A Difficult Moment

After a fifteen year hiatus, I am going to the Annual Conference of the denomination which ordained me back in 1971.  Until retirement in 2010, I had not missed a sesssion.  Actually, my going to Conference record goes back even further.  When I was a teenager, it was our family vacation.  My Dad, who was an ordained member, attended and along with him went the whole family.  Money was shorter than short in those days and the church took care of the motel expense for him alone or the whole family.  So, we all went.  My sister and I spent as much time as possible in the motel swimming pool.   

When I became an ordained member, I went every year, but spent most of the time involved in the Conference.   No longer did I enjoy the pool, but I did enjoy seeing other pastors.  Our fellowship was a unique one.  In so many ways the other members of Conference became like family.  We grew from young ordinands to worn out retired preachers during the course of those years.  We shared each others stories, the joys, and the woes.  We sang, "And are we yet alive, and see each other's face?"  at the beginning and "God be with you till we meet again," at the end and there was a such fellowship between the two.  

Today's gathering will be a bittersweet gathering for this worn out old preacher.  So many will not be present.  Of course, some have died, but so many more have left for reasons of conscience as they struggled with a denomination in the throes of  radical change.  It has been one of the most troubling times of my life within the United Methodist Church.  I greive for the loss the fellowship has suffered.  I grieve for a church in such distress.  I pray God will continue to bless whatever it is we are able to do in the name of His Son wherever we each find ourselves doing it.