Christmas & New Year’s Video: The gifts of God for the people of God

Let us make 2019 “The Year of Civility”

Hello, I’m Bishop Peggy Johnson, of the Eastern Pennsylvania and the Peninsula-Delaware Conferences of The United Methodist Church.

I bid you grace and peace in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I celebrate with you this special time of the year: Advent, Christmas and the New Year: 2019.  May your churches and homes be filled with peace.

As we look to the Scriptures, I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul taken from II Timothy 1:7 where he writes “God has not given us a spirit of fear.”

There is a lot of trouble happening around this world right now: natural disasters, wars, rumors of war, trouble at our border, with years of immigration concern.  There is a lot of fearful talk as well.

But God has not given us a spirit of fear.  Fear is never from God. Fear can be summed up as “False Evidence Appearing Real.”  That popular acronym reminds us that we should never fear.

God does not give us fear; but God has other, better gifts to share with us. At this time of the year we are doing some Christmas shopping and buying material gifts. However, the gifts of God are spiritual, and those gifts last forever.  Here are some of God’s gifts:

1) Power

The power of God comes from the Holy Spirit that helps us overcome difficult circumstances.  The Spirit gives us faith and strength in times of need. Also, the Spirit endows each of us with unique talents for mission and ministry, so that we all have parts to play in building up the Body of Christ.

2) Love

Perfect love casts out fear.  God’s gift of love is Jesus Christ, who was born among us long ago.  He was God’s love incarnate, but he also came to die for our salvation. His love was sacrificial, and that kind of love never fails.  The love of Jesus is available to all of us.

3) Self-Control

Self-Control is so important.  It is especially critical how you control the way you talk.  There is a lot of negative rhetoric and fearful talk going around these days.

I would like to proclaim that the year 2019 be “The Year of Civility,” tempered by the power of God. God can help us control our tongues.

Remember: before you say something, ask yourself, “Is it true?” “Is it necessary?”  “Is it kind?” If it doesn’t pass these three tests, then don’t say it. And remember to practice saying positive things about your enemies.  Even a broken clock is right two times every day. The same is true of your worst enemy.

Power, Love and Self-Control. These are the gifts of God for the people of God to help us to overcome fear and life’s challenges.

I shall close with a poem by Horatius Bonar (1861)

O love that casts out fear,O love that casts out sin,O stay no more without,But come and dwell within.

True sunlight of the soul,
Surround us as we go.So shall our way be safe,Our feet no straying know.

Great love of God, come in!Thou Spring of everlasting peace,Thou living water come.Spring up in us and never cease.

Love of the living GodOf Father and of SonLove of the Holy Ghost,Make now our hearts as one.

A culturally competent Christmas carol

By Bishop Peggy Johnson

Of all the Christmas carols and hymns in the UM Hymnal none is as important for us today as #244, “’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.”  It is a Huron Christmas carol originally written in the language of indigenous Canadian people in 1643 by a French Jesuit priest whose name was Jean de Brebeuf (1583-1649).

About 100 years after these words were written another priest, Father de Villeneuve, copied the words; and a native notary, Paul Picard, translated the poem into French. Still later, it was translated into English (1923) by Jesse Edgar Middelton, a Canadian newspaper reporter. The tune is a French Canadian melody known as “Une Jeune Pucelle.”  

The lyrics take the Christmas story and use symbols of the Huron culture in place of biblical words.  For example, “swaddling clothes” becomes “rabbit skin.” The wise men are “chiefs from far” who brought gifts of fox and beaver pelt.  

God is known as “Gitchi Manitou.” Images of the moon, snow, light, stars and wintertime paint the picture of Christmas as northern peoples would imagine it in their climate and landscape.  

A culturally competent priest

The writer of this hymn was a culturally competent priest who literally gave his life to share the gospel with the Huron/Wendat people.  Father Jean de Brebeuf showed a gift for languages as he studied for the priesthood. He naturally understood that to communicate with people from another culture he had to learn their language, customs and religious practices.  

