Kentucky Annual Conference: June 1 -4th in Louisville, KY

Each year Methodist clergy and laity gather together for a time of worship, fellowship, business meetings and clergy appointment setting. This year, beginning June 1st, we will be heading to Louisville. We have attached the agenda for you to pray over and we encourage anyone who would be interested to travel for a day or even an evening.

This year, our very own Richard Dwyer will be the organist for Annual conference and will be leading worship over the entire four days. Congratulations Richard!

Annual Conference 2008 Agenda

AGENDA

2008 KENTUCKY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Galt House Hotel – Louisville
June 1-4, 2008

PLEASE NOTE: ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN TIME

Sunday, June 1
4:00 pm – 9:00 pm Registration
7:00 pm Laity Session
Clergy Executive Session
9:00 pm Rehearsal for Ordination

Monday, June 2
8:30 am Opening Worship & Communion
Bishop Ann Sherer, preaching
10:30 am Worshipful Work -- Organizational Session
11:30 am Lunch break
1:30 pm Memorial Service
3:00 pm Legislative Committees
5:30 pm Dinner break
7:30 pm Service of Commissioning and Ordination
Bishop Al Gwinn, preaching

Tuesday, June 3
8:00 am Morning Devotion
8:30 am Bible Study
Dr. Leonard Sweet
9:30 am Worshipful Work – Plenary
Noon Lunch Break
2:00 pm Retirement Celebration
3:00 pm Worshipful Work -- Plenary
5:30 pm Dinner Break
7:30 pm Mission and Ministry Celebration
Hope for the Children of Africa Choir
9:00 pm Reception for Bishop & Mrs. King

Wednesday, June 4
8:00 am Morning Devotion
8:30 am Bible Study
Dr. Leonard Sweet
9:30 am Worshipful Work – Plenary
Noon Lunch Break
2:00 pm Closing Worship -- Reading of the Appointments
Bishop James R. King, Jr. preaching

Devotional Thought: Majesty

TNK Psalm 8:1 For the leader; on the gittith. A psalm of David. 2 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name throughout the earth, You who have covered the heavens with Your splendor! 3 From the mouths of infants and sucklings You have founded strength on account of Your foes, to put an end to enemy and avenger. 4 When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You set in place, 5 what is man that You have been mindful of him, mortal man that You have taken note of him, 6 that You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; 7 You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, 8 sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too; 9 the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas. 10 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth!


Majesty is defined as the "greatness and dignity of a sovereign. The sovereignty and power of God." Have you ever known someone who lights up a room when they walk in with their infectious smile or grace or personality? Have you ever known someone who makes your life better just because of their presence? That is how God works in the world and our lives. Simply by being present, things are better, more bright, and more hopeful even if our circumstances are not such.

It is an overcast and misty morning here in Lexington. Water covers the roadways, homes, and everything in between. You can't touch something outside without getting wet. You can't walk outside without getting dripped upon. This a tangible image of God's majesty. God's majesty drips from everything of life. The psalmist says that God covered the heaven with His splendor.

It is up to you and me to step back from the trees of life and see the forest of God's majesty. This can be a most difficult proposition when our lives get filled to the brim with activity and/or difficult circumstances. But time and again, God calls us to step back and take quiet moments to recognize the beauty of creation and the wideness of God's mercy.

Devotional Thought: Marks of friendship

NLT 2 Corinthians 13:11 Dear brothers and sisters,(1 )I close my letter with these last words: Rejoice. Change your ways. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet each other in Christian love.(1 )All the Christians here send you their greetings.

What a closing statement made by the Apostle Paul.

Rejoice!

Change you ways!

Encourage each other!

Live in harmony and peace!

Two uplifting statements followed by two pleas for things in their life to be different. Seems like he is giving them the good with the difficult all in one place. There are many things we could look at with this passage, but I wanted to make one quick comment. Do we receive difficult news better from someone we know and respect or someone we do not know? My guess is that we receive tough truths better from people who we know have our best interest at heart and people who are just as willing to give a compliment as deliver a criticism. It takes a healthy mix of both for people to gain our respect. Compliments without honest hard truths seem to be patronizing. Criticism without compliments comes off as mean spirited.

What it boils down to is building relationships with each other through doing life together. I am fond of an expression that says, "people don't care what you know until they know you care." For me, that is so true. When I know a person cares about me, I am open to receive helpful critique in the spirit it is intended. The apostle Paul had built a wonderful relationship with the people in Corinth. He had spent time with them and had been a source of strength and encouragement. He earned the right to challenge them in ways that other people might not have had the chance to challenge them.

In our relationships, it is the mark of a true friend who will gently, and honestly, help us see a blind-spot in our life. It is the mark of a true friend who will gently, and honestly, speak the truth in love to us when we need it most.

My prayer is that we all have those friends in our life and that we are that type of friend to others.

Sermon Manuscript: The Blessing of Motherhood

Text: Psalm 104:24-31, Acts 2, Genesis 1 & 2

One of my kids favorite stories of my childhood is the one about me almost getting struck by lightning. Not sure why they find that fascinating, but they do. But the reason we were even out in a thunderstorm is what I want to share with you this morning. My brother and I thought it would be cool to build a dam along the side of the curb to hold back the water from going down the sewer drain. We thought it was cool, but the lady in the house we built the dam in front of didn't think so. I learned a whole new language that day. But back to the story. The rain came and the dam held firm and created quite a pool in our street. I can still remember the great satisfaction that I felt for being responsible for flooding the neighborhood!

