Smart Thoughts

       A few weeks ago I shared with you our Lord’s word to us just before his ascension. According to Acts 1:8, we will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon us, and we are to be witnesses to Jesus Christ where we live, to those down the road, to those we don’t even like and to all the world. The prophet Jeremiah shared with us God’s promise of a plan for us that includes a future with hope. A Future with Hope. That’s God’s promise to us. It was also the theme of General Conference 2008.

The cross in this picture was made from rubble left behind by Hurricane Katrina.

       Bishop Hope Morgan Ward of the Mississippi Episcopal Area brought the message during the final worship service of General Conference. She focused on the words of Jesus that we find in that first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. In her parting words she said, “How glorious it is to be a witness to the way God will be in the world beyond this place.” We are to be witnesses to the way God will be in our part of the world. She went on to tell those present, “Christ reigns in every place. Christ reigns over all that we are and over everything that we do...we know that Christ is with us.”

       Bishop Ward shared the story that came out of Hurricane Katrina. When the news was shared with a United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, the people asked, “Where is Mississippi?” When they were shown the direction, the people faced toward Mississippi, rose, lifted their hands and prayed for the people of Mississippi. Christ indeed reigns in every place.

       She shared how her beloved Mike

and others distributed grain in Afghanistan in November, three months after the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, there was a tense moment. A man appeared without a ticket for food. The villagers had developed a system to assess those with greatest need. Tickets had been given to the most destitute and a bag of grain was given to those with tickets. The ticket-less man pleaded, his anxiety and hunger and fear obvious without translation of his words. Villagers held guns on nearby roofs. Tension mounted. The moments were still, long, silent, agonizing. Then, from out of the crowd of ticket-holders a man stepped forward. His bag of grain was full. He held an empty bag and opened it. As his son held the empty bag, he scooped a handful of grain from his own into the empty bag. Others stepped forward, following his example. Handful by handful, the empty bag was filled. The guns were lowered. The man without a ticket was given provision. It was a wonder.

       How will we be witnesses to Christ’s reign? How have you experienced Christ with us? How is the power of the Holy Spirit exhibited in your life and world?

Grace and Peace,