So great was his rapport with the Huron people that they gave him the name “Echon,” and he was considered as one of them.  He wrote volumes about their language and culture in order to train the next generation of priests that would follow him in this work.  Because he took the time to understand the Huron people he was successful in teaching them about Jesus and raising up Christian believers.  

This is still how we do ministry today.  The world is very diverse and becoming more so with each passing year. The church needs to learn with humility and respect the culture and languages of people who are different from us for us to make disciples of all nations.  

Understanding ourselves better through diversity

We also learn and grow in our understanding of ourselves as we intentionally seek out diversity.  This is not easy, but it is clearly the vision of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit gave birth to a church of much cultural and linguistic variety.

Father Jean de Brebeuf also knew another thing about ministry: that one needs to be willing to sacrifice.  His first winter in Canada he spent the whole time in a freezing cold wigwam. He had to leave the area during the French and English wars but tenaciously came back to continue his ministry under threat of war.  

Many of the native peoples contracted European diseases, and he ministered to them during mass epidemics of illness and death.  The Jesuits went out on their missions expecting to die for the cause of Christ. And indeed, that was his sad fate. In 1649 he was kidnapped by the Iroquois (who were at war with the Huron people), and he was tortured and martyred.   Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

A cross to take up in our ministry

We would all prefer not to suffer.  But there is a cross in our ministry and a call for us to take up that cross every day.  There is a cross in evangelism and mission work.

In our Christmas story, when the baby Jesus was born, Mary laid him in a manger, a wooden feeding trough for animals. The cross of Calvary, where he would later die, was also made of wood.  

The message of Christmas is that God sent his son to the world out of God’s love for all people, all cultures and languages. He sent this son and savior so that through his death on the cross all might have access to forgiveness and to life abundant and everlasting.  There is pain in the offering, but great is the reward.

I hope you will sing this Christmas carol. But more important than that, I hope you will find ways to celebrate Christmastide this year with people from other cultures and languages. There is so much more we can be doing to spread this great good news to all people.

“Twas in the moon of wintertime, when all the birds had fled,

That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead.

Before their light the stars grew dim, and wondering hunters heard the hymn,

Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis Gloria

O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou,

The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.

Come kneel before the radiant boy, who brings you beauty, peace and joy

Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis Gloria.

Sources:

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship
• “History of Hymns” “’Twas in the Moon of Wintertime” Discipleship Ministries   C. Michael Hawn
• “Huron Carol” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huron_Carol
• United Methodist Book of Hymns #244

Fulfilling our ministry ‘received in the Lord’

The Apostle Paul penned his letter to the Colossians as he sat in a prison cell.  People have a lot of time to think and pray while they are in prison.  Paul wrote inspiring words to edify and encourage early believers during his long periods of imprisonment.

His epistles typically end with a seres of personal greetings and admonitions. The letter to the Colossians is no exception.  But I was captured by Paul’s imperative words to Archippus: “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

We don’t know much about Archippus. Paul was specifically calling him out in this letter, perhaps because he was procrastinating.  We believe that he did heed the Apostle’s words. Church tradition teaches that Archippus later became the first bishop of Laodicea in Phrygia and was martyred for the faith.

Paul’s words can be directed to all of us as well: “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”  Be it a church ministry or any service rendered anywhere for the Lord, your own unique call is a gift from God to be pursued and fulfilled.

This Sunday, November 25, churches will receive our annual United Methodist Student Day offering that enables many students to receive higher education and pursue their future careers in Christian leadership. Nothing could be more important for us as a church than to prepare our now and next generations of leaders.

Student Day offering scholarships are crucial

The scholarships your Student Day offerings provide are crucial to fulfilling the hopes and dreams—indeed, the call to serve—of countless college students. Many of them are seeking, striving to fulfill the ministry they have received in the Lord.

Please give generously to this special offering because it touches a future that is full of God’s faithful promises. And as you do, prayerfully consider the ministry that you have received from the Lord.
What do you need to pursue the ministry that you may have been putting off, like Archippus? May you find it and fulfill your call with true faithfulness. And please know this: God will equip you and stand by you always.

