{"id":1309,"date":"2012-06-05T08:52:28","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T15:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/gc2012\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2012-06-11T15:35:06","modified_gmt":"2012-06-11T22:35:06","slug":"devotional-from-ice-to-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/devotional-from-ice-to-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional: From Ice to Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026and it shall be that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. \u00a0Acts 2:17-18<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last Sunday the Church celebrated Pentecost:\u00a0 the gift of the Holy Spirit on the community of early followers of Jesus, that allowed them to continue after his death with courage, wisdom and strength to become the early Church.\u00a0 The Spirit manifested in such a way that people of every imaginable cultural, geographic, and social difference were able to hear the Good News of Jesus.\u00a0 With that amazing gift, the ancient prophecy of Joel gained new meaning:\u00a0 the Good News of God needs the witness of all people\u2014young and old, male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gentile.\u00a0 Being a witness to the power and love of God takes all of us\u2014every age, every culture, every faith.\u00a0 Every difference reveals another aspect of God\u2019s Good News.<\/p>\n

There were a whole lot of seekers at General Conference this year.\u00a0 Even with the meaningful and beautiful worship it felt a lot like trying to find Jesus in the darkness.\u00a0 Searching for Truth and Life.\u00a0 By the time General Conference was over a lot of us were left mystified.\u00a0 I would guess there wasn\u2019t anyone who could say that it all went the way we wanted or thought it should.\u00a0 We were disappointed, disillusioned, dispirited, and wondered what it all meant for us who love the Church and who look desperately for the Good News that will deliver us from fear, distrust, despair and free the world from the devastating effects of violence and hatred.<\/p>\n

As I continue to let the meaning of those two weeks sort itself out in my soul and spirit, I find myself in a new place, especially in light of many of the votes that I deeply disagree with.\u00a0 A learning for the Way:\u00a0 \u00a0God\u2019s witness to this world, the Good News for this world, needs all of us.\u00a0 I\u2019ve often wished that everyone believed the same way I do.\u00a0 Held the same values.\u00a0 Wanted the same things.\u00a0 That hasn\u2019t happened, and I suspect it won\u2019t.\u00a0 God\u2019s truths are revealed in different ways through each one of us.\u00a0 Even those of \u201cus\u201d we think of as \u201cthem.\u201d<\/p>\n

As we approach Annual Conference, I find myself wanting to be in more authentic and in honest relationship with the \u201cus\u2019s\u201d and the \u201cthem\u2019s.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not looking for agreement; I am looking for God.\u00a0 And for God\u2019s Ways, Truths, and Life in all of us, through all of us, among all of us.<\/p>\n

Prayer:\u00a0 <\/strong>Gracious God of all life, be with us all as we prepare to be the Body of Christ at Annual Conference.\u00a0 Help us to see you in each person there, and to love You in Them in ways that lead to Life for each one, and for the world.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

Daily Practice:<\/strong>\u00a0 Take time each day to bring to mind those persons you anticipate seeing at Annual Conference.\u00a0 Whether you hold the same views or not, share the same values or not, believe the same things or not, pray for them to reveal more of God\u2019s Truth and offer more of God\u2019s Love.\u00a0 And pray the same for yourself, as well.<\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

Devotional written by the\u00a0Rev. Sharon Moe<\/strong>. Moe serves the Tacoma District of the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference as District Superintendent and as Dean of the Appointive Cabinet.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Image Credit: “Fire & Ice by Flickr User\u00a0Universal Pops<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026and it shall be that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1311,"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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-devotional"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/fire-ice.jpeg?fit=640%2C425&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-l7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1334,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions\/1334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}