{"id":12742,"date":"2016-05-14T17:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-05-15T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12742"},"modified":"2016-05-14T17:00:56","modified_gmt":"2016-05-15T00:00:56","slug":"bishop-devadhar-listen-to-each-other-and-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/bishop-devadhar-listen-to-each-other-and-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Devadhar: Listen to each other and God"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Beth DiCocco<\/strong>
\nMay 14, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)<\/h4>\n

Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar used the familiar story of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12<\/a>) to urge General Conference delegates to find \u201ca new epiphany\u201d by listening to each other\u2019s perspectives and, most importantly, by listening to God.<\/p>\n

With the theme \u201cGoing with Courage,\u201d Devadhar, who leads the New England Conference, told those gathered on May 14 for a morning worship service how important it is to be brave enough to listen if we are to arrive at the right place:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wise men were not clever enough to find the manger without the erudition of the biblical scholars of the Herodian court,\u201d he said, \u201cbut they were willing to listen and discern to arrive at their intended destination. They were, however, wise enough to listen to the voice of God and not return to the insecure king with the news of their having found the Messiah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Mary
Mary Thompson with Worship in Motion from Federal Way United Methodist Church in Auburn, Wash., brings the star of Bethlehem to morning worship at 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland, Ore. Photo by Mike DuBose, UMNS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Because the Magi heeded the message from God, Devadhar said, they were able to bring an epiphany, a new perspective.<\/p>\n

And the bishop asked,\u00a0\u201cFriends, what about us? Are we ready to go, with courage, to the places where God is leading us?\u201d And to be, he asked, \u201ca fully inclusive church?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMay this week be one of soul searching for all of us,\u201d he said. \u201cMay we, as Easter people, listen to God fearlessly, and embrace God\u2019s intended path to enable us to lead the church to a new epiphany with the faith and courage of the Pentecost people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not here to fulfill selfish goals<\/strong><\/h4>\n

He urged General Conference to look to Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not here to use the Bible selectively to fulfill our selfish goals and agendas,\u201d the bishop said, \u201cbut to look at the ministry and mission of Jesus, and ask the question,\u00a0with our Wesleyan DNA: \u2018Will the 2016 General Conference go down in history declaring that we have\u00a0offered Christ to the world?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Devadhar spoke of biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann<\/a>, who, in a 2002 sermon titled \u201c39 Missing by Nine Miles,\u201d pointed out that the calculations of the wise men were off by nine miles. The bishop went on to say that he hopes General Conference would not stray off course.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether I pray that we will discern the best route. If we choose to go our own way, we may find ourselves off course by nine miles \u2026 but if we truly listen to one another and strive to learn from one another, we may correct our course and really find Jesus,\u201d Devadhar said. \u201cFurthermore, if we listen for the voice of God, extraordinary things will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Devadhar encouraged everyone at General Conference to spend the weekend in \u201cintense prayer and meaningful reflection.\u201d Saying the decisions are in the hands of the 864 delegates, the bishop expressed his hope that \u201cWhen we leave this place\u00a0on\u00a0May 20, we can each say to God, \u2018I have been faithful in this Holy Conferencing. I have reflected\u00a0upon\u00a0all the views presented to me from a global perspective, including my own local perspective. Yet, when I punched my vote, I listened to You, Lord, and You only!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Beth DiCocco is director of communications for the New England Conference. Email her at\u00a0<\/em>communicate@neumc.org<\/em><\/a>. Find the New England Conference online at <\/em>www.neumc.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Beth DiCocco May 14, 2016 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar used the familiar story of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12) to urge General Conference delegates to find \u201ca new epiphany\u201d by listening to each other\u2019s perspectives and, most importantly, by listening to God. With the theme \u201cGoing with Courage,\u201d Devadhar, who leads the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[449,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-conference","8":"category-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/bishop-devadhar.jpg?fit=1100%2C574&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3jw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12742"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12755,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12742\/revisions\/12755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}