Quest for justice, mercy should be One Size Fits All

By Bishop Peggy Johnson

My son Gabriel appeared in a recent Facebook post donning a Halloween costume in which he is dressed as a cactus.  It is quite clever, and perhaps he chose this outfit because he works as a botanist at the Smithsonian Science Lab and loves plants. 

When I asked him about it, he said he purchased it at Walmart, and it is labeled “One Size Fits Most.” He said I could borrow it anytime I wanted to dress up like a cactus.  This is likely not going to happen. 

First, I don’t like plants all that much and secondly, “One Size Fits Most” never works for me. They are always too big. I can just imagine falling down steps in this unfitting cactus costume that my six-foot tall son fits into quite well.

Does one size fit most?  It is an important question to ponder as we consider our social issues in the world today. Is there a place for uniformity, or is it important to recognize our differences with respect and grace?  Yes and no.

When should ‘One Size Fit Most’?

The General Board of Church and Society is working on a revision of our United Methodist Social Principles. These can be found in our Book of Discipline in Paragraph 160-164.They include many important statements that we as United Methodists believe about social justice. However, one size does not always fit all in the global context.

Believing and being there for domestic violence victims

October is Domestic Violence & Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Month (Also known as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month)

By Bishop Peggy Johnson

She came to the United Methodist-sponsored DeafBlind Camp*, this young woman with a small child. Her husband dropped her off. She could neither see nor hear. But faithful volunteers interpreted for her, making tactile deaf signs in her hands. And they led her from place to place during the week of camp activities. 

I was running the camp; so I did not have much contact with “Audrey.”** The woman who served as her support service provider (SSP) sensed that she was burdened with something; but the nature of it was unclear.

Being deaf and blind comes with huge daily challenges. God bless this volunteer helper! After camp ended she went to visit “Audrey” at her home, and they formed a bond of friendship. 

It was through that bond that the terrible truth about Audrey’s husband came to light. He would beat her and kick her and put things in her way, so she would fall and hurt herself. This was unbelievable cruelty behind closed doors. 

Thanks to much intervention and support, the volunteer helped Audrey escape from this abusive environment, move out of the state (with her young child), endure divorce and custody court proceedings, and begin a new life. It all started with a relationship and the simple fact that the volunteer believed her story and then did something about it.

History Revisited

“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV)

Every October when I was in grade school we sang the same song: “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” I learned about this brave sailor, who challenged the thinking of the time that the earth was flat and if one went too far west they would fall off the map.

I marveled at his tenacity. When he could not get Italian supporters for his voyage, he went to King Ferdinand of Spain and his wife, Isabella. (I especially liked hearing about Isabella since most of my history lessons in school had very few women of prominence. Betsy Ross sewing a flag in Philadelphia was the only other woman I remember.)

I was taught that Columbus “discovered” the new world and brought Christ to the heathens. I actually wrote a newsletter once at my first parish saying that the name “Christopher” meant “Christ-bearer” and that he was spreading the faith to those who had never heard.

Then I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and visited a large, modern museum of history, where I learned of Columbus’ brutality and the genocide of the indigenous Taino people. He instituted slavery and engaged in horrific acts of inhumanity.

According to an article in the Philadelphia Tribune (9/2/18), “Council Must Stop Celebrating Columbus Genocide,” by Michael Coard, “the atrocities of Columbus were so bad that Governor Francisco De Bodadilla arrested him for his many crimes and sent him back to Spain in shackles.” So much for my “Christ-bearer.”

Postcards from McAllen, Texas: An Immersion in Immigration Realities

A tour provided by the General Board of Church and Society, Bishop Robert Schnase and support  personnel from the Rio Texas Annual Conference – August 22-24, 2018

By Bishop Peggy Johnson*





McAllen, Texas, is located in the Rio Grande Valley and it borders the country of Mexico. It is one of the poorest areas in the United States.  The average income is $34,000 and 29 percent of the people have no health care services.  This is a place where many people cross the border into the United States, and the dynamics of this are highly complex. United Methodists are found in this area, serving and ministering with the poor.



