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wings
Don't let this slip away
WOW! What an Annual Conference! The worship was uplifting. The business sessions were lively. The attendance was great. The fellowship times were so refreshing (for those who had time to fellowship). The Terrace hotel had been spruced up. The rain came and left, the heat came and stayed, and I had a great time.
It was a time for me to catch the wonderful spirit of the people of the Holston Annual Conference. I was instructed again on how to say, "Maryville." I was blessed with the awesome responsibility of commissioning, ordaining, and licensing women and men for ministry in the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church. There were times when I felt like I was at a revival, a laugh-in, a homecoming without the big banquet, a family reunion, and I must have seen more people smiling than I have ever seen in one place. The beauty of the chancel area was like being in the presence of God. And oh, did the people sing!
Now, we are back home, where we have to give an account for what happened at Lake Junaluska. Now, we are back home, seeking to hold on to the power of the Holy Spirit many of us experienced in Stuart Auditorium (despite the heat). Now, I know what Isaiah felt when he said, "In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple..."
There was no doubt in my mind that the Lord was with us. I want to remind both members and guests of the conference that we came to Junaluska to begin a visioning process, to seek God's preferred future for Holston. Some of you, I believe, received individual visions for your lives. And now you must go home and continue to claim your personal vision with confidence and courage, as you face a doubting world, a doubting local church, and even your own inward doubts.
There is an old blues song with a lyric that says, "I've been down so long that down don't bother me." I realize that we can be become so accustomed to being down, to losing - to not giving our best - that we make peace with defeat. I have watched sports teams like the Los Angeles Clippers find ways to lose. I have witnessed people so beat up by life that they settle for relationships that demean and degrade them.
I trust that the people of Holston will not allow the old habits to so dominate us that we are unable to see that there is a better and brighter future for us and the places where we worship. I am excited about the possibilities for our future together and encourage everyone to seek to be conduits through which God's vision might dawn upon us.
Well, while I am away on vacation with the family, I will be praying that you won't let slip from you the spirit, energy, and determination you felt during the three nights and three days we were together. In the meantime, we have work to do.
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Bishop James Swanson
Resident Bishop
Cover Stories:
Holston rushes to aid TennCare subscribers
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Churches give generously to mission project
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Poor old dog
At lunch
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