This year has begun with us learning to live a life of grace, one of the tenets of our faith as Methodists.  As I think about my journey of faith I am reminded of so many grace-filled moments that have shaped who I have become.  From the time I was a child to this day I have seen and experienced God’s love and forgiveness in many different forms.  One of those forms of grace has been in the area of hospitality.  Showing signs of welcome in a myriad of ways has made for some interesting hobbies as well as sermon series, but all of them ways to extend the hand of God to others.

As people called Methodists, we have so many opportunities to extend hospitality to others and be reminded of grace.  From the reminder to gathered community of the openness of the Lord’s Table to the ways in which we touch our communities.  At The Table we receive reminders of who we are, whose we are, and how we should be in relationship with one another.  The elements of The Table are prepared in such a way that barriers are removed from finding one’s place.  At The Table, everybody matters, there is no judgment and no expectations. Grace abounds at The Table.

As we move through this year, our focus as an annual conference is grace and its sufficiency.  We will have opportunities to sing, pray, preach, study and live around this focus.  You will be hearing more and more about the ways to incorporate grace into our everyday life from various entities in our conference.  But please don’t let that stop you or hold you back.  Share the new and exciting ideas and encounters that you experience.  Grace has no limits!

One of the ways that you might experience that grace this year is to notice a member of the conference staff at your weekend worship experience.  Our goal is to try to reach every worshipping community in our conference with a message of grace and hope. We are not there to judge, but to worship and share in an experience of grace.  So as not to be disruptive, feel free to acknowledge and introduce the conference staff person at the end of the worship experience.  We will have a brief word of greeting to share and if it’s appropriate, can offer the benediction.  This is our opportunity to experience grace and to share grace.

See you soon!