A Word From the Pastor (June 2007)

Dear Friends in Christ:

June 6 marks the beginning of this year's season of the New York Annual Conference. From June 6 - June 9, United Methodist clergy and laity will gather from throughout our region at Hofstra University on Long Island. While we are together we will worship and pray. We will give special offerings to nurture Christ's ministry. We will pass legislation reflecting our Christian perspectives on contemporary issues. We will do the business required of any large institution. We will deal with matters of budget, property, personnel, priorities. We will celebrate milestones in our life together as a church. Members in the N.Y.A.C. who have passed away in 2006-2007 will be remembered, retirees will be honored, new local pastors will be commissioned, elders will be ordained. This year a very special invitation went out to the youth of our conference to attend a rally on Saturday, June 9, and lay people from throughout the conference are invited to attend the Ordination Service in the Hofstra arena on Saturday, June 9 at 2:00 PM.

In addition, this year we will be electing delegates to General and Jurisdictional Conference. Out of the 1,000-plus delegates to the New York Annual Conference, six clergy and six lay people will be elected to participate in the quadrennial main legislative event in the life of our United Methodist Church. These 12 people will participate in 2008 with United Methodists across the country and around the globe to set policies, priorities, budgets, and utter faith perspectives for the whole denomination. We will also elect 12 delegates to go to Jurisdictional Conference where bishops will be selected and jurisdictional matters will be addressed. We are a connectional church, and sustaining that bond takes a lot of time, energy, resources, and leadership.

However, that bond is an important part of who we are. Our organization and structure as United Methodists allows us to function effectively as the body of Christ in the world. The gifts of the many, working together in concert, enable us to do far more than any individual or local congregation could ever accomplish alone. Working together, we can hold each other accountable while encouraging and supporting one another in life-transforming mission to the world.

I invite you in this time to pray for the New York Annual Conference. Pray for our bishop, Jeremiah Park. Pray for our district superintendent, Jeannette Bassinger-Ishii. Pray for all the N.Y.A.C. District superintendents. Pray for the members, lay and clergy, who will gather from churches across the area in June. Pray for those in our conference who are beginning new ministries and those making pastoral transitions. Pray for our own lay members to Annual Conference, M. Paradiso and B. Keane, and for K. Borchardt, who serves as a lay member for the New York-Connecticut District. Pray that we as the New York Annual Conference may, through the grace of God, embody a beloved community of hope, building up a healthy Body of Christ, with heart-warmed United Methodists in mission for the transformation of the world.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Peggy Ann Sauerhoff