Turn with me to Psalm 104 which we will use as our text for our time together. In verse 30, the psalmist says that God sends his "ruach" which can be translated as either breath, wind, or Spirit and the earth is renewed. It is God's very presence that breaths life into creation. Genesis 2 says that God breathed life into Adam. Matthew 3 says that after Jesus was baptized by John, the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended like a dove and settled on him. And Acts 2 tells us that God breathed upon those gathered in Jerusalem and gave birth to the church. Time and again the bible tells us that God's creative breath, wind, spirit goes forth from heaven, new life is given, and the world is forever changed.

The psalmist says that God does not waste his breath, but rather makes all things in his wisdom. That means each creation has an identity, a purpose, and a relationship with God at least in as much as creator to creation can be. For humanity this relationship goes a step beyond all other creations in that Genesis 1 tells us that we were made in God's image. We have traces of God's DNA making the center of our who we are. This is why my flooding the neighborhood made a profound impact upon my life, regardless of the lightning strike. God's very character is one of creativeness. By building a dam and flooding my street, I was living out of my God given image by creating something. At least that is the story I told my Mother!

Not only does God create each of us in his wisdom, God refuses to stop at simply bringing us into creation. Even more than the Leviathan and other creatures in the sea, we are created to depend upon God's hand to provide sustenance. God opens his hand and we gather and are satisfied. God closes his hand and we panic. As a result, one of the greatest myths we can hold is of self-dependence. We were created to live in community with God and those around us. It is God's plan for us to be sustained by his hand and not our own strength. Independence is a figment of our imagination. When we think we have done it, or can do it on our own, we show that we do not understand how God has set this life to be. We were created to live mutually dependent lives (God, individual, community). God is the ultimate example of community through God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So, what does any of this have to do with a blessing of Motherhood? I am glad you asked. Think about it for a moment. Isn't what we just described a definition of Motherhood? Bringing about and then sustaining life is exactly what Mother's do for their children. As with God's breath, Mother's also breathe and as a result the child in the womb receives life giving oxygen. And the blessing comes from being able to live out of our created character in a way that begats new life which the psalmist says is the way God renews the face of the earth. God uses the creative character he instilled within each of us to bring about his perfect and complete purpose for this world. To be used by God in this way is truly a blessing. Each time we look upon the face of a newborn babe and mother, we see a powerful reminder of God's love for us.

And the exciting thing this morning is that the blessing of Motherhood is not reserved solely for women who have given birth, but this blessing is available for each of us as women, men, boys and girls who from the overflow of goodness from God within our own lives breath life into and sustain someone else. In the United Methodist Church, the vow of membership says that we will support the church with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service. This is not only a responsibility, but also an opportunity for us to breath life into and sustain many others along their journey in life. It is a way that we can participate in the purposes and plan of God from the beginning of time to live out of the very character God created us with.

Each day, you and I come into contact with people who are in great need of God's love and sustaining hand. God has chosen to use us as grace-bearers to the world. So whether it be in the grocery store, or in our neighborhoods, in our families or at our places of employment, God has placed people in our path that need life breathed into them and /or sustenance for today and tomorrow. I know I sound like a broken record, and for that I am not sorry. The highest honor we can give God is to pour ourselves out for the sake of others.


I thank God for my Mother who poured herself out for me and my brother. I thank God that many of you pour yourself out daily for children, grandkids, spouses, neighbors, and so many other people. I thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ poured himself out for us upon the cross to bring about forgiveness of our sins, a chance for relationship with God the Father, and an example for us to imitate throughout our lives. We are here in this place as a direct result of the blessing of Motherhood. Will we live into the blessing of Motherhood this day? Will we breath life into others and sustain them and allow God to change the face of the earth?

Mother's Day and Pentecost

This weekend we celebrate the birth of the church and the people responsible for the birth of everyone in the church! A special thanks to Ellen Marmon for preaching last weekend. I also want to thank Sara Reeves and the Glorious ReBELLion handbell choir for being with us. I have heard many good reports about the service and look forward to seeing everyone this coming weekend.

Congregational Meeting Update

Our best guess is that over 250 attended the congregational meeting at the downtown campus this past Tuesday evening. After hearing a series of reports from various teams dealing with building, capital campaign as well as finance, the evening was completed with a question and answer session that was highly thought provoking and enlightening. A special thanks to the estimated 40 people who attended the meeting from the Andover campus. It was a good chance for us all to continue building one church with two campuses. If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Todd Nelson via email or the church office number of 263-3602.

FIRST CHURCH Congregational Meeting

On Tuesday evening, May 6th there will be a churchwide congregational meeting at 6pm at our Downtown campus. Everyone is invited and encouraged to come and hear an update on our church and have an opportunity to ask questions of the staff and church lay leadership. This is a joint meeting for both the Downtown and Andover campuses. See you on Tuesday!