{"id":7756,"date":"2014-06-26T13:04:13","date_gmt":"2014-06-26T20:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=7756"},"modified":"2014-06-27T13:06:17","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T20:06:17","slug":"coming-to-pass-pnwac14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/coming-to-pass-pnwac14\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to Pass #pnwac14"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Coming to Pass: Bishop Leeland\u2019s Message to our Ordained and Commissioned<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>By Jesse N. Love<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Bishop Paul Leeland, resident bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Episcopal Area presented a special message to those to be Ordained and Commissioned in our Conference.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ADDRESSING THE ORDINANDS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He congratulated those being ordained and commission as it marks what it means to follow Jesus Christ. It is a difficult task with many ups and downs. Ordination itself can be distracting and disappointing as much as it is fulfilling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>He commented that the Church has a lot of criticism more than affirmation \u2013 and asked who can live under that criticism for so long?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>GETTING PERSONAL (AND HUMBLE)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leeland reminisced about how he thought his Bishop would actually call for an appointment &#8211; then he can have a house and live. When he drove into the countryside of North Carolina, he and his partner finally reached the parsonage: it was a silver trailer with a screen door. When he entered, he walked into the sink. He then looked at wife and said, \u201cIsn\u2019t this great? We can get married!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Today, he hopes to not lose that excitement: \u201cLord just let me serve! Lord never let me forget what that feeling is like!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>He also shared that serving the church isn\u2019t all good feelings. Pastors are to be the presence of Christ \u2013 it\u2019s a calling to \u201cbend down, bend low\u201d. We are to respond to personal calamities, national and international problems, and offensive news. \u201c The congregation will look to you to be the lead religious person.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHAT IS NEEDED<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou need to be relevant, popular, and powerful,\u201d as clergy, ds, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cIf you don\u2019t have conscience, humility, then you will feel you should be given more, given first in line, given a parking space.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cMom taught him and his sisters, lay down and let go and let God. Give thanks, but for things you are embarrassed of, let go.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cLord, keep me from being seduced by power, position, influence and title.\u201d It is so easy to be pulled into the affirmation of who we are. Our ministry is about bending down low. This ordination marks a significant moment in your life and in the church life \u2013 there is a new you and a new path to be prepared for you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Think about what God wants you to be. Practice gentleness and self control. What God wants you to do will fall into place. This is an outward and spiritual grace \u2013 the call upon your life, to lead the people in service.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>IT IS A SIGN<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a sign. God had knit you together in your mother\u2019s womb. It is a sign. This ordination is a sign passing from hatred to love; we\u2019re more patient than we were a month ago. It is a progression and a movement toward Christ.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>WHO WE FOLLOW<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We follow one who was stripped of material positions, girded himself with a towel, and washed the feet of his disciples. We follow the one who is stripped of his grave clothes. We want to be stripped of our pride, pretense, pettiness, desire to be relevant, and we want to be clothed in Christ. It is no longer I, but Christ who is in me.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I pray you will not climb a ladder of success\u2026but of character, sincerity, and fruit of the spirit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Your Role Model: follow your bishop. He exemplifies personal humility and professional capability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Your ministry is to be fruitful. \u201cI\u2019m faithful, but it\u2019s fruitfulness that God is looking for.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We are now surrounded by witnesses: this is about servant leadership.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>After the resurrection, peter is so embarrassed that he did what said he wouldn\u2019t do.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>LORD, I LOVE YOU<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The resurrected Christ asked Peter \u201cDo you love me?\u201d Response \u201cLord, you know that I love you.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Let us give thanks tonight for our calling, setting ourselves out for pastoring our people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>For the honor of being witness to marriage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAST WO<\/strong>RDS<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Leeland expressed gratitude professing us for being the example of the Lord.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cYou are now not part of this world\u2026you are a part of the kingdom of God.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Itinerancy isn\u2019t about moving. It\u2019s about service to the church. It\u2019s a covenant. It\u2019s not made for everybody. We are saying we are willing to put away our personal desires. Even if it is a silver, airstream travel trailer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Jesse N. Love serves as the Graphic Designer and Print Manager for the PNWUMC.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coming to Pass: Bishop Leeland\u2019s Message to our Ordained and Commissioned By Jesse N. Love On Saturday, Bishop Paul Leeland, resident bishop of the Alabama-West Florida Episcopal Area presented a special message to those to be Ordained and Commissioned in our Conference. ADDRESSING THE ORDINANDS He congratulated those being ordained and commission as it marks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":7759,"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":[245,111,381],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-annual-conference","8":"category-channels","9":"category-the-amen-report"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/NEWS_Ordination.jpg?fit=700%2C357&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-216","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7756","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=7756"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7761,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7756\/revisions\/7761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}