing this is by receiving weekly news feeds in my email from the United Methodist News Service (click here to subscribe yourself).
Tonight, I read about the United Methodist Church's work with Muslims in America and elsewhere around the world. It was a very interesting and exciting article. It's thrilling to know that through our connection, we can lift up ways of seeing humanity in others different from ourselves, and together, that we can reach out in common service for others.
The difficult thing about connectional joy, or feeling connected to the larger body of the United Methodist Church is that it's all too easy to grow preoccupied with life in our local congregations. I realized this clearly recently when a member of the church I serve attended the ordination worship service at Annual Conference (in which I was ordained an elder). She told me afterwards that it was one of the biggest ways that she's experienced the joy of the United Methodist connection (and this is a very active and faithful woman and leader in the congregation). She mentioned that she saw the connection in the way there were lay people like herself, clergy, her own pastor, her district superintendent, and United Methodist Bishops all participating in worship together.
That experience has challenged me to share moments of connectional joy, ways of lifting up and celebrating Christ's ministry through our connections with other churches and people around the world. One way that I'm doing this is by receiving weekly news feeds in my email from the United Methodist News Service (click here to subscribe yourself).
Tonight, I read about the United Methodist Church's work with Muslims in America and elsewhere around the world. It was a very interesting and exciting article. It's thrilling to know that through our connection, we can lift up ways of seeing humanity in others different from ourselves, and together, that we can reach out in common service for others.
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