Greetings on behalf of the 22 World Methodist Council and Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden! Being part of the World Methodist Conference, and being a delegate for the World Methodist Council, was an amazing experience that I will never forget. It’s an honor to represent the New Mexico Annual Conference and the United Methodist Church. It was a week of sharing with each other what a Methodist presence looks like in multiple contexts of ministry. The overall theme for the conference was “On the Move,” a theme dedicated to highlighting various reasons that creation is on the move worldwide: immigration due to fleeing from danger and fleeing toward hopeful safety, those on pilgrimage, and those seeking guiding lights.
My time here was split up into two parts. The first part, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday afternoon, was spent in Council meetings. We reviewed and affirmed statements and resolutions/responses to various happenings throughout the world. These comprise responses to current wars and conflicts around the world, and statements of affirmation for those responding with boots on the ground in ministry. This was fascinating to be a part of and a continual lesson in understanding cultures, norms, histories, and leadership styles.
The second part, the conference portion, was from Wednesday through Sunday morning, with a closing worship service. Our closing worship service was in partnership with the United Churches of Sweden and included the ordination of new pastors, deacons, and a consecration of a bishop. As I mentioned, the whole conference was based on the theme “On the Move” and broken down into three categories characterizing peoples all over the world who are on the move: migration, pilgrimage, and guiding lights. Each category had a different day. There is an estimated 281 million international migrants globally, or, approximately 3.6% of the world’s population. We heard from faithful folks from all over the world, especially from those places that are suffering so much—those fleeing from danger, those who are fleeing toward hope and desperately seeking a hand from a neighbor. No matter the cause of the migration, we see and receive the human made in the image of God, not the migrant, not the documented or undocumented, the legal or illegal, but the very image of God. I gleaned so much from these sessions that there’s simply not room to include here, but I look forward to talking with anyone who’s interested!
The worship services, sessions, seminars, and panels, were all so fruitful for me and I learned a lot to share. A highlight for me was the general feeling of belonging, belonging to something so much bigger than myself. Every room I walked into, whether for worship or lecture, I felt like I was walking into my own home to meet family, family I have always known but maybe hadn’t met. I welcomed them in my home language, they welcomed me in their home language. We sang together, we prayed together, we ate together, laughed together, held each other dear, and shared the Spirit together. The language of the Spirit cuts across all cultures, all forms of language. This is especially highlighted when you simultaneously hear and say prayers in many languages at once, sing hymns together..all communicating a unity in God. I’ve gotten to know, and learn from, sisters and brothers from Africa, South Korea, Ukraine, various places in the U.K., and the U.S, just to name a few places.
The whole experience has enlivened my Spirit and helped sharpen my resolve and passion for hope in a world where a Wesleyan voice is just as relevant and needed as it was some three hundred years ago.
Yes, we are a people on the move. We know what moves us—the Christ of our salvation and renewal. Let us go and find others and find out why they are on the move, and welcome them in from all corners of the earth—those who are fleeing from somewhere and fleeing desperately toward welcoming and safe arms. Let us be those arms wide open. My goodness is it complicated. My goodness is it difficult pushing back against the narratives which seek to reduce humans to objects, to “something” forgettable and exploitable. But my goodness is it a worthy task before us to show the world that we see the human, not the object. We acknowledge and embrace there is always space at the table as United Methodists. That’s easy. Is there also space in our arms? Our hearts? Truly? God’s image is on the move approximately 281 million times over right now in search of arms of safety, to be received not as an object, but as God’s precious creation worthy of protection, mercy, and grace.