Bishop Robert Schnase, who serves in the Rio Texas Annual Conference, explained that the church strives to find safe places and spaces for migrating people to be processed and engaged, to offer compassion and civility, to build relationships, to teach people about the border experience and to be constantly in prayer. Radical hospitality is the always the goal.

A Place at the Table

The United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities met at Gallaudet University for a three-day conference for the purpose of education, advocacy and support (August 1-3, 2018). The theme was “Taking Our Place at the Table: DisABILITY Leadership Academy.”

The event included a number of speakers: the Rev. Stephanie Remington from Wesley Theological Seminary’s Lewis Leadership Center; the Rev. E. Michelle Ledder from the General Commission on Religion and Race; the Rev. Jackson Day from the General Board of Church and Society; and the Rev. Anthony Hunt from the Baltimore-Washington Conference Board of Ordained Ministry.

Back, Left to right: Rev. Ruthann Simpson (Pen-Del), Rev. Dave Goss (EPA), Rev. Bill Downing (Pen-Del), and Rev. Paul Crikelair (EPA). Front: Bishop Peggy Johnson.

Leadership development was the key component of this event; and the group strategized about how to promote more opportunities to be in leadership and inclusion in the UMC. People with disabilities, even those who are ordained or commissioned, often find themselves talked about but not present at the table.

Jesus understood the importance of table ministry. Much of his ministry included gatherings around meals and tables. It seemed like he was always doing radical acts of inclusion at the tables where he sat.

Turning as delight

In 1848, Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr. (1797-1882) a member of a sect known as the Shakers, located in Alfred, Maine, wrote the words and the tune to “Simple Gifts.”


‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, ‘tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.
 And when we find ourselves in the place just right, t’will be in the valley of love and delight.   

When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend, we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight, till by turning, turning, we come ‘round right.”  ¹

This was originally one of the dance songs of the Shaker sect, whose full name was the “United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” Their founder was a prophetic figure known as Mother Ann Lee. 

The group began in Europe (first France and then England) and eventually moved to the New York in the 1700’s.  The Shakers were basically Christian in their beliefs, following the teachings and lifestyle of Jesus. They lived together in communities with a strict rule about celibacy, and they held all property in common.  The movement swelled to 19 communities across northeastern parts of the United States in the 1800’s; and at its heyday they had more than 6,000 community members.  

World Refugee Day – June 20, 2018

The United Nations' (UN) World Refugee Day is observed on June 20 each year. This event honors the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence. Some communities dedicate an entire week that includes World Refugee Day to encourage people to think about the lives of refugees and the human right to a secure place to that one can see as “home”. (www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/world-refugee-day )

By Bishop Peggy Johnson

Last December in my New Year’s video statement and a related article, I declared 2018 to be the “Year of the Migrant.”  There are more than 65 million displaced people living in our world today; and we, the people of God, have a mandate to show them love and hospitality:

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

“For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”   Matthew 25:35

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”  Leviticus 19:33-34

Dwelling in Unity

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell in unity. It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!  It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!  For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.”  Psalm 133

I have always found this tiny psalm to be curious.  The image of sacred oil poured on God’s priest in such volume that is runs down his beard and onto the collar of his holy vestments does not exactly sync with my idea of unity. Get the Kleenexes! Dew on Mt. Hermon also is a puzzling analogy, this gentle water that covers an entire mountain!  What they both have in common is a sense of pervasiveness.  The oil and the dew are in abundance and they both are symbols of the Spirit which hovers consistently over the face of the earth and among all people. 

Unity is like that. When people are living in harmony with one another it covers everything that has been divisive, it gets into the crevices of partisan debate and intellectual and ecclesiastical pride. The result of unity is abundance and provision for all.  Psalm 133 says it is a blessing and it leads ultimately to everlasting life.

United Methodist Women touched my life

In the fall of 1978 I was an M.Div student at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.  But I wondered some days if I had heard God right about this call to ministry. 

My District Committee of Ordained Ministry had put my ordination interview on hold, so I could be interviewed again. I had no role models at the seminary for women in ministry leadership. Only the librarian was a woman. All the other leaders else were men, white men, except for an Asian professor who taught Greek and New Testament.

Then came word of the Consultation for United Methodist Clergywomen in Dallas, Texas, in January 1979. I wanted to go so badly, but money was an issue. So going to Dallas was a clearly a pipe dream. That was until the United Methodist Women of my home church (Lansdowne UMC in Baltimore) stepped up to the plate and sent me the money to attend the consultation. 

It was life-changing and inspirational. It gave me the courage to keep following my call, as I saw capable, bodacious clergywomen preaching and leading with grace and skill.  Those faithful women of Lansdowne will never know just how much it changed the course of my ministry.

Let us rejoice in our United Methodist heritage

United Methodist Heritage Sunday this year falls on May 20. That is also Pentecost Sunday, giving the day a double-heritage significance, since that is when we celebrate the birth of Christ’s church.

Speaking of births, however, I invite us all to begin our United Methodist heritage celebration a month early, on Sunday, April 22, in order to commemorate the birth of our denomination from merger and reorganization 50 years ago. That labor-intensive birth happened on April 23, 1968. But it came after nearly a decade of prayerful negotiations, General Conference legislation and prevenient mergers of racially segregated annual conferences—like ours—until the glorious day of delivery when we finally became The United Methodist Church.

The Methodist Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church—both denominations being offspring of earlier mergers themselves. The new denomination abolished Methodism’s Central Jurisdiction, created in 1939 to unify and segregate annual conferences with predominantly black churches and members across the nation, like our former Delaware Annual Conference.

So, in 1968 and in the years that followed, after a history of divisions and dubious mergers, we finally got it right, for the most part. Getting it right meant reorganizing churchwide agencies and creating legislation and special commissions to monitor our still-unfinished journey toward racial and gender equity and denominational inclusiveness. For that same journey and others, it also meant creating special programs and funds, Special Sunday offerings and eventually, missional priorities.

Native Americans and the Church: Past, present, future

Sunday, April 15, is “Native American Ministry Sunday” in the United Methodist Church. I hope that every church will take a special offering to aid Native American seminary students and the many wonderful ministries that are happening in our Committees on Native American Ministries (CONAMs). More importantly, I hope on that Sunday people will learn something about this vitally important part of our church’s witness to its past, present and future.

At our 2016 Annual Conference session we engaged in an “Act of Repentance” for the sins committed against many indigenous peoples of the world by invaders who conquered, colonized and oppressed them, often decimating their populations and societies. In our country indigenous people were treated shamefully for the most part and the church was too often complicit in that mistreatment.

To this day the wounds of discrimination and genocide live on as a part of their historical trauma. The good news is that as we repent and partner with our Native American brothers and sisters, much healing and good can come. We need each other to survive. We as a church are not whole unless all are included and empowered for ministry and mission. Healing comes as we repent and then do the works of repentance. Let’s keep this before us!

Being April Fools

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NRSV) 

No one wants to be called a “fool.” In American Sign Language the sign for “fool” looks like a person (represented by a forefinger) being struck with a fist of the other hand. Indeed, fools might be considered fortunate if only their egos are bruised.

The word “fool” conjures up images of weakness, gullibility, and stupidity. But like many things about the counter-cultural, and at times counter-intuitive, faith that we practice, as true followers of Jesus Christ we can gladly—and wisely—proclaim that yes, we are fools.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “We are fools for the sake of Christ….When reviled, we bless, when persecuted we endure, when slandered, we speak kindly.” (I Corinthians 4:10 a, 12 b)

Easter this year falls on April Fool’s Day (offering a second 2018 coincidence, after Ash Wednesday fell on Valentine’s Day February 14). The secular occasion’s origins are also religious. April Fool’s may go back to the time of Pope Gregory XIII, who changed the Christian calendar so that the first day of the year was January 1 and not April 1, as had been the case under the Julian calendar. Some people back then continued to follow the old calendar. Those who did were known as “April Fools” and were subject to tricks and ridicule.

Faceless Christ, Headless Disciples

By Bishop Peggy Johnson

In Berlin there is the Chapel of the Reconciliation. It was rebuilt after the reunification of Germany and the destruction of the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany from 1961 to 1989.

Originally, there was a much older church building located in that same space, which was built in 1894. It was destroyed in 1985 by the Communist government because this abandoned church blocked strategic security site lines on the Berlin Wall. The church was in the way.

During reconstruction of the chapel in recent years, excavation of the rubble from the original church miraculously revealed the entire chancel piece that use to hang over the original altar. It was still intact. Today it hangs in the center of the reconstructed chapel, giving the this sacred space a poignant connection between the past and present.

Grateful for the Congo Partnership

I returned in February from a 10-day mission trip with an eight-person team of clergy and laity from both the Eastern PA and Peninsula-Delaware conferences.  Our Philadelphia Episcopal Area has been in partnership with the Central Congo Conference for over a decade, and there is much to celebrate.

This was my third trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and my second trip to the Central Congo Conference. Each time I continue to be amazed at the work of God that is happening among faithful people there. What did I see?

1. I saw a deep respect for The United Methodist Church, its mission for souls and its appreciation for missionaries who began the work there over 100 years ago.
2. I saw passionate worship in song, prayer and sermon. People of all ages gather to worship God in great numbers.  The material lives of these people are meager, but the Spirit of God in their souls is the sustaining fire for life.
3. I saw people working very hard in schools, seminaries, hospitals, farms, clinics, trade schools and churches to improve and build up the lives of the people and the community. I saw them being witnesses for God’s love.
4. I experienced radical hospitality in hospitable accommodations, bounteous meals, and gracious and generous gifts from those who honored us. Whole towns came to greet our plane singing, dancing and waving palm branches. People who had nothing gave us generous and sacrificial gifts of clothing, rice, goats, chickens, carved wooden crafts and jewelry. Bishop Daniel Lunge and his team went all out to show us the utmost respect and make us comfortable.
5. I experienced their concept of mission as the work of starting new churches. They collected money for that purpose so more might know the love of Jesus. Many pastors start these new churches with no salary whatsoever. They do it out of their love and desire to serve Christ.
6. I saw many improvements since my last visit. There were much needed hospital repairs, e-readers for seminary students, new churches erected, a new well dug, a children’s program that started with a few children now increased to 1,000 children and 43 teachers, a new pediatric clinic with modern equipment and solar power, a second refugee children’s feeding program, bed nets in every home to prevent the spread of malaria and improved maternal health.
7. I experienced the amazing work of Rev. Jonathan and Donna Baker, our UM Global Missionaries, who have labored in the vineyard there for the past three years bringing untold resources and wisdom for the upbuilding of this partnership. They are responsible for promoting and executing many of the projects listed above.  In addition, they operate a cataract eye surgery clinic every year that literally gives sight and hope to the blind.  They will be retiring at the end of March as GBGM missionaries but not retiring from the work of the Partnership.

I am grateful for the Congo Partnership and to all who graciously supported this mission trip with prayers and financial support. There is still much work to be done, and even the smallest gift goes a very long way in the Congo.  I encourage every church to consider putting the Congo Partnership into their budget as a regular line item and watch God work!

This is a solid project with a long track record of faithfulness and productivity that all of us can be proud to support.  As God blesses us, let us continue to be a blessing to the people in the Congo.

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Want to learn more about this powerful, eye-opening, uplifting mission adventure? Read “Mission tour reveals Congo Partnership’s lifesaving impact” and also Bishop Johnson’s and the Rev. Dawn Taylor-Storm’s “Notes from the Mission Field.” Also, view our 2018 Congo Partnership Visit Flickr album to see more photos!

