{"id":16556,"date":"2017-11-13T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=16556"},"modified":"2017-11-13T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T22:30:00","slug":"what-are-we-called-to-do-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/what-are-we-called-to-do-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"What are we called to do? What’s next?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Amory Peck<\/strong> | Photo by the Rev. David V. Valera<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Amory Peck, then a PNW delegate, addresses the General Conference in 2012.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I spent several days thinking and praying about the latest edition of Channels<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a> During my reverie, hundreds of young adults, ages 18-26, were in Portland, Oregon for Exploration 2017,<\/strong><\/span><\/a> sponsored by the UMC\u2019s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.<\/p>\n

See also:<\/em> How can we nurture future leaders in their spiritual calling?<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

They were there to explore whether God might be calling them to ordained ministry in The United Methodist Church. The photos I saw on Facebook<\/strong><\/span><\/a> showed energy and a good deal of excitement as the attendees steeped themselves in worship and conversation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jesse N. Love<\/strong><\/span>, graphic designer & print manager for the PNW Conference<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, had asked me to write something for his 100th edition (editor\u2019s note:<\/strong><\/span> yes, we are at #108, but he began working at the Conference on issue #8)<\/em>. I had enjoyed the eight years I\u2019d written for Channels. Now, five years after leaving my role as Conference lay leader, he thought I\u2019d still have something to say.<\/p>\n

I came to believe that both the young people\u2019s and my reflection centered around many of the same issues. We were both thinking about what we are called to do, at this particular point of our lives. The 50-year span in age between us didn\u2019t matter \u2013 we we\u2019re all thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s next?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Quite a number of people used to joke that my lay leader\u2019s address at Annual Conference was always a book pitch. Guess I haven\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

I look forward to reading Parker Palmer\u2019s book, \u201cOn the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old\u201d,<\/strong><\/span><\/a> which will be released in June 2018. Palmer, a 78-year-old Quaker author, educator, and activist, says: \u201cWhen people ask me why I\u2019ve been writing for the past years\u2026 I tell them \u2018I was born baffled.\u2019\u201d That ongoing bafflement led to \u201cOn the Brink\u201d, which was written to \u201cencourage adults of all ages to explore the way their lives are unfolding \u2026 (to) turn the prism on the meaning of one\u2019s life, refracting new light at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was the link I was feeling between myself and the young adults gathered in Portland. We are both looking for new light.<\/strong><\/span> I was especially moved by the Facebook picture of some of the nearly 70 young adults who had gathered at an unofficial gathering at 11 p.m. All of them identified as LGBTQIA, all of them must have known of the turmoil in the denomination over the reality of gay clergy \u2013 and those brave ones were exploring their call from God.<\/p>\n

The young people in Portland are already part of the church. Some will become clergy, most will continue as lay people. In either case, their role is to take the lead. My role now is to take what I know, and to hand it on to others, to guide them\/mentor them along the way. I will learn from these younger ones as they will continue to watch and learn from me\u2026like prisms refracting new light.<\/p>\n

\n

Amory Peck is a member of Garden Street UMC in Bellingham, Wash.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Amory Peck | Photo by the Rev. David V. Valera I spent several days thinking and praying about the latest edition of Channels. During my reverie, hundreds of young adults, ages 18-26, were in Portland, Oregon for Exploration 2017, sponsored by the UMC\u2019s General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. See also: How can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":16558,"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":[111,6,37,113,112],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-channels","8":"category-conversation","9":"category-laity","10":"category-opinioneditorial","11":"category-ministries-with-young-people"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/COVER_INSIGHTS_Amory_1080px.png?fit=1080%2C565&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-4j2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16556","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=16556"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16565,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16556\/revisions\/16565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}