From an Email…
From the office of Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
From an Email
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
One of the means of grace that we practice as United Methodist Christians is Christian Conferencing. Though we come to the Table at our conferences from different perspectives and viewpoints, once the decision is made at a conference, whether it be Charge, Church, District, Annual, Jurisdictional, or General Conference, it becomes our corporate decision. At the 13th session of the Annual Conference of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference at Valley Forge from May 31 – June 2, 2012, the following resolution was passed.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference calls upon its bishop, no later than August 1, 2012, to call upon all churches in our Conference to designate a “Day of Prayer & Healing” for our denomination regarding the failure of the General Conference of the United Methodist Church to again acknowledge the deep division in our denomination over the status of LGBT persons, recognizing the pain and suffering that this failure has caused many faithful Christians and especially LGBT persons in our denomination, specifically asking pastors to lead their churches in prayer for discernment and healing on this issue by September 30, 2012.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bishop will write the prayer of healing and discernment and the prayer guidelines to be used during this congregational day of prayer and healing. Furthermore, the New Jersey Annual Conference requests our bishop inform all other Annual Conferences of our action and request that these Conferences also designate a “Day of Prayer and Healing” regarding this issue in their Conferences.
May I prayerfully request each and every one of you, especially our pastors, to lead our churches in prayer for discernment and healing so that each of us acknowledges the pain we may cause in our conversations at times. May we pray that we recognize and celebrate the gifts of each child of God who abides with us and remember that the baptismal waters in which all of us are baptized flow among us in Christian love. May we remember that the Table of Holy Communion has a place for everyone in our churches. It is my earnest prayer that on September 30, 2012 all of us take time to claim and observe the Day of Healing so that as we continue our Christian journey we may give attention to what we say and how we respond, and not react towards our brothers and sisters, especially our LGBT brothers and sisters in our midst, in our churches and communities.
I recognize that this should have been sent by August 1, 2012. I sincerely apologize for the delay. The prayer for healing and discernment and the prayer guidelines for the congregational day of prayer and healing will be sent to you in the early part of September 2012.
In Christ’s love,
Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar
