Words from your executive committee.

Beginning July 1, I will be celebrating twenty years of pastoral ministry, four of those years in retired pastoral ministry. Thanks be to God, I have only served two churches in half-time appointments: seventeen years at my first appointment, and I am beginning my fourth year in retirement service.

During my ministry in my first appointment there was a member, Hilda May Hurricane. She was sweet but could disrupt a meeting in a heartbeat. At the end of her deliberation she would calmly say, “Why can’t we all just get along together?” and take her seat. It left us all in awe and amazement.

At this moment in time we are all in a season where the anxiety level is at its highest. Our families are broken, jobs are lost, people are deported, the world is at war, and the list goes on and on. So today I ask the question, “Why can’t we just get along?” Thanks be to God, my present appointment is progressive, knows how to manage money, and loves the church. Hallelujah.

This brings me to one of my favorite Bible scholars, Dr. Luke. Information about him is limited: he was a Gentile and a physician by profession (Colossians 4:14, “Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you”). He was placed on Paul’s traveling evangelistic team and, according to Paul, was a fellow laborer. Dr. Luke wrote his Gospel with a twofold purpose: first literary and historical, second spiritual. He presented the person of Christ as the perfect, divine Man and Savior of the world. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh. Dr. Luke examined Jesus, and his finding is that Jesus is God. He came to the same conclusion as John, but his procedure and technique were different.

• Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, King, and Redeemer.
• Mark presents Christ as the mighty Conqueror and Ruler of the world.
• John presents Christ as the Son of God.
• Luke presents the perfect, divine Son of God as our great High Priest, touched with the feeling of our emotional frailties, able to extend help and mercy in the time of need and love.

Now back to the hurricane, the elephant in the room. My spiritual mind took me to Luke 9:23: “Then He said to them all, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Jesus outlines the cost and reward of discipleship. He instructs His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and lose their lives for His sake, emphasizing the promise that the present day will come and some would see the kingdom of God before dying. Hilda May Hurricane could create a habit, then take her seat as if she had calmed the storm.

Otis Moss III, in Dancing in the Darkness, writes: “I do not know your family background, whether or not you pray, your gender or how you vote. Is there anything we could agree on, any project that we share?” There is a feeling of deep unease about this nation. If America were music, its chords would be clashing, its rhythm off. If it were a time, it would be midnight, a political midnight in which more than any time since the Civil War we are divided: community against community, neighbor against neighbor, citizen against citizen. Elections come and go, but still we struggle to speak across the divides. Has it ever been harder to get through Thanksgiving dinner without an argument?

Otis Moss III continues: the fight over politics is not our trouble at all. What we yearn for will never be found by rearranging politicians, and our hope is for more than a political victory. We hunger for the bread of love wrapped in the arms of Jesus. We will never be satisfied by what we find in political systems or social media networks. We long to hear the Word of the Trinity preached every Sunday and Bible study during the week.

“Together let us sweetly live. I am bound for the land of Canaan. Together love to Jesus give; I am bound for the land of Canaan.”

Together Let Us Sweetly Live

Beloved, those hurricanes will come, but they will not live forever. It is a promise. The prophet Isaiah gives us hope, drawing heavily on Isaiah 66:13: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” That verse is often quoted as a reminder that God holds you on your hardest days and provides peace in times of storm.

Our 2026 Annual Gathering was held in Ocala, Florida, September 15–17. We spent time with the Rev. Dr. Michael Beck, Director of the Fresh Expressions movement in The United Methodist Church, exploring new ways to be the church in the world today. Each attendee received a copy of his book, Deep Roots, Wild Branches: Cultivating a Blended Ecology of Church for a Changing World.