This morning I was listening to NPR and heard about the young man who won the U.S. National Spelling Bee championship yesterday. When they announced the word that Karthik Nemmani spelled, I thought "Hey! A word I know and can spell!" But neither of the NPR Morning Edition hosts knew the word. Later in the … Continue reading Of Spelling Bee Championship Words and Culture
Author: sisterofhope
Prayer as Preparation
Are you planning a vacation? Memorial Day in the U.S. traditionally marks the beginning of summer and vacation season. There was a news report recently about the cost of air travel and how many people are expected to fly this summer, with Memorial Day weekend being a peak travel period. I'll be flying this Memorial … Continue reading Prayer as Preparation
People Behind The Scenes
Last week I was in Columbus, Ohio for United Methodist Women Assembly. Over 6,000 women gathered for worship, study and workshops on how to put our faith, hope and love into action. This week I'm at a required training for pastors. Next week I'll be at the Texas Annual Conference in Houston, Texas. It's a … Continue reading People Behind The Scenes
Never Mind The Chaos, Women Still Live Out The Gospel
The chaos and confusion in the United Methodist Church continued this week with the news that two amendments to our denomination’s constitution failed to pass the required two-thirds ratification by annual conferences. These amendments had passed at the 2016 General Conference. When I read the amendments prior to Annual Conference last year, I saw a … Continue reading Never Mind The Chaos, Women Still Live Out The Gospel
The Hopefulness of Mission, or Why I’m Not Worried about the Future of the UMC
I am a United Methodist. My denomination recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, remembering how it was formed by a union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968. This church has formed me as a disciple of Jesus Christ, has taught me grace, taught me how to sing grace, preach grace, … Continue reading The Hopefulness of Mission, or Why I’m Not Worried about the Future of the UMC
Mutuality Takes Work
Yesterday in a meeting I was asked who is my favorite mission theologian. I quickly answered: Glory Dharmaraj. Glory and her husband Jacob worked for many years in United Methodist mission agencies, Glory for United Methodist Women and Jacob for the General Board of Global Ministries. They wrote about complex mission concepts in such a … Continue reading Mutuality Takes Work
Mission Selfies
Eleven years ago I had the opportunity to lead a mission trip to Belhar, near Cape Town. Our team worked with a Methodist Church, helping them with the part of the construction on their new building. We took a lot of pictures. Everyone had a camera, most with digital memory sticks that we downloaded onto … Continue reading Mission Selfies
Liturgy In Place
Today is Good Friday, the day on which Christians mark the crucifixion and death of Jesus. On my morning walk, I thought of all the churches I've had the blessing to worship with over the years. As a child growing up on the Mexico-Texas border, our church would worship once or twice a year with … Continue reading Liturgy In Place
Faithfulness in Small Work
Dusting and Vacuuming Yesterday I worked cleaning chairs and polishing wood. As I vacuumed off construction dust from the seats and used old t-shirts to clean and condition the old altar, I thought about all the people through the history of Christianity who have done work like this – cleaning, setting up, taking down, organizing, … Continue reading Faithfulness in Small Work
What’s History Got to Do With Mission Trips?
Next year, United Methodist Women will celebrate their 150th anniversary of women organized for mission. In 1869, Methodists had been training and sending missionaries for nearly 50 years, but women were only allowed to participate as missionary wives. The Mission Board did not financially support mission training for women, nor did they see the need … Continue reading What’s History Got to Do With Mission Trips?
Sister of Hope Ministries 