Conference Vision: "to be disciples of Jesus Christ who are lifelong learners who influence others to serve." |
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A Message from your
District Superintendent
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I greet you in this Easter Season as a fellow pilgrim, continually journeying into the fullness of God. I greet you as a fellow sinner in need of grace. I greet you striving to speak and live truth in love.
It is not necessary to repeat a long list of challenges that we have faced in the last year. (Perhaps, we also need to make a long list of the blessings that we have received!) We have all experienced some of the same things, even though we may see and interpret them through various lenses. We have each experienced some unique situations. Each of the challenges that we have faced can be opportunities for us to grow into the likeness of Christ. Each year, each Holy Week, each Easter, each day, and each experience can be an opportunity for each of us to grow into the likeness of Christ.
I have struggled to know the right words to share with you today. I know that I don’t want to grow into a grumpy old woman…and I know that there are some things that are extremely difficult for me to experience in these recent days.
It is difficult for me to experience the church when it seems to repeat the same divisive rhetoric of the world. It is difficult for me to hear the negative comments that are made about others, that are not spoken as truth in love. It is difficult for me to think that I cannot appoint someone to many, if not most, of our churches who is of another race or ethnicity. It is difficult to continue hearing negative comments about appointing women to churches.
The hardest thing for me is seeing and hearing people that I love deeply making comments and treating others harmfully…I’ve just ordered copies of a book, Hunting Magic Eels by Richard Beck, that looks at the possibility that we have become functional atheists. How can we claim to be Christians when our lives so often reflect judgment, division, and closed minds, seemingly without the love of Christ?
I remember when the United Methodist Church advertised Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors. I remember hearing someone say that we could be sued for false advertisement.
In the night, I reflected on some of the situations and relationships where I feel sad because of things that I am witnessing in others that seem so sinful. In the night, God encouraged me to hold up a mirror before my face and examine the areas of my life that don’t please God. Is that not, after all, what Lent and Easter are all about?
If Jesus came to die for my sins, aren’t I called to regular self-examination? Aren’t I called to regular repentance and growing in grace? Aren’t I called to die to self and to rise with Christ? Isn’t the most important thing to love God, my neighbors and myself?
Are we really following Jesus or have we created God in our own image to justify our thoughts and actions based on our world view and prejudices? Are we really committed enough to say, “Not my will, but your will, Lord?” Are we ignoring that still small voice that lets us know that God isn’t pleased with certain things that we stand for or against?
Having walked through the valley of the shadow of death several times in the past year, I am more determined than ever to live my life actively seeking to, “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with my God.” (Micah 6:8) How about you?
Living in grace,
Sylvia
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News from your
Director of Congregational Excellence
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Save the Date: Saturday, April 24
9 am to 12 Noon "Both/And" webinar sponsored by the Elizabeth River and
James River
Districts
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Before the global pandemic, the majority of congregations who were streaming worship online were (more or less) creating an experience for the people gathered in-person in their buildings. Leaders would often (at some point) look into the camera and say, "And if you're worshiping with us online, we're glad you've joined us." They'd then look back at the people gathered in-person and continue on with a worship experience designed as a physical gathering.
This meant that the home audience were observers of what was happening in real time on-site. They could watch, but not truly participate. This model (arguably) worked because - at the time - we knew nothing different.
In March 2020, when congregations ended in-person worship and went online (many for the first time) the methodology for streaming worship completely shifted paradigms. Everything was about the home audience. There was no one in the room, and the people at home could feel that shift. They knew they were being talked to directly.
Now we face one of the most critical moves in the next iteration of the online worship experience. As we move back into our buildings, we mustn't return to making people at home observers after talking directly to them for so long. They'll feel that too.
We also can't take an approach where we treat the in-person crowd as the studio audience, providing the laugh or clap track, for the people watching at home. Neither of these audiences should feel secondary.
If we fail to think about how to create a BOTH/AND scenario as we go back to in-person worship, we will lose so much of what we've gained in these last seven plus months.
