Teresa’s Note: May 3, 2024

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Dear friends and members of University UMC: This Sunday worship will be a great JOY JOY JOY! We will celebrate communion. Pastor Earl will be continuing our sermon series on Creation Care and Climate Change, and we will celebrate his daughter Saige’s baptism. We will also celebrate the good work of General Conference. As I continue to share, we celebrate the progress made knowing there is also a need to commit to the ongoing work of justice and full inclusion. This Sunday, you are encouraged to wear your rainbow colors and, immediately after worship, we will crowd into the chancel area and steps for a quick picture. This picture will be a wonderful way to share with visitors to our website that UUMC is a place of unconditional love and justice in action! There are a few other newsworthy moments from General Conference, including the election of Bishop Tracy Smith Malone as the first African-American female Bishop for The UMC! Bishop Malone has led the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women for the denomination. It’s an honor for me to serve on that board and I will miss her joyful spirit. She has an unshakeable confidence in God’s love and power. Also, below, you will find a link to a video of Bishop Merrill interviewing Bishop Muyombo about regionalization. This is a good word as we understand the relationship with United Methodists around the world. Bishop Laura Merrill of the Arkansas Conference is the daughter of former UUMC Senior Pastor Chuck Merrill. Also, our own Megan Otto was at General Conference and she shared a video of Bishop Karen Oliveto at a celebration just after the passing of legislation that removes harmful language in our Book of Discipline. There’s also a video of General Conference delegates spontaneously breaking out into dance and singing “Love Train.” Yes, there is more work to be done. And yes!, there is much cause to celebrate. Can’t wait to see you on Sunday. What a joy to be your pastor! Teresa A Word from Reconciling Ministries Network The general conference passed the last remaining petition to clear the adoption of the revised Global Social Principles. With that, the Church also decidedly struck down the 52 year-old language that said homosexuality “is incompatible with Christian teaching.” To the queer members and friends among us, it has been said many times by many of our movement: You have never been incompatible. You were expected. As you are. You were awaited. As you are. You are beloved. As you are. Bishop Karen Oliveto of The Mountain Sky Conference celebrating! Bishop Oliveto has the distinction of being the first openly lesbian bishop in The United Methodist Church. She and her wife, Robin Ridenour, a nurse anesthetist and United Methodist deaconess, met in Junior High Church Camp and have been together for 24 years. They were married in 2014. Bishop Oliveto was named by NBC as one of 30 contemporary LGBTQ change-makers as part of their #Pride50 series. She was also named one of the Faith Leaders to Watch in 2021 by the Center for American Progress. General Conference delegates breaking out into song and dance the morning of Friday, May 3. The Spirit is on the move! Bishop Tracy Smith Malone of the East Ohio Conference of The UMC is the newly elected President of the Council of Bishops. In an address to General Conference regarding the conference’s theme from Psalm 46 “Be still and know that I am God”, she shares these words, “Being still is not God's call to rest, but it is God's call to get out of God's way." Arkansas Bishop Laura Merrill interviews African Bishop Mande Muyombo from the North Katanga area about the benefits of regionalization. Our UUMC Webpage for General Conference News We are stewards of creation, and this is manifested when we commit to the process of becoming fully who we are meant to be in the Divine image and when we see ourselves as intimately one with creation. This is our destiny, and it is grace working in us that enables our own goodness in God to becoming increasingly visible through out care for the planet and its people. Stewardship of creation begins by seeing our place in the order of things as helpers so that God can go on saying, “It is very good!” - Elizabeth J. Canham 2409 Guadalupe Street Austin, Texas 78705 512-478-9387 Want to change how you receive emails from us? Click here to update your preferences or unsubscribe or unsubscribe from this list