Celebrating Women’s History Month

Malala Yousafzai: The power of one voice

Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 and grew up in the northwest Swat Valley region of Pakistan. As a child she was fortunate to have access to education because her father, Ziauddin Yousfzai, operated a private girls school in her hometown. This part of Pakistan was under Taliban rule and they did not believe that girls should have an education. 

When she was 11 years old Malala wrote a blog essay for the BBC British television network describing what it was like living under Taliban occupation. This story appeared in a New York Times documentary, and it got a good bit of attention in print and on television. She was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Unfortunately, all this attention made her a target of the Taliban. On October 9, 2012, she was attacked and shot in her head by a masked Taliban gunman. Miraculously she survived the assassination attempt and was sent to England for treatment.

This horrific act of violence against a young girl created overnight a huge outpouring of support for her cause. After her recovery she became an international speaker for the rights of education for all children, especially girls.

‘Blowin’ in the Wind’

I remember buying a Peter, Paul and Mary album when I was in 7^th grade. I sat in the basement with my friends that summer, and listened to every cut of this folk music record over and over again.  

It was during the time of the Civil Rights movement and the Viet Nam War. Songs about justice and peace were in the air. No song on that album struck my young heart more than Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind.” It was asking all the right questions:

“How many times must the cannon balls fly before they’re forever banded?

“How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?”

“How many times must a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see?”

“How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?”

With each verse, the wistful refrain in three-part harmony replied: “The answer, my friend is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

What did that mean?  I was never quite sure.  

Maybe the answer was as obvious as the summer wind blowing through the trees in the backyard. Or maybe it was something more mysterious and unattainable. It seemed to me at the time that the grown-ups could be doing more about the troubles in the world with all its unrest, violence, war and inequality. 

Abundant Health, Abundant Life

 

Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b)  Our God is not a God of scarcity but of abundance. Nothing could be more precious than life: abundant life in this world and eternal life in the world to come. 

The health of our bodies is important to God, and so is the health of our soul and spirit. That is why The United Methodist Church has “Global Health” as one of its “Four Foci” (four areas of ministry focus). Health is important to us all; and the things that make for abundant and healthy bodies should be stressed emphasized as a part of our personal Christian stewardship.

Along with that, we need to be doing the things that promote abundant health around the globe. According to UMC Abundant Health, “Children are our future, and yet nearly 6 million children under the age of five die every year.  Millions of children and adolescents still don’t have access to the life-saving information, services and supplies they need for a healthy fulfilled life.”

Octavius V. Catto

On September 26, 2017, a statue of Octavius V. Catto—who lived from February 22, 1839, to October 10, 1871—was erected in Philadelphia in the southwest apron of City Hall. It is the first statue of an individual African American to rise among the city’s 1,700-plus statues of white people.

This great leader was shot in the back Oct. 10, 1871, at age 32, the night before a closely contested mayoral election, according to John N. Mitchell, writing in the Philadelphia Tribune (Sept. 22, 2017).  Catto was a civil rights advocate before the phrase was coined; and in his young, abbreviated life he accomplished twice as much as most people.  

He fought for desegregation of ridership on the city’s horse-drawn streetcars. He transformed the Institute for Colored Youth (the only school for Black children) into one of the best schools in the city. He served as a Major in the National Guard. 

Most notably, Catto came alongside the iconic civil rights icon Fredrick Douglass to fight for the abolition of slavery and the right for African Americans to vote. This energetic, dedicated visionary also worked tirelessly to assist newly freed slaves who arrived in the city in search of a better life. 

His life was taken as a result of his support for a progressive mayoral candidate. There were tensions between the African Americans and the large Irish American community at that time. Many police officers were of Irish heritage, and some were found to have interfered with African Americans trying to vote.

Catto was the third person to be murdered during this election. His assassin was not tried for the heinous crime until five years later but was acquitted by an all-white jury.