Join us for Both/And: Maximizing Hybrid Worship Experiences For Online and In-Person Audiences
This 3- hour workshop will delve into strategies for how to create powerful transformative worship where no one feels like they’re an afterthought.
It will explore:
• Re-imagining worship for both/and
• How to create interactive both/and experiences
• Bringing at home and in-person audiences together in real time
• Alternative opportunities for online audiences watching in-person livestreams
• Repurposing in-person worship for online audiences
• Strategies for adapting practices for both/and
• Avoiding letting your groove becoming a rut
• And more
CEUs will be available for clergy! Register at
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Updates from the Virginia Conference
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The February 2021 Appointments have been announced by
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis and her Cabinet.
View the appointments at the Conference website:
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The Technical Assistance Manual (TAM)
has new information for local churches.
Please click on the link for updates
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A Message from Conference Lay Leader
Martha Stokes
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As we anticipate longer days and the coming of spring, I encourage you to spend time in reflection of all that has happened in what seems to have been two very short months at the start of 2021.
· While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, but there is renewed hope for a different future as the most vulnerable in our communities and the essential workers who have kept our society going over the last year have received vaccinations. What wonderful news that the majority of adults in our country may be vaccinated by early summer.
· The pandemic of institutional and systemic racism continues, but there is restored hope for a different future as we focus on intentional work in the Virginia Conference to address our history and strive for greater understanding and advocacy.
· The political division that grips our country continues, but there is rekindled hope as our first ever National Youth Poet Laureate challenged us as she delivered her inauguration poem:
“We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.”
Renewed hope emerges when together we stand with those who struggle, whether that struggle is with health, employment or injustice of any type. Listening to one another, understanding one another’s needs and dreams, and working side-by-side to address concerns are required of all of us. Creativity, innovation, and nimbleness are needed more than ever from the laity and clergy in our congregations. Our lives are filled with constant change. All of this requires that we live into our call to be lifelong learners, disciples who continue to study and question as we grow in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Restored hope intensifies when we realize that before we can transform the world, we must first do the hard work of recognizing where transformation needs to happen in our own lives. Are we really listening to one another and doing all that we can to understand one another’s personal stories? Are we willing to talk about our past and learn from it to create a different future? Relationships built with understanding and mutual respect come from shared stories and experiences. Serving together creates the space and connection for trust to be formed, for reconciliation to occur, for lives to be changed, for communities to be transformed.
Rekindled hope ignites when we use our shared influence as partners in ministry, laity and clergy together, to take the gospel message into the world through our words and actions. To become what we need to be in this time, we must be willing to take risks, to ask hard questions, to offer steadfast leadership when there are many more questions than answers. We must remember that as the people of God called United Methodists, our call is to “convince the world of the reality of the gospel or leave it unconvinced.” (Section 2: The Ministry of All Christians, ¶130. Faithful Ministry, The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church – 2016)
The challenges of our time call us to a revitalized commitment to partnership in ministry. Differences in how we understand our faith and how we experience events of the world will always be part of our life together in the church. However, our united mission as disciples of Jesus Christ should always be the central focus.
20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:20-23 (NRSV)
I ask you again to enter into a time of reflection as winter closes end and the signs of new life that come with spring begin to emerge. Join me in prayer that, united as one, the United Methodists of the Virginia Conference will demonstrate the kind of holy living that our founder, John Wesley, understood as our primary task: loving God and caring for one another with Christ-like love.
Peace and Blessings,
Martha E. Stokes, Conference Lay Leader
Contact information:
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The bishop’s workgroup on Racial Reconciliation and Justice invited men in the conference (clergy and lay) to honor a woman in their life who has “made a difference.” Rev. Jack Meservey, Pastor of Somerton UMC and Whaleyville UMC, shared this wonderful tribute to his wife, Sue Meservey. The conference website published Jack's tribute in March in honor of Women’s History Month. |
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Fifty-two years ago, I was in a very dark place. God provided a ray of light and her name is Sue. God introduced me to her and in turn she re-introduced me to God. Six years later we were married, and it has been a wonderful God-centered journey. Having served in the military for over 20 years with nearly half of those years during the “Vietnam Era,” I was associated with quite a few heroes (including a couple Medal of Honor winners). I would (even though she would deny it) place Sue right alongside any of them.
