Upcoming Events

Wise Women's Work - Community and Conversation Series

With the Rev. Laura Everett and Vernée Wilkinson, the Rev. Jennifer Bailey, and Hedda Sharapan / Jan. 19, Feb. 16, March 9, 2023 / Online

The Art of Transitional Ministry, Part 1: Reconciliation in God's New World

With Erin Jones / Feb. 16, 23, March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 2023 / Online

Albright-Deering Lecture, Worship, and Lunch / Restorying in the Wake of Loss

With Dr. Karen Scheib / Feb. 16, 2023 / In-Person and Online

Related Albright-Deering Workshop: Western PA Conference of The UMC / Feb. 15 / Christ United Methodist Church, Franklin, Pa. and livestreamed to Olmstead Manor Retreat Center, Ludlow, Pa., and Jumonville Camp and Retreat Center, Hopwood, Pa.

Advent means, among other things, the liturgical use of some of my favorite texts from Isaiah. Who is not heartened by the vision of the peaceable kingdom in Isaiah 11, the hope of the shoot sprouting from the stump? This particular line, from Isaiah 40, speaks to me this year in a particularly pointed way:
A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is. 40:3).

Eugene Peterson’s translation of this passage in The Message is full of high drama:
Thunder in the desert!
“Prepare for GOD’s arrival!
Make the road straight and smooth,
a highway fit for our God.”

The wilderness—where we are called to do the work of leveling the valleys and hills, making smooth the path for our God to meet us. And how will God be meeting us? As an infant—born to a poor mother, in a time of empire and suffering, a time of longing for peace and flourishing. Life was not easy in the community into which Jesus was born—and it is not easy for many today. Yet it is that same not-easy life that God still chose to experience—the wilderness, if you will. It’s the same one we are called to enter, daily. And as people of faith, we are called to make the path straight and the rough places smooth, especially for those most vulnerable and likeliest to fall.

Our programming will continue to respond to the need for well-being, for mending, for cultivating hope. Our Transitional Ministry Week 1 seminar, held online, continues to equip pastoral leaders to navigate leadership in transitional contexts (an understated description of the current times!). Karen Scheib, our Albright-Deering presenter, will address clergy well-being in a day-long workshop open to all and talk about re-narrating life in the wake of loss during our annual lecture; both events are free. Our Wise Women series continues with Laura Everett and Vernée Wilkinson, who will teach us how to mend and how to discern what is worth mending. And we are in conversation with the inimitable Will Willimon, who will bring a good word to keynote our Henderson Summer Leadership Conference (details forthcoming!).

Whose paths and rough ways are you helping to level? Where do yours need this loving, landscaping attention?

The wilderness is a hard, hard place to be. But God is already there, and we are not alone in this work. Remember—Isaiah 40 begins with “Comfort my people . . .” and ends with a promise that we will “run and not grow weary.” I pray that you take this promise to heart this season.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Peace,
Helen Blier
Director, Continuing Education