Beloveds, last Sunday we meditated on the “Beatitudes” of Jesus and I have not been able to forget the fact that Jesus was preparing his disciples to be called names and insulted and rejected when they will do what Jesus was preparing them to do -- to feed the hungry, to care for the needy, to tend to the sick, to speak against the injustices of the empire and to stand with the least, the last, and the forgotten.

Instead of discussing the Gospel passage this week, I’m going to take a closer look at the reading from Micah 6:1-8. This past Sunday I had few conversations with folks who were confused by what was happening in this text. We read the last verse which tells us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God, and we think that sounds nice. But there is more to learn from this passage.

Beloveds, I am slowly getting into the rhythm of things and am catching up with emails and phone messages and texts, even as I continue to prepare for the upcoming 2020 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. While I have been trying to keep you informed with all that is happening, I feel it is also important that we, as a congregation, also have our own conversations and think of where we would want to be as a congregation and who would we want to align with, post May 2020.