I say this because for over 40 years, she has been part of the American Red Cross organization as both paid staff and volunteer, much of it simultaneously. As paid staff, she performed administrative duties for the Tidewater region. As a Disaster volunteer she participated in numerous operations throughout the world. She was there following hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and just about any other disaster you can think about. During one particular assignment, she was part of the group that went to St. Thomas after a hurricane devastated the island. While trying to pick up the pieces, another hurricane was bearing down on them. Fortunately, it veered off in another direction.
Her volunteerism did not cease upon retirement. In fact, she puts in about the same amount of time that she always has.
During most of our marriage, in addition to the Red Cross, she performed the myriad of tasks associated with being a loving wife and mother. The difficulty of this task was further compounded by my numerous lengthy deployments, both in the US Navy and as a civilian contractor.
She has always met all challenges with a smile and an infectious laugh, and she will always be my number one heroine!
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Sharon UMC and Mission Ministries serve local communities |
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Mission Ministries is a nonprofit organization that provides food and financial assistance to residents of Sussex County. It is served by volunteers from churches in Sussex and Prince George counties. Sharon UMC and Fort Grove UMC chose to support this mission after a Bible study over ten years ago. We continue to volunteer six times a year, packing bags of canned goods and produce to be distributed to over 80 clients twice a month. As volunteers, we are truly blessed to be able to help our community, especially during the pandemic. If any churches or persons are interested in volunteering, please contact Sharon Jadrnak at smjadrnak@yahoo.com.
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Our UMCOR Kits Have Left the Building!
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On March 11, Rev. Dave Magruder and Jeff Moore loaded 222 Health Kits, 297 School Kits, plus 6 Cleaning Buckets, and delivered them to Mission Central in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Mission Central is one of six warehouses that provides the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) with all of their needed resources used in disaster response efforts. You may read more about Mission Central here:
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Thanks to the following churches who donated 2020 UMCOR kits: Carson, Concord, Ebenezer (Philadelphia Charge), High Street, Hopewell (Chesterfield), Magnolia, Trinity (Chesterfield), Trinity (Disputanta), Woods, and other churches in the district who sent financial donations to the conference for kits.
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District Missions
"United as One" Community Cans and Kits
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This year, the Virginia Annual Conference has taken a new vision regarding the collection and distribution of UMCOR kits and canned goods. The Conference Serving Ministries office is asking each district to connect with local ministries such as homeless shelters, food pantries, afterschool programs, etc., to determine needed items and to distribute these items throughout our local communities. The James River District Missions Team has already received requests from the following local ministries. If your church or missions team has a local mission that wish to be included on the district list or if your church wish to donate any of these items, please contact Tish Borden at JamesRiverDistrict@vaumc.org. Distribution day will be Saturday, June 19, 2021. Click on the links below for details.
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Virtual “Jesus Camp” Youth Retreat
Saturday, April 24, 2021
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This event will include three keynote speakers, including Rev. Jim Fry. Presentations will be held by Zoom with suggested activities and guides for 'on site' (your youth group site) activities following each speaker. Interested youth groups/churches should contact Laura Hancock (laurahancock68@gmail.com) by April 14th to receive the activities packet and Zoom link and additional details and times.
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Mrs. Kitty Dadisman (Rev. Mary Dadisman's mother)
Rev. Doug Gestwick
Rev. Garland Hines
Bishop Sharma Lewis and Cabinet
Revs. Brian & Jeaux Simmons
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Next Newsletter Deadline
April 19, 2021
Send your news and pictures to
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Rev. Sylvia S. Meadows, James River District Superintendent
Gerry Fuss & Keith Jordan, Lay Leaders
Tish Borden, Administrative Assistant
Rev. Andrew Book, Director of Congregational Excellence
Audrey Smith, Petersburg Project Coordinator
Ronnika Davis, Communications Coordinator
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