June Newsletter - Winchester District

It goes without saying that there is a lot going on in the world right now. It seems as if a “perfect storm” has developed. This storm includes a mixture of the global COVID-19 Pandemic, the impact of COVID on our lives and in our beloved United Methodist Church, and natural disasters as well. We are also struggling with the social and cultural conflicts we are experiencing over many decades of ongoing racial injustice, and the list could go on.

At times, the current environment seems apocalyptic, and I’ll admit that the question Sallie and I ask each other nowadays is, “Do we even want to watch the news?”

Perhaps there is a deeper more meaningful question to be asked, “What should we be doing in light of the news?”

Each of these topics could be discussed at great length. Each of these topics should be discussed at great length, and those conversations are taking place in deeper and more evocative ways.

For example, just yesterday Bishop Sharma D. Lewis and the Appointive Cabinet agreed that every clergyperson under appointment in the Virginia Annual Conference will be required to have anti-racism training. A team has been formed to begin to make that training a reality. When it comes to racism, I know I have a lot to learn, and I want to be more proactive to be a change-agent.   

But what I want to ask you to consider for a few minutes is the larger intersection of information and action. It’s one thing to be aware or

informed and quite another thing to act upon such knowledge to affect positive adaptive change. I know this is a simple concept, but it is a tension with which we all struggle.

Sometimes we get stuck in the information loop, sometimes we get stuck in the action loop, and sometimes we get out-of-balance and disoriented. We need to embrace the intersection of both loops (ongoing information and ongoing action that are mutually informed and expressed) to be a healthy transformative presence in the world.

Think about Jesus. He loves us so much, and He knows us so well, that He chooses to sacrificially give His life up for us on a cross so that we might both know and live the power of His Resurrection. This is the Divine Synthesis of knowledge and action — this is Divine perfection!          

All of this is to ask one simple question: “In the storms of life, how are you called to live in that Holy Space of knowledge and action?” My guess is that opportunities to live in such a way, a way that is very Wesleyan, present themselves daily to all of us. Let’s all become influencers that encourage others to learn and serve! Thanks be to God for each and every one of you on the Winchester District and beyond.