I just returned from Tucson, Arizona, attending my first annual meeting of the National Association of United Methodist Foundations (NAUMF). Leaders and staff from the 47 Foundations in the UMC gathered to experience worship, attend continuing education opportunities, hear reports and testimonies on our collective and individual ministries, and to make new or maintain collaborative connections that help us learn from and partner with one another.

The theme was “Rising in Faith”, illustrated by flames that formed the image of a Phoenix. At various times we shared stories about how heat from the fires of the past few years in the UMC burned at various levels in different areas of our denomination. Local churches experienced it in unique ways, but so did Foundations and Development Funds. Like an old growth forest that endured a firestorm, some areas look or feel like scorched earth. Cherished connections, sacred spaces, and treasured traditions were lost. But it is from the collective ashes of all these fires that the UMC now rises, to live into our future life and ministry of making disciples and engaging the always emerging Kingdom.

The energy that drives our steps comes from the realization that surviving a crucible moment can leave us with exactly what we need to begin anew. The heat reduces us to the essence of who we are. It reveals what has always been at the core of our being…that which is good and pure and life-giving. If you remember from chemistry class, a compound (a mixture of elements) could be placed in a beaker and held over a flame. As the heat rises, some elements will be burned away. When the heat subsides, what is left in the beaker might be a powder or ash that is the essence of what the original substance was, or was meant to be.

As people of faith, we look through the lens of hope as we assess who we are, and who we are becoming.

This is true for an individual, a family, or a faith community. Who or what is the essence of who you are…what binds your family…or your church? Let our answer be both who and what! It is Christ, who demonstrates and gives the great Love of God to us all! The essence of where the New Creation of the UMC will come from is beyond our human points of view, and always some from the seed of God’s Love that Christ has planted in each of us by the Holy Spirit.

Hear Paul’s words in 2nd Corinthians 5:14-20 as they guide our first steps into this season of crossing the bridge from what was to what will be, beautifully paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in The Message:

“The Love of God in Christ has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. Jesus included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and The Divine One, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what is happening in Christ. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade everyone to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; God already a friend with you.

This is a season of Recovery, Reconciliation, and Renewal. May we all cross the Bridge God has constructed for us in Christ to discover and claim who we are and who we are becoming in this New Thing that God is doing in us, through us, and around us!

In, of, and for, Christ…